Why Shane Beamer wanted to keep Mike Bobo running the South Carolina offense
When Shane Beamer was first hired at South Carolina, he spoke about how his last career change, jumping form Georgia to Oklahoma, was centered on learning from the offensive stylings of Lincoln Riley.
But in Year 1 with the Gamecocks, the style that will attempt to incorporate those concepts is a somewhat familiar one to USC fans: Bobo Ball.
The choice to retain offensive coordinator Mike Bobo was an unorthodox one. His first and only offense in Columbia had some highs and lows, but it was not highly productive and could not help former head coach Will Muschamp retain his job after a 2-5 start.
But Beamer on Monday explained the Oklahoma offense and what Bobo runs are not too far apart philosophy-wise. He also said that if Bobo had not been on staff in Columbia, he would have been the first call.
And there’s some history there.
“When I was with my dad at Virginia Tech, we tried to hire Mike,” Beamer said, noting they went as far as sending a plane to Athens.
He also noted that Bobo stepped into a tough situation.
Bobo’s 2020 offense averaged 23.5 points per game and was 66th nationally in points per drive, playing at one of the slower paces nationally. It came in at 91st in yards per play.
There were some bright spots, namely a running game that got Kevin Harris more than 1,100 yards in 10 game and some solid moments from Shi Smith and Nick Muse.
But receiver depth was non-existent and QB play was not great. Problems at offensive tackle didn’t help, but Gamecocks quarterbacks were often guilty of holding onto the ball too long.
In the end, it was a group that showed some flashes and had more than a few well-designed plays, but was not all that consistent across the season.
There’s also a question of Bobo’s style, which can lean toward slower tempo and traditional power run looks, meeting up with a Riley-inspired vision, which had an Air Raid hurry-up base, but could also morph into more modern-power run schemes with personnel.
Beamer hired longtime Bobo lieutenant Will Friend to run the offensive line, replacing Eric Wolford, and retained Des Kitchings, who worked with Harris and top running back recruit MarShawn Lloyd (he missed last year with a torn ACL). The team is still in the market for a wide receivers coach.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Why Shane Beamer wanted to keep Mike Bobo running the South Carolina offense."
