South Carolina's Nutritionist Gets Game Ball for Helping Players with 'Unforgiving' Weather Elements

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer made a point to shout out the team's nutritionist following a 57-0 blowout of Kent State in Week 1.

Heeding the suggestion of his players, Beamer awarded a game ball to Yimy Queipo Rodriguez, the director of football performance nutrition:

Rodriguez had his work cut out for him this past Saturday in what The Athletic's Christopher Kamrani described as "unforgiving elements never seen before by the program." The heat index at Williams-Brice Stadium approached 110 degrees, the highest ever for a Gamecocks home game.

South Carolina and Kent State agreed to shorten the fourth quarter by five minutes because of the heat.

Beamer commended his team for having "no cramping issues" despite the challenging conditions.

Of course, it helped that South Carolina's opponent was so overmatched. The Gamecocks were up 29 points by halftime and finished with a 645-179 edge in total yards. Beamer had the luxury of emptying the bench midway through the second half.

The heat might've become a bigger factor if this was a tough SEC matchup requiring 60 minutes of full effort.

But that doesn't diminish how well Rodriguez and his staffers did to keep South Carolina's players hydrated. The game ball was well earned.