Shane Beamer goes in depth on the strength within the SEC East

South Carolina threw Shane Beamer into the fire last year during his first season. In his first opportunity as a head coach, he helped the Gamecocks survive their SEC East schedule. They came out with a 3-5 conference record, a 7-6 record overall, and a win in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Even so, he recognizes that the playing field is only getting stronger.

During his press conference at SEC Media Days last week, Beamer talked about the current state of the SEC and his SEC East division specifically. Based on his previous experience around top notch SEC coaches, he says the league has only gotten better since then.

“It’s getting tougher and tougher. I was a grad assistant at Tennessee in 2001 (through) 2003. You had (Mark) Richt who had just come into Georgia, I was with (Phil) Fulmer at Tennessee, coach (Steve) Spurrier was at Florida and there was no better division in all of college football,” said Beamer. “Then being at South Carolina with coach Spurrier when Urban Meyer was at Florida and what not…It’s only gotten better.”

The division is currently home to the reigning national champion in the Georgia Bulldogs. Kirby Smart’s program might still be the top dog, but there’s plenty of old and new blood in the division. There’s so much competition that Beamer believes it’s only going to get even better from here.

“Georgia is at a level that they’ve never been at right now from a recruiting standpoint and just won the national championship. New coaches came in to the SEC East last season and (made) the impact that they were able to make in year one. (There are) new coaches this year that have won at a high level at other places they’ve been at,” Beamer said. “I think just great coaches and this league is a great league from top to bottom. There’s no question that the SEC East is very strong right now and only getting stronger.”

His statements didn’t even include Mark Stoops’ Kentucky program, Eli Drinkwitz’s Missouri team, or Clark Lea’s Vanderbilt Commodores. There are no weekends off when you play in the SEC. Shane Beamer learned that lesson long ago and is putting it to use in Columbia. He now hopes it yields even better results during his second season at the helm.