Shane Beamer evaluates how much NIL impacts high school recruiting, transfer portal

When it comes to collegiate sports, especially football, it seems like most conversations surround NIL and the transfer portal. Recently South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer shared his thoughts on how NIL has impacted both high school recruiting and recruiting players out of the transfer portal.

“It’s prevalent,” said Beamer when asked how often conversations surrounding NIL in recruiting emerge but then made a caveat. “I don’t know perception-wise what it is. At least my conversations with guys, directly, individually, one-on-one with them and their families, very little, if at all, from a high school standpoint. In my time here, I’ve probably had three high school recruits or/and their families sit in my office and bring up NIL.”

Beamer has not shied away from conversations surrounding NIL in the past and has made his stance on it crystal clear. The Gamecocks’ headman is all for players capitalizing on their Name, Image, and Likeness but wants it to be done the right way. And for him, that means earning your NIL benefits as opposed to them being handed out to you before you put in the work.

Regarding conversations with high schoolers, Beamer highlighted that those conversations are minimal at best. However, when it comes to current collegiate athletes in the transfer portal, it’s a whole different story, as he explains.

“Now, is it happening outside my office, (in) other conversations with people? Probably. I don’t know. But as far as directly with me, very, very little. And in my conversations with them, it’s we’re in the capital city, got an unbelievable fan base, there’s tons of opportunities for you from a Name Image and Likeness standpoint. I want our guys on our team to earn it. If you earn it, I’m all for it. And then (we) can talk about what some of our other student-athletes here at Carolina are doing from a name, image, and likeness standpoint. That’s from a high school standpoint; from a transfer portal standpoint, a lot—a lot, for sure.”

NIL will be a fixture in college sports going forward unless another court or legislative ruling changes that. And with it becoming more and more a part of college sports, the anticipation is that more high school players will have conversations about Name, Image, and Likeness as they enter into programs. Still, that does not change much for Beamer and South Carolina. He has a system and structure in play to handle NIL, so as long as he is the one spearheading the Gamecock program.