Saturdays in Athens
George Somerville, 16th July 2021
A Season Preview:
South Carolina Gamecocks
With SEC Media Week just around the corner, it is time to turn our attention to the 2021 College Football season and how teams are shaping up to meet the challenge of a new year.
In this edition of Saturday in Athens we focus on one of four SEC teams starting the season with a new head coach – the South Carolina Gamecocks – to see how Shane Beamer faces up to the greatest challenge of his coaching career.
I was delighted to be invited to Beamer’s only press conference of Spring football to hear what the new sheriff in town had to say about his team’s pre season build up; The Touchdown being the only non-US participant invited onto the call.
A Coaching Dynasty
Despite being prised away from Lincoln Reilly’s staff at Oklahoma, Shane Beamer is not a new name to the Columbia faithful.
Beamer, son of legendary Virginia Hokies head coach Frank Beamer, played his college football in Blacksburg as a wide receiver before starting his coaching career at Georgia Tech. An impressive coaching CV took him to Tennessee and Mississippi State, before joining ‘the Old Ball Coach’, Steve Spurrier, at South Carolina with the Gamecocks in 2007. Beamer had a very successful four years with the Gamecocks, securing an SEC title in the process – the only one in the team’s history. Stops at Virginia Tech and Georgia followed before heading to Norman to work for Reilly and the Sooners in 2018.
Progress So Far....
Beamer inherits a team that suffered back-to-back eight-loss seasons under previous head coach Will Muschamp. With star players Jaycee Horn, Ernest Jones and Shi Smith heading to the NFL, Beamer’s restoration job has been made all that more difficult.
But there is no negativity from Beamer – far from it. His infectious personality grabs you from the get go and it is clear that there is a culture shift happening in Columbia. Beamer hit the ground running:
“It’s been fantastic. I love it. I wish we had fifteen more practices”
Head Coach Beamer enthused. He went on,
“ One because we need it, and two because I’m having so much fun out there. And I think our players would tell you the same thing as well. It’s been great out there. You are learning a little bit every day, about the staff and the team. It’s been a learning experience for sure, The connectiveness, the vibe and the energy out there has been fantastic”.
Glass Half Full Approach
It is hard not to buy into Beamer’s positive energy, and the media pack were keen to understand how the culture will remain intact under the intense pressure of a SEC season. Beamer explained,
“That’s just my personality. It takes a lot to get me down but also I think it’s critical as a head coach not to be on an emotional roller coaster of highs and lows every single week. As everybody is looking to me as a leader, it’s important for me to stay steady and stay consistent. People feed off of me and I’m well aware of that. I’ve always tried to be that way as an assistant coach but I think it’s even more so critical now as the head coach”.
Beamer went on to explain.
“We are highly, highly, highly demanding out there. We are very direct and honest with our guys with the way that we communicate.
There’s a lot of positives in everything and we’re just trying to pump that up and move it forward each and every day.
It’s how we are. I try to hire people like that and we try to be the same people day in, day out where the players enjoy coming into this building and being around each other and this staff”
Everything you need 🤙 pic.twitter.com/JIGKIbT5VF
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) December 16, 2020
Spring Practice
During Spring ball, the receiver group caught Beamer’s eye. So much so that he called them out during his press conference.
“I’ve been impressed with our receivers. I know they kinda got beat up a little bit from last season and going into Spring practice I didn’t really know what to expect. But the mentality they approach every single day with and the toughness too. A guy like Jaylen Brooks is battling some things right now but you can’t get him off the field.
Dakereon Joyner refuses to miss a rep. You guys saw him out there today in a blue jersey, which for us means no contact because he’s got a couple of bumps and bruises which we’re trying to take care of, but he refuses to miss and he spends a lot of extra time up here. So I have been impressed with those guys at the receiver position”
Recruiting
Where the Gamecocks are starting to get noticed and where there is a general buzz around the program is with the progress that Beamer and the coaching staff have made in recruiting.
Speaking ahead of the opening of recruitment on June 1, Beamer couldn’t hide his excitement about hitting recruiting hard. Beamer said this,
“I think about it every single day as to what regards June 1 is going to look like. It’s going to be crazy by the time that June 1 (window) opens up. I would hope that we have prospects here every single day until it goes to a dead period. There’s a lot to sell here in Columbia, South Carolina and there’s a lot of great things going on here in our football program. I am so excited and so eager to get these prospects on campus so that they can feel the energy in this building and what’s going on in this program”.
June has proven to be a hectic period for the Gamecocks coaching staff. Beamer and his team have hit recruiting hard and fast, with 11 recruits having committed through June and so far in July. And Beamer was as good as his word – throughout June, the Gamecocks had recruits on campus every day. This has reaped dividends; currently, four star recruits Ryan Brubaker, Anthony Rose, Braden Davis and Emory Floyd have all committed to playing football in Columbus. But it wasn’t until Beamer tweeted about his next recruit that excitement reached fever pitch:
Sorry to keep you waiting until after lunch #GamecockNation but .......#WelcomeHome 🤙
— Shane Beamer (@CoachSBeamer) June 30, 2021
HUGE phone call just now ....Wow!!
What a month !! pic.twitter.com/G5WFABCW3h
Rumour has it Beamer could be referring to cornerback Keenan Nelson Jr, a four star recruit from Philadelphia who looked set to commit to Penn State. With Nelson expected to declare his intentions this weekend, Gamecocks fans are struggling to control their excitement.
Settling On QB1
With the somewhat surprising news earlier in the year that Quarterback’s Ryan Hilinski and Collin Hill were to enter the transfer portal, Coach Beamer’s biggest task was to find a quarterback. With Hilinski transferring to Northwestern and Hill even more surprisingly attending the Cincinnati Bengals’ rookie mini camp as he bids to start his NFL career, this left Luke Doty as heir apparent to the starting quarterback job. So it was no surprise that shortly after the Garnet and Black spring practice game, Beamer announced that he had settled on the junior Doty as his QB1.
Of course the Gamecocks haven’t yet started fall camp, so Doty isn’t taking anything for granted at this stage. Talking to the media following the Garnet and Black game, Doty said this of being named QB1,
“I really don’t think it means much right now”,
Doty said.
“I know there’s a lot of stuff for me personally to get better at, just to improve myself going into the summer and then going into fall and into camp. I really don’t consider whether starting or not – it’s about coming into work each and every day with the desire to get better. And to make everybody around me better”.
Run the Damn Ball
There is understandably excitement down Columbia way that the Gamecock’s running game could be conference-leading this season. Last season, Kevin Harris led the SEC with over 1,000 rushing yards. Add Marshawn Lloyd and ZaQuandre White and it makea up what is an impressive trio of running backs who will trouble the best SEC defenses.
Marshawn Lloyd and Kevin Harris were both carrying injures during Spring ball and Beamer talked about protecting his running backs during this period. This was particularly important seen as Marshawn Lloyd is still recovering from a torn ACL injury, meaning he continued to wear a knee brace through Spring scrimmages. Beamer said,
“We got to be smart. There are other backs that we certainly need to see and Kevin’s competing. He knows that.
I think ZaQuandre White has had a great Spring. I think Rashad Amos has had a really nice Spring.
We talk about it all the time – about competition and nobody has anything sewn up. So regardless of what anybody did last year, we’re competing our butts off in Spring practice every single day and Kevin knows that. Kevin is certainly fighting through some things right now from a health standpoint and showing some toughness.
I commend him after Saturday. There were some plays that he had on Saturday that he would like to have back and we challenged him yesterday but I thought he went out yesterday and had a great practice”.
The Nirvana Of A Winning Season
As we know, a winning season in the SEC is very much dependent on the difficulty of a schedule. The 2021 schedule gives the Gamecocks a chance; beginning the year with Eastern Illinois at Bryce Williams stadium, Beamer will expect a strong statement from his team to open their campaign. The Gamecocks then play East Carolina before travelling to Athens to play UGA. Kentucky will throw up a stern challenge when they visit Columba in week four, with Troy visiting the week after. So after week four, the Gamecocks would hope to be 0.500 or better. So far so good.
Then things ramp up with the Gamecocks embarking on a six game SEC run with Tennessee (Road), Vanderbilt (Home), Texas A&M (Road), Florida (Home), Missouri (Home) & Auburn (Home) – giving Beamer his chance to prove his team can can compete.
In the absence of multiple strong West opponents in the schedule, it is conceivable that the Gamecocks can take four wins from this stretch (I reckon losing to only Florida and TAMU, with the run of home games giving the Gamecocks a real advantage).
The closing game of the season sees the Gamecocks host Clemson, which will likely see Clemson make the short in state trip as an expected college play off team. So, would Beamer settle for a a 7-5 season? Honestly, I expect his sights are higher, but I think Beamer bites your hand off for that record in his first year at the helm.
In summary it seems to me that Shane Beamer has been a breath of fresh air in and around Columbus. Positive, full of energy, a real ‘can do’ guy who comes with a strong coaching CV – I think it’s going to be a fascinating first season for the new Ball Coach.
My view? Don’t be surprised if Beamer has a better season than his other peers also debuting in the SEC this year.
The Touchdown would like to thank Coach Beamer and all of the SID team at the University of South Carolina for granting us access to their Spring football press conference. We wish them all the best for the upcoming season.
*feature image credit: John Wittle (24/7 Sports)
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
A GLASWEGIAN LIVING IN LONDON, GEORGE IS A COLLEGE FOOTBALL FAN WHO FOLLOWS THE ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE. HE PROVIDES CFB CONTENT FOR THE TOUCHDOWN AND IS ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST.