Shane Beamer shares his ultimate goals at South Carolina, progress made in Year 1

In just one year, Shane Beamer has accomplished a lot at South Carolina. Beamer helped the Gamecocks football team go from a 2-8 record in 2020 to 7-6 in his inaugural season this past year and a victory in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.

Although that is a huge step in the right direction for the South Carolina program, the ultimate goal is much larger. Beamer wants to turn the Gamecocks into one of the SEC’s best teams and hopes he can show even more progress in Year 2.

“I think we’ve made some good strides (last year),” the coach said in a recent interview. “Obviously, we’re ultimately judged on 12 Saturdays in the fall. I get that. We did some really good things last year to go from winning two games in 2020 to winning seven last year when not many people thought we were gonna win more than three. I can remember a national expert — and I put quotation marks around that — saying at SEC media days that the ceiling for the 2021 South Carolina football team was two wins. Two was the ceiling. So I think we blew the ceiling off of that one without a doubt. But again, I go back to we’re not satisfied with seven. We have higher expectations and we’re working hard to get beyond that.”

If there was one area where the Gamecocks needed to improve from last season, it was offensively. Despite finishing in the top half of the SEC in team defense, South Carolina’s averaged of 338.3 yards and 22.6 points per game ranked 13th in the conference.

Beamer addressed the biggest need need by adding Spencer Rattler, the No. 5 player according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings, this offseason. That gives the Gamecocks a definite starter at quarterback heading into the opener after trying out four different players at the position in 2021. Running back Christian Beal-Smith and record-setting FCS receiver Antwane Wells were also big transfer portal additions for the offense.

Shane Beamer believes he was able to attract those players to South Carolina because of the success that he brought in his first year. More importantly, however, he sees the current group growing closer and on the cusp of much more success going forward.

“Everybody talks about culture and all that, but in all seriousness we have changed the dynamic in this building and with this program in my opinion in the last year,” Beamer said. “Our players are a really, really close-knit group. When prospects and recruits and their families come on campus and visit us, the one word that always comes up is the word ‘real.’ That, ‘You guys are real. You guys are genuine. It’s real the way you guys as coaches and a staff and the players all interact and how you care about each other.’ You can’t fake that. So I appreciate that when I hear that from families when they come and that’s where it all starts. It’s true. Our guys we love being around them. Our coaches and staff with our players and vice versa.

“I think the way that South Carolina is perceived a little bit has changed in the past year. Guys like Spencer Rattler and some of these transfers choosing South Carolina has changed the perception a bit I think for a lot of guys. Every day is a challenge and we’re working hard each and every day to continue to move this program forward, but we’ve done some good things and created a lot of excitement here in the last year that our fan base has. There’s great buzz.”

Shane Beamer will look to carry that buzz over into Year 2 when the Gamecocks open their season on Sept. 3 against Georgia State.