Shane Beamer explains what he has learned about the transfer portal windows

As he continues to navigate the new college football landscape, Shane Beamer has realized that he has become a fan of the shorter spring transfer portal window rather than the longer winter one.

The South Carolina head ball coach is still trying to navigate the portal the same way every coach has been forced to since the new rules were implemented. Now with a few seasons under his belt, Beamer is starting to find a transfer routine that works best for him and his program.

“I like the fact that the window during the spring is smaller, it’s not as long,” Beamer said. “December, January, those are two tough months because the transfer portal window is so big. And you’re balancing recruiting with high school kids, getting ready for a bowl game, players making NFL decisions, there’s a lot happening. This time of year it’s a bit better because there is less going on and the window is smaller, which I like as well.”

With the spring portal window, Beamer is able to gauge where his team is at and determine whether or not he needs to add or move guys around to fill in the gaps. Spring is when Beamer puts the pieces of his roster together — and there are always bits of the puzzle floating in the transfer portal every year.

Beamer hasn’t been as active as other coaches in the portal this offseason, though. During the spring window, the Gamecocks only signed two players — IOL Ni Mansell and DL Jatius Geer. Beamer’s eight other transfers, including WR Trey Knox, TE Nick Elksnis and LB Jaron Willis were added to the team during the early portal window.

Still, the portal goes both ways. When South Carolina loses talent to the transfer portal, Beamer tries not to take it personally. It always stings, though and Beamer wouldn’t recruit any player to be on his team he didn’t believe in their abilities.

“You don’t like it. I want everybody to have a great experience at Carolina and want to be here, and the thing that we try and do is just in recruiting be honest with them,” Beamer said. “They understand what they’re getting into when they come to our program.

“They understand it’s going to be a lot of joy and we’re going to have a lot of fun but it’s going to be really, really hard. It’s not easy being a player in our program.”