Count South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer among those who are happy that Brent Venables is no longer Clemson’s defensive coordinator.
In his first season as the Gamecocks’ head coach last year, Beamer’s matchup against the Tigers on Nov. 27, 2021, did not go well for him. Venables’ defense did not allow a first down until 18 minutes into the game, and Clemson led 17-0 prior to surrendering a first down. The Tigers held South Carolina to 43 rushing yards, 206 total yards and 12 first downs while forcing two turnovers en route to a 30-0 victory that marked Clemson’s 23rd shutout of South Carolina all-time and its first since Danny Ford’s Tigers shut out South Carolina, 45-0, in 1989.
Beamer said recently during an interview with Kegan Reneau on Through the Keyhole: An Oklahoma Football Podcast that he is glad Venables has departed from Clemson and was “stoked” when Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione hired Venables to be the Sooners’ new head coach.
“Just from a defensive standpoint, the amount of stuff they do defensively – and now that Oklahoma will do, I’m sure – I don’t know how you coach it all,” Beamer said. “I mean, they were the biggest challenge for us to get ready for because there’s just so many things that they do. And there’s a lot of teams you can say OK, they’re going to be in a four-down, even front, they’re going to play quarters coverage and they’ll mix in a little bit of man free. Or hey, these guys are three-down, odd and they’re going to pressure you a lot, and that’s it. I mean, with Clemson, with Coach Venables, it was just so much stuff, you didn’t know, and being able to adjust to different formations and things like that. So, that was the biggest thing for me is just the schematic challenges that they presented as you prepared for the game, and then during the game as well. We obviously did not handle it well at all and played really, really bad in all phases – not just our offense versus their defense.
“But I’m glad he’s gone, I know that. There were a lot of people on our offensive staff, including me, that were stoked when he got that job, for sure. Congrats, and thank you, Joe C, for that.”
"I'm glad he's gone, I know that. There were a lot of people on our offensive staff, including me, that were stoked when (Brent Venables) got that job for sure. Congrats, and thank you, Joe C for that."
Thanks for joining the podcast again this offseason, @CoachSBeamer! pic.twitter.com/sGjSO5rvbz
— Kegan Reneau (@KeganReneau) February 28, 2022
–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
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