South Carolina football: Shane Beamer expanding recruiting territory

South Carolina football is beginning to recruit nationally under Shane Beamer.

South Carolina football has typically focused on the same general recruiting areas when targeting prospects to join the program. Those areas include the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina, and to a lesser degree, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida. Under head coach Steve Spurrier, we saw the Gamecocks succeed with homegrown talent, having Marcus Lattimore, Jadeveon Clowney, and Stephon Gilmore hailing right from the Palmetto State. Spurrier also focused on North Carolina, pulling players like Melvin Ingram from Charlotte and other areas along the border.

Under Will Muschamp, that same recruiting strategy stayed, for the most part, intact. Muschamp’s staff attacked South Carolina and Georgia aggressively, landing 67 of his total 119 commitments from these two states during his tenure. He also pulled around 30 prospects from North Carolina and Florida, combined, meaning 80% of his total commits hailed from these four states. The recruiting area was extremely condensed, but that’s beginning to change under Shane Beamer.

Beamer’s first full recruiting cycle is beginning in Columbia, and his 10-man group consists of players from all over the country. He’s made it a priority to pave a path up and down the East Coast in search of contributors, and has used contacts from his time at Oklahoma to give the Gamecocks a presence in the Southwest.

So far, the Gamecocks have just one in-state commitment, though they’re certainly chasing some of the state’s top players, most notably, Antonio Williams and his teammate Devin Hyatt. There’s been a change in thinking due to South Carolina’s status among its surrounding competitors.

The Gamecocks will always have to battle Georgia and Clemson for the top local talent, and now that North Carolina is beginning to take off under Mack Brown, it’s becoming tougher to infiltrate the Tar Heel State’s borders than it was in the past.

It’s not to say that coach Beamer isn’t reaching out to prospects in these areas, but he’s done an awesome job of expanding the program’s recruiting territory, and giving the Gamecocks a presence nationwide.

The new approach

Instead of focusing solely on the southeast, Beamer and Co. have set up shop in the DMV area and further up into the northeast. There’s also been an added emphasis on the state of Florida, with four current commits hailing from the Sunshine State. The Gamecocks have backed off a bit in North Carolina in lieu of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia.

The Gamecocks’ top two pledges are northeasterners, in Braden Davis (DE) and Ryan Brubaker (PA), and the coaching staff has its eyes set on pulling in more top talent from the area in the likes of Josiah Trotter, Abdul Carter, and Tomiwa Durojaiye. These numbers don’t include the three northeast natives that Beamer snagged in the transfer portal this past winter.

Beamer’s recruiting history has already been paying dividends, and he’s been able to use past relationships to build a new foundation. Having coached with his father at Virginia Tech, he’s been able to successfully promote his new program to prospects above the Mason-Dixon line.

He’s also been able to use his experience at Oklahoma to give the Gamecocks some exposure in the southwest. Over the last week, South Carolina has landed commitments from Peyton Williams, a defender from Texas, and Karon Prunty, a transfer from Kansas. Both will add quality depth in a thin Gamecocks’ secondary.

All in all, coach Beamer has been able to build foundations for South Carolina football in areas that were previously untouched. Again, with two of the Gamecocks’ biggest rivals recruiting at a top five level, Beamer has gotten creative in the way he’s adding talent outside of the program’s historic recruiting grounds. His efforts are paying off, and it will hopefully help the Gamecocks become a major player for prospects nationwide.