Speaker 1: Welcome to episode two of the Bust and Spring Football
Speaker 1: Tour South Carolina game Cocks. We got hey, coach, Coach
Speaker 1: Beamer with us before we get rolling.
Speaker 2: We are going to warring you v the Chevy EV. Yes, sir,
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Speaker 3: have you on the show, sir, it is an honor.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you're very familiar with our show,
Speaker 3: not the most professional show in the world.
Speaker 4: Are you familiar with the boys?
Speaker 5: I am familiar with it, not as familiar as I
Speaker 5: should not as familiar as I should be. I obviously
Speaker 5: started finding out more and more about you guys last season,
Speaker 5: know about you guys as players, but then found out
Speaker 5: about the show throughout the season last year and just
Speaker 5: when you guys were determining whether or not you were
Speaker 5: gonna come here and all that.
Speaker 4: I guess last fall.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the social media on slot to get you
Speaker 5: guys here.
Speaker 4: I remember thinking like, who the heck are these guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: What is this show? And it speaks for itself?
Speaker 1: South Carolina? Super accommodating, like that was a fun time.
Speaker 1: Like JP, he's a massive fan. He went here, so
Speaker 1: he was stoked to come and said he had a
Speaker 1: plug and it was like, you know, we went to
Speaker 1: like I went to Nebraska, he went to Michigan. So
Speaker 1: those are obviously easy to go to. Tennessee's in the backyard.
Speaker 1: So they were like very accommodating. So we were kind
Speaker 1: of nervous, like getting outside of the box and coming
Speaker 1: out here.
Speaker 2: But you guys first fucking class, bro.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 5: You guys are always welcome here, so we got to
Speaker 5: get you back here more often.
Speaker 3: We are going to hold you to that.
Speaker 4: Sir.
Speaker 3: You talked about social media a little bit, and we
Speaker 3: as Juice and Spencer.
Speaker 2: Are you already already saying who our sources are?
Speaker 3: We had two players we were talking to earlier in
Speaker 3: the poetic allegedly, we were like, what should we talk
Speaker 3: to coach about and they said something about your social
Speaker 3: media presence, like you tweet like ten times a day.
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's that much, but you went
Speaker 3: pretty viral. It went pretty viral with the whole mic challenge.
Speaker 4: Yep, did it all? How has it been You've been.
Speaker 3: In the game for a long time, the development of NIL,
Speaker 3: the transfer portal, and knowing inevitably that you have to
Speaker 3: have some sort of presence on social media to get
Speaker 3: these big name guys there, Like, how have you had
Speaker 3: to probably change your mindset a little bit?
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, you have.
Speaker 5: It's totally different, especially in a place coming in South Carolina.
Speaker 5: When I got hired two years ago, there wasn't a
Speaker 5: lot of energy and excitement about South Carolina football, and
Speaker 5: it wasn't just all of a sudden going to market itself,
Speaker 5: like we had to as a program get out there
Speaker 5: about what we're about. So that's what a lot of
Speaker 5: it was. And me as a head coach, like I'm
Speaker 5: gonna be me. I think sometimes see a lot of
Speaker 5: head coaches all of a sudden they feel like, well,
Speaker 5: I got to act a certain way because now I'm
Speaker 5: a head coach in the SEC. Yeah, Big twelve, whatever
Speaker 5: it might be, Like, I'm gonna be me whether you
Speaker 5: like it or not. And I really have just tried
Speaker 5: to maintain the same activity on social media that I
Speaker 5: had as an assistant. And it's different nowadays because of
Speaker 5: Nil and everything.
Speaker 4: But you've certainly got to be able to market your program.
Speaker 5: The players can market themselves now in a lot of
Speaker 5: ways as well, and that's a that's a big part
Speaker 5: of it. But you know, most of the stuff that
Speaker 5: I do on social media is connect with the fans,
Speaker 5: but the majority of it is for recruiting. We did
Speaker 5: that Soldier Boy video last summer, and as soon as
Speaker 5: we finished the Soldier Boy video and I had it
Speaker 5: hadn't been posted for five minutes. And I bet you
Speaker 5: I've got twenty thirty text messages from recruits that are
Speaker 5: just texting me and calling me like, oh my god,
Speaker 5: this is amazing, you know, coach. And we still have
Speaker 5: kids a little visit here and they'll like pull out
Speaker 5: their cell phone and the lock screen or screensaver is
Speaker 5: a picture of me, you know, doing the Soldier Boy
Speaker 5: video down the hall and stuff like that. So you
Speaker 5: realize how many people see it, and then we've got
Speaker 5: a great team here at Carolina that helps with that.
Speaker 1: Also, it seems like it's paid off because I was
Speaker 1: reading that you guys have kind of put together the
Speaker 1: best recruiting class talent wise since twenty twelve. You guys
Speaker 1: really came on late last season. You beat Clemson for
Speaker 1: the first time in eight seasons, seven seasons or something
Speaker 1: like that. Well, since the trophy got since the trophy
Speaker 1: came about, Yeah, the new trophy.
Speaker 2: But talk about the excitement surrounding the program.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was huge, a lot of energy and excitement
Speaker 5: coming off the twenty one season, going to a bowl
Speaker 5: game for the first time in a few years, beating
Speaker 5: Florida Auburn, and then North Carolina in the bowl game
Speaker 5: in the last three of our last five games we won.
Speaker 5: And then to get a guy like Spencer and Juice
Speaker 5: here last season. If they were your sources, I don't
Speaker 5: know if they were not to have Spencer and Juice
Speaker 5: here in twenty one to two, and then to finish
Speaker 5: like we did, I mean we had to beat Kentucky,
Speaker 5: beat Texas, A and M had some great wins midway
Speaker 5: through the season, and then to come back and finish
Speaker 5: the regular season with a win over Tennessee and Clemson
Speaker 5: back to back top ten wins. It was already recruiting
Speaker 5: was already going really really well for us, but then
Speaker 5: to finish the season like we did, the recruiting just
Speaker 5: went to a whole different level and open up a
Speaker 5: lot of other people's eyes as well, and I think validated,
Speaker 5: you know, kind of what we're doing. And when young
Speaker 5: men would recruits come on campus and they get in
Speaker 5: this facility and they see what we're about, it's a
Speaker 5: huge thing for us pretty program, but just for then
Speaker 5: the people that maybe aren't familiar with is it really
Speaker 5: opened up a lot of oz regionally and nationally about
Speaker 5: us as a program.
Speaker 3: When you're in the beginning of the season and things
Speaker 3: aren't necessarily going the way like Spencer wanted to go
Speaker 3: and your offense wanted to go. When you see that transition,
Speaker 3: what do you attribute that to In the middle of
Speaker 3: the season where it's like there seemed like a switch
Speaker 3: went off. Yeah, you talked about Tennessee, you talked about Clemson.
Speaker 3: The way you guys ended the season, it was electric.
Speaker 3: We were here for this for sure. One you guys
Speaker 3: know you've been around it. The thing we talk about
Speaker 3: with our team is just just continue to.
Speaker 4: Get better each week.
Speaker 5: And I get it we're judged on twelve Saturdays, but
Speaker 5: I tell our guys all the time, like it would
Speaker 5: be a shame if in game twelve or the same
Speaker 5: team that we are in game two or three. And
Speaker 5: we we practice really really hard and do a lot
Speaker 5: of competitive work in practice where we do get better
Speaker 5: as a team throughout the year.
Speaker 4: And I saw us getting better.
Speaker 5: Spencer will be the first to tell you that he
Speaker 5: didn't play his best, you know, early in the season,
Speaker 5: but then I saw him night at practice and I
Speaker 5: saw what he was how he was performing. So we
Speaker 5: had to constantly tweak and adjust things as coaches, uh
Speaker 5: to make sure that we were putting our players in
Speaker 5: the best chance to be the best positions to be successful.
Speaker 5: But honestly, I think it was just particularly going into
Speaker 5: that Tennessee game, it was we just went back. We
Speaker 5: talked about competition all the time in this program, and
Speaker 5: we told our players the week at the Tennessee game,
Speaker 5: look the way that Tennessee plays defense, you're gonna they're
Speaker 5: gonna play a lot of man coverage. The way that
Speaker 5: we played defense, there's gonna be we're gonna play a
Speaker 5: lot of man coverage, and this game is gonna come
Speaker 5: down to just one on one opportunities, and Spencer give
Speaker 5: these receivers a chance to go make plays, and DB's
Speaker 5: we're giving you an opportunity to go match up against
Speaker 5: their receivers one on one as a winner and a
Speaker 5: loser and just go compete. And uh, I think from
Speaker 5: an offensive standpoint specifically, I think Spencer just did a
Speaker 5: really good job those last couple of games of just
Speaker 5: giving our playmakers opportunity to go make plays and just
Speaker 5: kind of had someone of a you know, screw up
Speaker 5: mentality and just let it all hang out there.
Speaker 1: It's gotta be a testament to your staff though, because
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, the middle of the year, if
Speaker 1: you're not playing your best ball, it's so easy for
Speaker 1: guys to either whether pack it in just kind of
Speaker 1: be discouraged, like keep feeding this the same bullshit weekend
Speaker 1: in a week out. So that has to be a
Speaker 1: testament to the staff that you have.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 5: The one word that always comes up when we talk
Speaker 5: to people or when people talk to me about our
Speaker 5: staff recruits players, players, families, is two words real and genuine,
Speaker 5: and I believe that. I mean, to me, that's a
Speaker 5: great compliment. Like what you see with us is what
Speaker 5: you get. And we're gonna coach these guys really really hard.
Speaker 5: We're to be demanding, hold them accountable, but we're gonna
Speaker 5: treat them with respect. We're gonna treat them right, and
Speaker 5: we're the same people each and every day. I'm sure
Speaker 5: you guys have been around coaches that they're on like
Speaker 5: an emotional roller coaster and they're high, they're low based
Speaker 5: off wins, losses, their mood that day. I mean, there's
Speaker 5: highs and lows throughout the season, but we as coaches
Speaker 5: really really try and just be consistent and steady throughout
Speaker 5: and hopefully our players feed off that.
Speaker 3: When you're when you finish this season, that a high
Speaker 3: note that you did. How do you in the New
Speaker 3: day and age attack like the transfer portal as opposed
Speaker 3: to the euro classic basic high school recruiting, Like is
Speaker 3: there like a difference you go about it or is
Speaker 3: there like different Like I really don't understand it a
Speaker 3: lot because when we played the transfer portal was basically
Speaker 3: you have to sit out for a year and it
Speaker 3: hardly ever happened. Like you commit somewhere, like you're you're there,
Speaker 3: and that's what it is, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 2: Like Juice. Like Juice, the portal worked out worked out
Speaker 2: great for him. I'm from JMU.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, and we've we've had a lot of guys that
Speaker 5: have come from smaller schools and nobody had ever heard
Speaker 5: of that we thought were good players, and they came
Speaker 5: here and it worked out great for us. It always
Speaker 5: starts with high school recruiting. But as the difference to
Speaker 5: me now is like when you guys were in high school,
Speaker 5: if a team was going to take if if Michigan
Speaker 5: was going to take five, they were going to take
Speaker 5: two offensive tackles, and in your signing class, and they
Speaker 5: had five guys that they offered scholarships to and they
Speaker 5: didn't get any of them, Well, at that point you
Speaker 5: kind of turn, I don't want to necessary necessarily say
Speaker 5: to play and B. The plan B would have been
Speaker 5: high school players six, seven, and eight.
Speaker 4: Maybe that isn't.
Speaker 5: Quite good enough, but we got to take them because
Speaker 5: we need two offensive tackles in today's time. It's all
Speaker 5: right if we don't feel like these guys are quite
Speaker 5: where they need to be high school wise, you can
Speaker 5: turn to the portal. So that's kind of how it
Speaker 5: is for us, if that makes sense. Yeah, we go
Speaker 5: into it right now. If you went in our staff
Speaker 5: room and looked at our recruiting board, we have target
Speaker 5: numbers for how many guys we want to sign at
Speaker 5: each position, and that's going to start in the high
Speaker 5: school ranks. But you don't have to quote unquote reach
Speaker 5: for somebody that maybe isn't quite good enough.
Speaker 4: You can go to the portal.
Speaker 5: Or it's a position that all right, we realize that
Speaker 5: we're losing for us. For example, last season, we knew
Speaker 5: we were losing off our twenty two team. We were
Speaker 5: going to lose five offensive linemen, three starters and two
Speaker 5: backups that were seniors.
Speaker 4: The worst thing there.
Speaker 5: Saying well crap, and we got a really good group
Speaker 5: of freshmen coming in. We need some experience and some
Speaker 5: older guys to come in and play offensive line. So
Speaker 5: we brought into transfer portal guys to play offensive line.
Speaker 5: And UH, I think it's situations like that where you
Speaker 5: need uh you don't have to go to the junior
Speaker 5: college ranks necessarily to get an older guy. You can
Speaker 5: find somebody in the portal as well, So it's it's
Speaker 5: definitely changed things. And and it's a lot like free
Speaker 5: agency in the NFL, and just trying to get the
Speaker 5: best guys here seems like.
Speaker 1: It's more difficult than the free agency in the NFL
Speaker 1: because in the NFL you're tied to a contract for
Speaker 1: a few years, and and in college it seems like
Speaker 1: it's basically just a frenzy any anytime guys can pick
Speaker 1: up and leave. How is that is that difficult to navigate? Like,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're out there, it feels like you
Speaker 1: got to recruit these guys all year around, you're in
Speaker 1: and year out. Now even when they're here, right, even
Speaker 1: when they're here, because you know they're looking like, oh,
Speaker 1: this this guy you know, might he might have got
Speaker 1: an NIL deal this other school, and he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: I played more than him, Maybe I deserve to go
Speaker 1: do that or go to another school.
Speaker 4: Like how really, really, really, really hard.
Speaker 5: And for a couple of reasons, And on what you
Speaker 5: just said to me is the one of the issues
Speaker 5: to a t is this guy heard that this guy
Speaker 5: got that. Well, the problem is with then iol there's
Speaker 5: no transparency, so you know, nobody really truly knows what
Speaker 5: anybody is getting. So guys hear different things. You know,
Speaker 5: we may have a guy on our team that here
Speaker 5: is at another team that a teammate of his is
Speaker 5: getting X, and why aren't I getting that? You know,
Speaker 5: there's that narrative, and then I can go somewhere else
Speaker 5: because this guy got this amount of money to go
Speaker 5: to this school. And you just don't truly know because
Speaker 5: there's so much transparency and bs if you will out
Speaker 5: there about what certain guys are getting and and it
Speaker 5: is you don't have contracts like the NFL.
Speaker 4: And then the.
Speaker 5: Portal windows are big, so they're in college football. There's
Speaker 5: basically a portal window that's open from like the first
Speaker 5: week of December to the middle of January where a
Speaker 5: guy can enter the portal. So, I mean it's one
Speaker 5: of those like every time my phone rings and it's
Speaker 5: a player, it's like, oh God, you know, what is
Speaker 5: he calling to tell me? And then we got anxiety, yeah,
Speaker 5: no doubt for six weeks, and we've got just a
Speaker 5: son of a bitch, and we've got the same thing
Speaker 5: coming up at the end of April.
Speaker 4: After spring practice.
Speaker 5: There's an other portal window opening up for two weeks
Speaker 5: where guys can transfer. And don't get me wrong, we've
Speaker 5: benefited from it, Spencer Jews. A lot of guys on
Speaker 5: our team that we've brought in here is as transfers.
Speaker 4: So it's one of those Yeah, you can frame it as.
Speaker 5: Recruiting your own team, but we're not going to change
Speaker 5: who we are. And all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 5: treat these guys with kid gloves because we're worried about
Speaker 5: upsetting somebody and him leaving.
Speaker 4: Like we're gonna be us.
Speaker 5: I don't coach any differently than what I did free
Speaker 5: Transfer Portal, and I don't think any of our coaches do.
Speaker 4: We're gonna care about these.
Speaker 5: Guys and love them and coach them really really hard,
Speaker 5: and and and day in day out, you know, be
Speaker 5: real where this is a program that they want to
Speaker 5: be a part of.
Speaker 4: And at the end of the day, if.
Speaker 5: A guy feels like he can be better suited somewhere else,
Speaker 5: and wish him well and we move on.
Speaker 1: What about a guy that is in a graiaroa who
Speaker 1: feels like he's not getting as much of an opportunity
Speaker 1: as in his mind, he feels like he should be
Speaker 1: and you see a lot of upside in him and potential,
Speaker 1: Like what is that conversation or what is that messaging?
Speaker 2: Like like when he comes to your office and he's
Speaker 2: kind of up in the air about it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, uh, just being honest with them and having those
Speaker 5: conversations about here's where we see you. I mean, we
Speaker 5: had those conversations last The transfer portal window after spring
Speaker 5: practice is good because you know, you guys know there's
Speaker 5: going to be guys that go through spring practice for
Speaker 5: us and at the end of spring practice you have
Speaker 5: a general idea of what their role is going to
Speaker 5: be this year, and it may not be as impactful
Speaker 5: as they want it to be. So I had those
Speaker 5: conversations last spring, and I'm sure I will this year
Speaker 5: that look so and so we don't want you to leave.
Speaker 5: You're going to be a senior though this is your
Speaker 5: last year of eligibility. Here's your role right now. You're
Speaker 5: the fifth defensive tackle for us right now, or you're
Speaker 5: going to be our fourth offensive tackle coming out of
Speaker 5: spring practice. That can change over the summer in preseason camp.
Speaker 5: But if you want to go somewhere and start and
Speaker 5: be able to play a lot more, you may want
Speaker 5: to look, you know, going somewhere else. I mean, I'll
Speaker 5: always have those conversations with guys and be honest and
Speaker 5: not bs them and tell them what they want to hear,
Speaker 5: because I don't want to lose a roster spot. But
Speaker 5: you also, you know, we just want want to tell
Speaker 5: guys that truth too and with where they stand and
Speaker 5: always be you know, transparent.
Speaker 3: Also when you are navigating the nil deals, which I know,
Speaker 3: like there's rules that the university can't be involved, but
Speaker 3: you can have third parties. It's really like we said,
Speaker 3: the Wild West of what's going on in college football
Speaker 3: right now. But you're sitting in a room full of
Speaker 3: guys that are from all sorts of different incomes growing up.
Speaker 3: You have guys that are in the one percent their
Speaker 3: parents are did really well, and guys that are coming
Speaker 3: in from you know, government cheese type stuff. And these
Speaker 3: guys are getting deals, whether it's a six figure deal,
Speaker 3: fifty thousand dollars something like that. How do you kind
Speaker 3: of temper jealousy in that locker room when guys feel slighted.
Speaker 3: Is there a role that you feel like you should
Speaker 3: take on as a head coach of being like, hey,
Speaker 3: like if you're comparing it to a thief of joy, Like,
Speaker 3: let's not.
Speaker 4: Focus on that right now. It's focused on what we
Speaker 4: can do. Yeah, no, it is.
Speaker 5: It is to me one of the biggest challenges for
Speaker 5: not just me, but probably any head coach right now
Speaker 5: is just navigating that. You know, because we got one
Speaker 5: hundred and twenty guys on our football team. You count
Speaker 5: scholarship guys, walk ons, everybody. We got one hundred and
Speaker 5: twenty football players. That a lot of a lot of
Speaker 5: personalities and a lot of different backgrounds that these guys
Speaker 5: are coming from. You know, basketball, They're dealing with ten
Speaker 5: to fifteen players. I'm dealing with one hundred and twenty.
Speaker 5: So it's it's something I'll be honest with you. I
Speaker 5: wish I had a great answer for you. I'm still
Speaker 5: learning each and every day and how to best navigate it.
Speaker 5: Do you talk about it? Do you not talk about it?
Speaker 5: Do you have individual conversations with guys? Do you do
Speaker 5: you talk about it as a group?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 5: But the one thing is we talk out here all
Speaker 5: the time about you know, the team and old adage,
Speaker 5: I mean, the most the more success the team has,
Speaker 5: the more it's gonna be great for individuals as well,
Speaker 5: and I've been able for me. I've used examples of
Speaker 5: other teams maybe in other sports where nil or whatever
Speaker 5: you want to call it, a fractured locker room has
Speaker 5: really affected the team's ability to perform on the field.
Speaker 5: You know, great talented teams, and why didn't they win
Speaker 5: football games all? They weren't very strong in the locker
Speaker 5: room and they had a bunch of jealousies and things
Speaker 5: like that as well. So the more examples that we
Speaker 5: could point out about that and the better. But it's
Speaker 5: something I'll be honest, and I'm still kind of navigating
Speaker 5: through and each and every day is different and I'm
Speaker 5: learning each and every day the best way to handle it.
Speaker 3: Also, it seems like everything you just said send on
Speaker 3: so much like the NFL, Like Rabel will sit in
Speaker 3: front of the team meeting room and be like, hey,
Speaker 3: you guys want more money, win games. Teams want guys
Speaker 3: who have experience winning, and so it just kind of
Speaker 3: seems like this is legit turning into the minor leagues.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we literally had that conversation NFL in
Speaker 5: an offensive team meeting where we talked about, look, we
Speaker 5: won eight games last year and went to the Gator
Speaker 5: Bowl and that was great.
Speaker 4: Well, it's just like whether it be in IL or whatever.
Speaker 5: You win more games, you go to better bowl games,
Speaker 5: you go to better bowl games, you get better gifts.
Speaker 5: You know, you get more in IL opportunities, the more
Speaker 5: you win if you're on the national stage. So our
Speaker 5: guys know it. But you know, let's not let's not
Speaker 5: lose sight of they're here to play football. They're here
Speaker 5: to get an education, and they need to graduate from
Speaker 5: this university. And then if they can capitalize on their name,
Speaker 5: image and likeness along the way, more power to them.
Speaker 5: And we want to help them, you know, in any way.
Speaker 5: But let's not lose sight of why these people have
Speaker 5: given you this, why you have this opportunity, and that
Speaker 5: you can you know, the best thing that.
Speaker 4: You can do is is go be a good student
Speaker 4: and go play really good football.
Speaker 1: Right keeping the main thing, the main thing exactly. You
Speaker 1: guys beat Tennessee, you beat Clemson. You guys, have you
Speaker 1: guys finished strong? How do you carry that same standard
Speaker 1: over in the next year so that way you don't
Speaker 1: get off to.
Speaker 2: A slow start.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the other one. You know, I got here,
Speaker 5: I got hired December twenty twenty. I got hired, and
Speaker 5: when I came into that program, my biggest challenge was
Speaker 5: instilling some confidence into this football team because it wasn't
Speaker 5: a very confident team and they did not necessarily expect
Speaker 5: to win, and you had to build that belief that
Speaker 5: felt us we're good enough, you know, we can win
Speaker 5: football games in this league. Now fast forward two years
Speaker 5: later or two years later, and you're sitting here. I
Speaker 5: don't want to say tempering expectations, but let's understand all
Speaker 5: the work that went into winning eight games last season.
Speaker 5: We sit at a bunch players are probably tired of
Speaker 5: me hearing it, like, we just can't assume that everything's
Speaker 5: going to go well this year because it went well
Speaker 5: last year. At the end of the season, like this
Speaker 5: is a whole new team in so many ways. Yeah,
Speaker 5: we got a lot of returning players, but we've also
Speaker 5: got a bunch of new faces, coaches, players, transfers, freshmen
Speaker 5: coming in on and on and on. So it's let's
Speaker 5: let's look back at what we did well last year,
Speaker 5: continue to build on that with the great players that
Speaker 5: we have returning, Let's look at the things that we
Speaker 5: weren't very good at last year, and there's a lot
Speaker 5: of things that we have to improve on as a
Speaker 5: football team, and definitely not lose sight of all the
Speaker 5: work that put that went into us being able to
Speaker 5: win those games down the stretch, win eight games and
Speaker 5: make sure that nobody's satisfied, Like I didn't. We have
Speaker 5: higher expectations here. We're really really proud of what we
Speaker 5: did last season in the progress we've made. But I
Speaker 5: didn't come here to be the to be a head
Speaker 5: coach that was seven and six and eight and five
Speaker 5: every single season, Like, we have higher expectations than we should,
Speaker 5: and we're just getting started in our minds.
Speaker 3: When you spoke on tempering expectations with the guys, when
Speaker 3: you walk into a program as lacking confidence, what was
Speaker 3: your approach, Like, how did you dissect that, we're all right,
Speaker 3: we're lacking confidence here? And then how did you approach
Speaker 3: it of how you're going to give guys confidence.
Speaker 5: I dissected it when I met with I got hired,
Speaker 5: and when I got hired, I met with every single
Speaker 5: player on the team individually in my office. So one
Speaker 5: hundred plus guys just get to know you tell me
Speaker 5: about yourself, where you're from, tell me much family, what
Speaker 5: are you majoring in?
Speaker 4: Why'd you choose South Carolina?
Speaker 5: But then I asked every single one of them at
Speaker 5: the end of the conversation, why are we a two
Speaker 5: win team? Like why is the coach that you came
Speaker 5: here to play for no longer the head coach? And
Speaker 5: why am I sitting in this office? And what needs
Speaker 5: to change for us to have success? And I wrote
Speaker 5: down everything that all one hundred plus players told me
Speaker 5: and then just added it up, and a lot of
Speaker 5: the same issues kept coming up over and over and
Speaker 5: over again. Of those was there was a lack of
Speaker 5: confidence some guys, not everybody, but a handful of guys
Speaker 5: that didn't didn't believe that they could truly win on Saturdays,
Speaker 5: and we needed to overcome that. So for me, it
Speaker 5: was just early on celebrating every small victory and accomplishment
Speaker 5: inside this building, outside this building, academics, you name it,
Speaker 5: just celebrating those and then just pointing out the good
Speaker 5: football players that we had on this team, the individuals,
Speaker 5: the progress that we were making, and then just also
Speaker 5: I think, you know, when you enjoy what you're doing
Speaker 5: and enjoy coming to work, or coming in this facility
Speaker 5: each day that hopefully builds confidence over time, and that's
Speaker 5: what we try to get back to as well, where yeah,
Speaker 5: we work really really hard here, but let's have some
Speaker 5: fun and let's make these guys or let's hope these
Speaker 5: guys just learn to enjoy coming into this facility each day.
Speaker 4: And it just kind of took off from there.
Speaker 2: Seems like the boys love playing for you, hope.
Speaker 4: So it's a fun group. You know.
Speaker 5: I got into this for a lot of different reasons,
Speaker 5: but relationships and just being with the guys is right
Speaker 5: at the time.
Speaker 4: And I truly it's not coach speak.
Speaker 5: I love coming in this building each and every day,
Speaker 5: Like we got a bunch of really good dudes on
Speaker 5: this team, really good people, uh, in this program, and
Speaker 5: even after a loss, like I can't wait to get
Speaker 5: back in here the next day and get right back
Speaker 5: to work.
Speaker 2: So what was I gonna ask? I can't remember. I'm
Speaker 2: drawing a blank.
Speaker 3: Right from a recruiting standpoint, what's selling point on South Carolina? Like,
Speaker 3: if we were trying to recruit us, what you didn't yep,
Speaker 3: that's okay?
Speaker 2: Were we're not good? Big ten? Big ten?
Speaker 3: One of us yeah, I had no SEC offers the
Speaker 3: best conference in the game.
Speaker 4: Wow, not even Vanderbilt, that's terrible. That was more of
Speaker 4: a great thing.
Speaker 3: I hope if you're sitting here, got a couple five
Speaker 3: stars sitting right now, and you want to sell us
Speaker 3: the dream in Columbia.
Speaker 5: Yep, I will tell you that we have everything that
Speaker 5: you need to be successful here and for us to
Speaker 5: win championships. Uh, we can win at the highest level.
Speaker 5: We got a beautiful city to go to school in.
Speaker 5: South Carolina is an awesome state to live. Close to
Speaker 5: the beach or close to the mountains. There's great academics
Speaker 5: capital city of South Carolina, so there's a lot of
Speaker 5: good from that standpoint.
Speaker 4: Academics are strong here. It's a great school as well.
Speaker 5: We've shown in other sports women's basketball, currently baseball, about
Speaker 5: ten years ago that you can win national championships here.
Speaker 5: There's no reason why we can't do it in football.
Speaker 5: When I got hired here as the head coach, I
Speaker 5: wanted to create a program that in my mind like
Speaker 5: checked all the boxes as far as everything that you
Speaker 5: needed to be successful. And I feel like we have
Speaker 5: development in the weight room, nutrition, the facility that we
Speaker 5: work in and out of each and every day anywhere
Speaker 5: that you are.
Speaker 4: You want to have a good recruiting base to recruit to,
Speaker 4: and we do.
Speaker 5: We got a lot of great players in this area
Speaker 5: and within a five hour radius. And then for me,
Speaker 5: it's just the challenge of doing something that hasn't been
Speaker 5: done before. But you can here at Carolina like I
Speaker 5: was here as an assistant coach before. In twenty ten,
Speaker 5: we played in the SEC champ Ship game against Aubert
Speaker 5: and cam Newton and we lost.
Speaker 4: But we got to that game in Atlanta and we
Speaker 4: did it.
Speaker 5: And we didn't have any of this, this facility that
Speaker 5: we're in and all the resources that we have here,
Speaker 5: we didn't have any of that. And now I see
Speaker 5: what we have. So there's no reason why we can't
Speaker 5: get back. And as a competitor, you want to compete
Speaker 5: in the highest level. No disrespect to the Big Ten,
Speaker 5: but the SEC is the best conference in all the
Speaker 5: college football. So if you want to play against the
Speaker 5: best and compete against the best, come on.
Speaker 3: We have no remember talk, We have no room to
Speaker 3: talk right now. We're talking about after Michigan and Ouse.
Speaker 3: You're right, it's just nice to have a little bit
Speaker 3: one thing we do have is there are two Big
Speaker 3: ten teams in the collegeball playoffs.
Speaker 2: Yeah, little trash talk never hurts anybody else.
Speaker 1: Speaking of trash talk, would it be fair to say
Speaker 1: that the South Carolina game Cocks are the team to
Speaker 1: beat in the state of South Carolina?
Speaker 5: Oh, We've got great respect for our rival and that.
Speaker 4: We need to clip. We need to clip, we need
Speaker 4: to clip. We got great respect.
Speaker 5: And I got told Dabo after the game this year.
Speaker 5: We were able to win that football game and we
Speaker 5: played really, really well, and a big part of that
Speaker 5: was because we knew what it would take to beat
Speaker 5: a team you know, like that as well. So it's
Speaker 5: two great programs and it's great for the state when
Speaker 5: when both teams or both teams are good. I was
Speaker 5: apart when I was here as an assistant the beginning
Speaker 5: of a five game winning streak against those guys, So
Speaker 5: we certainly need to get back to that as well.
Speaker 3: Sorry, do you think could you guarantee there we go
Speaker 3: game talk fans that you guys will beat Clemson this year?
Speaker 5: Gosh, Ryan, I respect it. I guarantee. It's too makes
Speaker 5: it real, you know what I'm saying. It's gonna be
Speaker 5: a hell of an atmosphere across the street and wins
Speaker 5: Rice Stadium the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And I can promise
Speaker 5: you we know the importance of that game and and
Speaker 5: uh uh we got a lot of work to do
Speaker 5: before them, but we can't wait for that Saturday as well.
Speaker 2: I was reading an article on the onion.
Speaker 1: You are quoted saying, dabbo little weenie Sweeney, can you
Speaker 1: confirm that?
Speaker 5: Cannot I don't remember saying that. I've said a lot
Speaker 5: of things. I don't remember that one. That's a new
Speaker 5: one for me. I like how you threw out the
Speaker 5: onion though. For that though, I'm just saying, for.
Speaker 1: Anybody are you watching in season here is at least
Speaker 1: all those people will be like, Okay, he's he stated
Speaker 1: the onion not even sure.
Speaker 3: I'd just changing gears a little bit. January second, twenty twelve.
Speaker 3: Was that a first down?
Speaker 4: It was a catch? Talking about yeah, Danny Gold.
Speaker 3: No, I'm talking about Michigan versus Michigan versus Virginia Tech.
Speaker 5: Right, No, oh, I'm talking Well, I was going to
Speaker 5: bring it up with you. You guys robbed the twenty
Speaker 5: eleven season Sugar Bowl from Virginia Tech because we caught
Speaker 5: a ball in the inz and that was a call.
Speaker 4: Yeah it was. It was twenty eleven season.
Speaker 5: I thought you were bringing back up first down January first,
Speaker 5: twenty twelve.
Speaker 4: Help me were on that one?
Speaker 3: January second, twenty twelve was the outback bull. There was
Speaker 3: a guy who played here that Yeah, we won't bring
Speaker 3: that one up.
Speaker 5: The Virginia Tech one is still rawl in my mind
Speaker 5: as well from the Sugar Bowl that night.
Speaker 4: So we cut that doup and that legit game.
Speaker 2: He was Rginia.
Speaker 4: You're a Virginia coach there at the time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we donkeyed that.
Speaker 4: We dominated that entire game. I wouldn't go that far.
Speaker 3: I mean, we went to overtime, but like you could
Speaker 3: see the line of scrimmage. The way it was twin,
Speaker 3: the way it was swaying was very it was very
Speaker 3: they're running back, you really doing scrimmage. We were moving
Speaker 3: at ease whatever we wanted we could really is why
Speaker 3: I was closest we had, you know, a couple of
Speaker 3: maybe play calls could have been a little bit different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, coaches were kind of trying.
Speaker 4: To get too cute with it.
Speaker 2: Oh so you're blaming the coaches. Yeah, but we won,
Speaker 2: so there's no blaming.
Speaker 4: Yes, you know that.
Speaker 3: We were on Bourbon Street that night and the boys
Speaker 3: were stoked. We had a good time. That's like the
Speaker 3: literally only bowl game. That's the only bowl game I won.
Speaker 3: That's the only relevant bowl game we went to.
Speaker 2: Too.
Speaker 4: Well, I wasn't putting the years together with Carolanta Michigan.
Speaker 2: You were you in, you were here.
Speaker 4: You weren't here not for that game, for that hit.
Speaker 4: I was not here for that. You saw it on TV.
Speaker 2: It was number one play for they had to retire it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, dude, I remember about to play that game and
Speaker 3: my coaches like it was like the only game I
Speaker 3: really prepared for in college because everyone was like clown
Speaker 3: and clown and clown put the film on boys. I
Speaker 3: played pretty well, And after the game, I'm like, I
Speaker 3: was hight.
Speaker 1: Those first rounds, guys, Hey, I played pretty well, brother,
Speaker 1: you in the first everybody everybody.
Speaker 3: Was gone at that point, like no one could stop him.
Speaker 3: And I had a good game, and I go and
Speaker 3: I'm like so fired up. I turn on Sports Center
Speaker 3: and sure, now that's all they talked about for the
Speaker 3: next two and a half years. Seemed like just leaving
Speaker 3: your tight end out to dry. The Titans should have
Speaker 3: made that block. I'm not in the game right now,
Speaker 3: like I can be. I don't have to be accountable
Speaker 3: for nothing.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: Remember when George's dad came on, he was like, no,
Speaker 2: that's not.
Speaker 3: The Yeah, I mean, anybody who knows ball knows it
Speaker 3: wasn't my block. So I don't need a George Kittles dad.
Speaker 3: He don't know takes great accountability. I'm a great. I'm
Speaker 3: a great. You want me in the locker room. You
Speaker 3: absolutely want me in the locker room.
Speaker 2: Definitely getting off the bus too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean not now, but like about forty pounds ago, absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 3: I feel I mean, you still look good. You just
Speaker 3: told me I seemed like I was bullimic about an
Speaker 3: hour ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but that was off camera. We're on camera now,
Speaker 2: Like I'm trying to positive.
Speaker 4: You look great.
Speaker 3: You all see who Will Compton really is? You all
Speaker 3: see it is so we didn't mean to turn this
Speaker 3: into us. Is there anything we're missing that we should
Speaker 3: ask you?
Speaker 4: I think you've covered the gamut on that one for sure.
Speaker 4: What's your thought on uh on gambling? On sports gambling?
Speaker 4: Was forced mean y'are hit me with everything right.
Speaker 2: When you guys lost against MISSOO this year and I.
Speaker 5: Was some people had some questions about Yeah, I was
Speaker 5: really I was really carried.
Speaker 2: I start.
Speaker 1: That's when I started to carry the South Carolina flag.
Speaker 1: I was like, I think this is because JP Big,
Speaker 1: he's our he's our game Cock analyst. I was like, hey,
Speaker 1: there's a lot to be excited about. He's like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, there's always once a year the game Cocks.
Speaker 1: That was a tough night, tough late afternoon. That one
Speaker 1: was for sure gambling was I'll tread lightly on that
Speaker 1: one because I just got the email about do not
Speaker 1: make sure make sure nobody on your team or your
Speaker 1: organization is betting on the NCAA tournament and all that
Speaker 1: as well. So I just got that email from our
Speaker 1: compliance office. So so you're not right with the women's
Speaker 1: basketball team.
Speaker 4: I'm riding with them. I'm not a betting on.
Speaker 5: Yeah, legally, my hand up and say the money on
Speaker 5: Dawn and her team?
Speaker 4: JP, do you got anything? Hm?
Speaker 3: You want to re ask that question?
Speaker 1: JP said when his players, after they get them playing
Speaker 1: for him for four years, what is the big takeaway?
Speaker 2: He wants them to have one walking away.
Speaker 4: That's a good question. Is a great question, A great question.
Speaker 4: That is a great question.
Speaker 5: I would hope that when they graduated, you know, for one,
Speaker 5: so when I sat in their home as a seventeen
Speaker 5: year old and talked to their parents about the experience
Speaker 5: they would have at Carolina that included graduating from college,
Speaker 5: they walk out of here with a degree. But I
Speaker 5: would hope that they say that myself and the entire
Speaker 5: staff treated them with respect, treated them right, were the
Speaker 5: same people day and day out, and got the most
Speaker 5: out of them as a person and a player, you
Speaker 5: know as well. And that's what's cool as a coach
Speaker 5: is as I've gotten older that now I'm going to
Speaker 5: weddings of guys that I coached, and guys that I
Speaker 5: was in college with were recruiting their sons and things
Speaker 5: like that. Just those relationships that you have, that those
Speaker 5: would they would have such a great experience here that
Speaker 5: they'd want to continue to have those relationships.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: When I were for coach Burrier here, he used to
Speaker 5: always say, you know, if you had if you were
Speaker 5: a great coach and your players enjoyed playing for you,
Speaker 5: they're gonna come around all the time after they're playing
Speaker 5: days are over, and I would hope that we continue
Speaker 5: to have guys that come back here all the time
Speaker 5: because of the experience they had here.
Speaker 4: That is a great question. That's a great question.
Speaker 1: I think that's well said too, because you know, like
Speaker 1: when you're going back around the program that knows you
Speaker 1: you fucked with the staff.
Speaker 4: There, Yeah, big time. If you could fight.
Speaker 3: Any SEC coach, nice, nice, And I'm not saying I
Speaker 3: am saying if you could fight one SEC coach, who
Speaker 3: would that coach be?
Speaker 4: If I could fight them?
Speaker 1: Or power slap power power slap, power slap one SEC coach?
Speaker 2: Who would it be?
Speaker 3: Two questions this is this is developing. Who would you
Speaker 3: want to fight? And who do you think you could
Speaker 3: beat in a fight? This is hard hitting journalism. You're welcome.
Speaker 3: I hope you're enjoying yourself. Who we really are?
Speaker 4: No, I feel I'm sure I feel like you are.
Speaker 4: You didn't reciprocate.
Speaker 2: That's okay.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm having a good time.
Speaker 5: There's a few I'd say that certainly at times, I've
Speaker 5: definitely uh, I would want to fight with as well.
Speaker 5: We sit in those head coaches meetings and it's we're
Speaker 5: all competitors and we're intense, and it's, uh, there's great
Speaker 5: respect for one another. But there's things that happen outside
Speaker 5: that room and things like that that you're kind of like,
Speaker 5: come on, man, I'm not gonna say a name, but
Speaker 5: there's a few, And who would I Who do I
Speaker 5: feel like I could take?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 5: I worked with I worked with Sam Pittman at Georgia.
Speaker 5: I worked with Kirby when I was at Georgia. So
Speaker 5: I mean I know both those guys. Well, I feel
Speaker 5: like from a quickness standpoint, agility all that, I could
Speaker 5: probably take Sam. You know, he may be in a
Speaker 5: beer drinking contest or something like that.
Speaker 4: I'm sure.
Speaker 5: But Sam and Sam and I were neighbors at South Carolina,
Speaker 5: so and he's a little bit older than me, so
Speaker 5: I don't I mean, neighbors at Georgia.
Speaker 4: So I don't know. There's a few. I mean, I'm
Speaker 4: not to toot.
Speaker 5: My own horn, but I stay pretty active and I
Speaker 5: try and work out regularly and things like, well, I
Speaker 5: appreciate you saying so, I really feel like I could
Speaker 5: hold my own and be okay with all thirteen other
Speaker 5: ones in that room.
Speaker 4: I mean, there'd be.
Speaker 5: Some battles, but but uh, you know, there's a few
Speaker 5: in particular that I would be a priority at the
Speaker 5: top of the list.
Speaker 4: Maybe one your schedule.
Speaker 1: Who's a team that you love to obviously be up
Speaker 1: late in the fourth quarter and grinning thinking I got you, motherfucker.
Speaker 5: My wife and I literally just had that conversation this
Speaker 5: morning about a team in the sec that goes back
Speaker 5: to who I'd want to fight right now as well.
Speaker 5: There's one in particular right now that I'm not really
Speaker 5: high on. And my wife literally just said, you know,
Speaker 5: we need this year when we play them, YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 5: So ask me again, y'all come back during the season
Speaker 5: and we'll I want to know about.
Speaker 4: Tell us camera, I'll tell you off camera.
Speaker 2: Just recording, like, yeah, I'm juiced up now.
Speaker 4: I look.
Speaker 2: I'm a I'm a bit of a South Carolina fan.
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, Now.
Speaker 3: Be easy on that though, because we became Tennessee fans
Speaker 3: last year.
Speaker 2: I'm pretty easy to win over as long as we
Speaker 2: have a good time.
Speaker 1: But hearing his players talk, listening to him talk, I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm like I'm rooting for the boys now.
Speaker 4: We would, I would play for you. Appreciate you. Yeah,
Speaker 4: you seem like a great guy and a good coach.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: In all honestly, that's a huge compliment.
Speaker 2: And Coach Eckler speaks highly of you, So I'm like,
Speaker 2: I'm I'm an Eckler guy. You know what I mean?
Speaker 5: Likewise, well, knowing the respect I have for you guys,
Speaker 5: for you say that means a lot.
Speaker 4: Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: One last question that I have, can you talk about
Speaker 1: the development of Spencer Radler since coming from Oklahoma? Obviously
Speaker 1: had he had a falling out with Oklahoma, can you
Speaker 1: just talk about how he's developed as a player and
Speaker 1: a man.
Speaker 2: Yeah, now that he's going into this fifth year.
Speaker 4: He's been awesome.
Speaker 5: I was with him at Oklahoma, so I knew what
Speaker 5: kind of person he was.
Speaker 2: You were with him at Oklahoma.
Speaker 4: I'm Oklahoma. Two seasons we were together. We were two seasons.
Speaker 5: I think it was great for Spencer because Spencer was
Speaker 5: there in twenty nineteen and Jalen Hurts came in as
Speaker 5: a transfer from Alabama and was our quarterback that ou
Speaker 5: Spencer all that transition, transition with Jalen and how he
Speaker 5: handled it, which I think I don't know Spencer would
Speaker 5: say this. I think it helped Spencer when he came
Speaker 5: here because he had seen somebody high profile like Jalen
Speaker 5: Hurts come in there and do what he did, and
Speaker 5: he was awesome when he got here.
Speaker 4: Last year.
Speaker 5: He didn't come in and all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 5: I'm Spencer Rattler and act differently. He came in and
Speaker 5: earned the respect of his teammates with the way that
Speaker 5: he worked in the weight room, and then he took
Speaker 5: a lot of crap throughout the season last year, some
Speaker 5: of it not necessarily justified because of you know, maybe
Speaker 5: how we were performing and he wasn't playing his best.
Speaker 5: And you guys know, I mean, the head coach and
Speaker 5: the offensive coordinator, they're gonna take the most offense coordinator,
Speaker 5: head coach and the quarterback are going to take the
Speaker 5: most criticism of anybody in the program. When things are
Speaker 5: going well, they get a ton of credit. When things
Speaker 5: are going bad, they get all the blame. And he
Speaker 5: wore that but never changed and just continued to work
Speaker 5: and get better. And I was so excited for him
Speaker 5: to have the success that he had last season, especially
Speaker 5: towards the end of the year. And then that's just
Speaker 5: carried over into this year with the way that these
Speaker 5: come back and it's his team and the leadership that
Speaker 5: he's showing and the work ethic and all that as well.
Speaker 4: He's been awesome.
Speaker 3: Where were you out in the process when he was
Speaker 3: thinking about going at the draft, Like how involved were
Speaker 3: you with him?
Speaker 5: Ah? Very but wanting to give him his space as well,
Speaker 5: you know, I mean I told him early on that, look, man,
Speaker 5: I'm not gonna obviously I want you to come back,
Speaker 5: and I'm not going to lie to you to try
Speaker 5: and get you to come back.
Speaker 4: I'll get you all the information you need.
Speaker 5: I'll get you on the phone with anybody in the
Speaker 5: NFL you want to talk to that I've got a
Speaker 5: connection with a relationship with and let's make the best
Speaker 5: decision for you. And if it's coming back to South Carolina, great,
Speaker 5: and if it's not, there'll be no bigger fan of
Speaker 5: yours in the NFL than me. And I had those
Speaker 5: conversations with him, I had those conversations with his dad
Speaker 5: as well, and it was an open, you know, communication
Speaker 5: throughout and Spencer said it and it's the truth. Like really,
Speaker 5: in the month of December, he was focused on that
Speaker 5: bowl game, and we I think I talked to his
Speaker 5: dad maybe twice, and Spencer wants about it in the
Speaker 5: month of December, and it was like, let's just get
Speaker 5: through the bowl and then we'll make a decision.
Speaker 4: And then we did, and all right, we got through
Speaker 4: the ball game.
Speaker 5: And there were a lot of conversations that were taking
Speaker 5: place after the bowl game as well about whether he
Speaker 5: was going to come back or not, and and I
Speaker 5: just tried to be there to answer any questions, telling
Speaker 5: him what I thought.
Speaker 4: And how much I wanted him back.
Speaker 5: We were naming we were hiring a new offensive coordinator
Speaker 5: during that time, so that hire was going to be
Speaker 5: really really critical because that guy obviously was going to
Speaker 5: be working with Spencer, and Spencer needed to develop a
Speaker 5: relationship with him as well and feel like he did.
Speaker 4: So it was. It was a good process, very open
Speaker 4: and very engaging. Awesome.
Speaker 2: Awesome, man, We appreciate your time. This was this is incredible.
Speaker 4: Guys are awesome. I appreciate you, and I mean that
Speaker 4: y'all need to come back more often.
Speaker 2: We will, don't worry, we will