Shane Beamer explains South Carolina's transfer portal approach

After getting to the edge of the College Football Playoff in 2024, the South Carolina Gamecocks are looking for a way to get over the hump in 2025. For head coach Shane Beamer, the Transfer Portal is going to be key in doing that.

Now well into the offseason, Beamer shared what the Gamecocks’ approach has been to the portal this offseason.

“We were very targeted as far as what we were going to do,” Shane Beamer said. “You guys know this. We lost our top four defensive tackles, if you throw [DeAndre] Jules in that. We lost our center, we lost both guards. We have great confidence in the young men that are in our program, but that’s the heart of your offense and defense that left, so we knew that we needed to increase the depth at all those positions. Really, every position we were looking to add if they were the right fit.”

The South Carolina Gamecocks have the 13th-ranked transfer class in the 2025 transfer cycle, according to the On3 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings. It’s a class that, as of now, includes 16 players who transferred out and 13 who transferred into the South Carolina program. That includes eight players coming from power conference schools.

“And I like the guys we brought in. I think we brought in guys that have upside, guys that love football. We were willing to walk away from some guys that I don’t think quite fit what we were going to be about, and we figured that out during the process of trying to recruit them,” Beamer said.

“But I like where we are. I like the freshman class. A lot of these decisions that we made in regards to the portal as far as positions that we didn’t pursue heavily were because of freshmen that we have on our team. Every receiver that went the portal, my first question to Mike Furrey was, ‘Do you feel like this guy is going to be better than the freshman we have, or better by the end of the season than the guys we have in our program?’ And if the answer was, ‘No, I don’t think he will be,’ then we didn’t even pursue them.”

South Carolina’s freshman class is ranked 20th in the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. That group includes 11 four-star recruits and is 12th in the SEC out of 16 schools.

“We have a lot of excitement,” Beamer said. “A lot of belief in the young freshmen that we have that fueled our decisions when it comes to the portal in a lot of ways.”

Of course, there is still time for changes on South Carolina’s roster. Shane Beamer will still need to deal with the spring transfer window and there are going to be more opportunities to fill out the roster.

“I like where we are. I think we’re at 84 scholarships right now if, I’m not mistaken. We’ll see what happens after spring practice and all that, as well. But a lot of the decisions that we made in regards to the portal in the last month were, ‘Let’s give these guys on our team an opportunity here in spring practice, see where we are,’” Beamer said.

“And then, we have a better idea with some flexibility at the end of spring practice as far as what we do next.”