Like father, like son. UK needs to watch out for South Carolina’s special teams.

Random notes:

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was 4 years old when his father, the legendary Frank Beamer, was named the head coach at Murray State in 1981. After going 42-23-2 in five years guiding the Racers, Frank Beamer was hired by Virginia Tech. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Kentucky travels to Columbia on Saturday night for Shane Beamer’s first SEC home game as the Gamecocks’ coach. That calls for a little history.

Frank Beamer went 238-121-2 over his 29 years as head coach of the Hokies. Virginia Tech finished the season in the AP’s top 10 seven times. With Michael Vick at quarterback, it played for the 1999 national title, losing to Bobby Bowden and Florida State.

Shane was the assistant head coach under his father from 2011 until Frank Beamer’s retirement in 2015. Before that, Shane served on Steve Spurrier’s staff at South Carolina. After leaving Virginia Tech, Beamer was an assistant under Kirby Smart at Georgia and Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma before becoming head coach of the Gamecocks.

Frank Beamer’s teams were known for great special teams play. Like father, like son? South Carolina blocked two punts in the first half of Beamer’s debut, a 46-0 rout of Eastern Illinois. It returned a kickoff 63 yards to set up the game-tying field goal at East Carolina, then won it on Parker White’s 36-yard field goal at the final horn. Kentucky has to be aware of all that on Saturday night.

“Definitely,” UK Coach Mark Stoops said on Monday. “Shane’s background is heavy in special teams as well.”

▪ I think UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen is being too hard on himself concerning his game plan last week. After all, Chattanooga is an FCS school. Kentucky was a 31-point favorite. Coen’s plan was to work on aspects of the offense — short and intermediate throws in the passing game; receiver depth; getting Kavosiey Smoke some carries — that would help the Wildcats down the line.

▪ As a receiver, Wan’Dale Robinson has been terrific with three 100-yard receiving games since transferring to UK from Nebraska. As a punt returner, Robinson needs fine-tuning. Last Saturday, he let too many Chattanooga punts bounce into bad field position for the Cats. That needs to change. “He’ll get it done,” Stoops predicted Monday.

▪ It appears Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is playing behind an offensive line no better than it was in 2020. Burrow has been sacked nine times. He has been hit 25 times. Improving the offensive line was to be an offseason priority for Cincinnati. Hasn’t happened.

▪ Meanwhile, the Reds have fallen apart at the most crucial time of the season. Worse, the dreaded Cardinals appear to have control of the wild card spot. Even worse was the sudden departures last week of Kyle Boddy and CJ Gillman. The innovative Boddy headed up the Reds’ minor league pitching philosophy. Gillman led minor league hitting. Their departures are not good news for an organization that seems to have no idea what it wants to do moving forward.

▪ That said, I agree with Reds’ decision to extend manager David Bell’s contract through the 2023 season. Bell has done good work and then some with the Reds’ penny-pinching ways, especially with the bullpen. The franchise could use the stability.

▪ Florida State is 0-3 heading into Saturday’s game against visiting Louisville (3:30 p.m. on ESPN2). FSU Coach Mike Norvell is 3-9 as the Seminoles’ coach. If Norvell can’t turn the ship around, and soon, might FSU be interested in a certain former defensive coordinator who has taken his current school to five straight bowl games? That would be Mark Stoops.

▪ Or … Manny Diaz is said to be on shaky ground at Miami after a 1-2 start. He’s 15-12. And Stoops was the Hurricanes’ secondary coach from 2001 through 2003. Miami won the national title in 2001.

▪ Remember when new Michigan State coach Mel Tucker tried to hire Vince Marrow off UK’s staff last year? Marrow stayed put. Meanwhile, the Spartans are off to a 3-0 start with wins over Northwestern, Youngstown State and Miami.

▪ Bringing back Eddie Gran in an administrative role was a good move for Kentucky football. Not everyone could make it work — the team’s former offensive coordinator in the same room as he current offensive coordinator. Gran can.

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