South Carolina football: what to expect of new coach Shane Beamer
By Jacob Elsey
How will South Carolina football recruiting be addressed?
Recruiting efforts
Beamer addressed that he wants players that are passionate about South Carolina, but that’s not going to be enough to turn the Gamecocks into a winner alone. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football, and success on the trail can be directly linked to success on the field.
So how does Beamer go about salvaging a recruiting class that currently ranks 89th in the nation? How does he attack the recruiting trail for future classes?
His answer is to start in the Palmetto State.
Securing players from the state of South Carolina helped launch the program into a perennial top 10 team, with the Gamecocks landing commitments from players like Stephon Gilmore, Devonte Holloman, Marcus Lattimore, and Alshon Jeffery.
This strategy, again, builds on his plan to change the culture and get players that want to play for the name on the front of the jersey, rather than the back.
Going a step further, he plans on using his relationships in the Southeast, an area he’s extremely familiar with, to recruit the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee.
"“This isn’t me reconnecting with any high school program. Wherever I’ve been, since I left Carolina, whether it be Virginia Tech, whether it be Georgia, whether it be Oklahoma, I’ve always recruited this area and I’ve always recruited this region, so it’s really cool to hear from so many high school coaches since this was announced.”"
His time with Virginia Tech, as well as his father’s reputation in the DMV area, could also play a major role in recruiting efforts.
"“Obviously, I’m from Virginia. We’ve had a great amount of success in players from Virginia and Washington D.C. and Maryland, and that’s an area I want to continue to tap into.”"
Beamer has reached out to a few of the Gamecocks’ current commits, as he tries to close out the 2021 class on a strong note. He’s thinking about the classes of the future, too, knowing it’s never too early to build relationships with rising sophomores and juniors.
Many of these prospects should already be familiar with the new South Carolina head coach.
"“A lot of these guys we’re currently recruiting at South Carolina, we were recruiting at the University of Oklahoma, whether it be young men in this class that’s about to sign or young men in the 2022 class, 2023 class and beyond. So I’ve got a good relationship with a lot of these guys, because we were also recruiting them at Oklahoma.”"
Hopefully these strong relationships will show immediate results on the trail, as Beamer looks to make his mark on South Carolina’s recruiting footprint along the East Coast.