Shane Beamer shares importance of having depth chart entering summer

When the South Carolina spring game concluded on April 15, the next task for head coach Shane Beamer was straightforward. He was going to spend the beginning of the next week meeting with every player on his roster.

His reason was simple: To share with each player where they stood on the depth chart. Speaking ahead of the spring game, Beamer shared the value of having a depth chart set so one can be transparent with players about where they stand — and what they need to do to get a bigger role.

I’ll have every single player on our team coming through my office to meet with me individually. And in those meetings, I’ll talk to them about, ‘Here’s where your role is right now. And here’s where you need to improve and what needs to happen for you to have even more of a role or whatnot.’ So, certainly, we want to be very honest and clear with our guys in regards to where they stand, right now,” Beamer said. “But absolutely, from a coaching standpoint, planning standpoint, I believe it’s important to know.”

Part of the logic of having a depth chart set in April and May is so players have the chance to go out and change it come August. Beamer knows the next few months are all about guys making improvements to solidify or usurp a starting role.

Additionally, the final pieces of the 2023 signing class will be enrolling in the summer, changing the depth chart with their arrival.

“But you also know that we do all those workouts and things in the summer for a reason, and that’s to get better. And guys will have an opportunity to either increase the gap between them and another player or close the gap, based on what they do in the summer. And then we get the whole month of August before we play. So we’ve got a lot of work to do before the season starts. We also know that we’ll have some newcomers that aren’t here right now that’ll be here in June when we start summer school, as well. So you realize that things can change, we’re always about competition. And we’re always competing,” Beamer said.

Until South Carolina gets back on the practice field at the end of the summer, though, the depth chart is known and sets the stage for the Gamecocks to power through the dog days.

“But certainly coming out of spring practice it’s critical to have an idea of where guys stand and what our offense, defense and special teams is going to look like,” Beamer said.