Shane Beamer says South Carolina will rely on freshmen in 2023

As South Carolina looks to build on an eight-win campaign and carry over the momentum from late-season wins over top-10 Tennessee and Clemson squads, coach Shane Beamer will rely on freshmen.

It’s not exactly ideal, but he’s been recruiting well and the roster simply calls for it this fall.

“I think the biggest, I wouldn’t say it’s an issue, but challenge, something we need to get done certainly is just we’re going to have to rely on more freshmen earlier than any time that I can remember,” Beamer said as fall camp opened. “That’s an exciting thing. These guys are really talented.”

Start with the gem of the class and you know it was a special group that Beamer put together in 2023.

Five-star prospect Nyckoles Harbor was wanted by just about every school in America, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound freak of an athlete. He picked South Carolina.

So too did 11 four-star prospects, helping bolster South Carolina’s class rank to No. 16 nationally, its highest ranking since a No. 16 class in 2017. The last class that ranked higher was No. 14 in 2014.

So yeah, South Carolina will rely on freshmen this year.

“Whereas before you may say well this guy may figure in a little bit on special teams and maybe by Game 4, 5 contributing a little more on defense, this year more than any other that I can remember, we’re saying we know true freshmen are going to have to figure in right now in Game 1,” Beamer said. “So that’s exciting as a coach, and that’s what I told the staff this morning. We’ve got to do a great job of coaching and getting these guys ready to play in a short period of time for sure.”

In addition to the natural talent shining through for some of the freshmen and allowing them to displace some other players on the depth chart, South Carolina also quite simply has some holes. It’s an inevitability, but this year more than most South Carolina will rely on freshmen to fill them.

Beamer knows it, and he’s preparing the fans as well.

“That’s one thing, and then certainly we’ve talked about it, the depth at certain positions isn’t what it needs to be, but it is what it is right now,” he said. “Now we’ve just got to do a great job of making sure that we’ve got enough people that have the flexibility to play in different spots and always put our best 11 on the field.”