South Carolina expected to hire former Texas A&M assistant James Coley

South Carolina is expected to hire James Coley as an offensive assistant coach, according to Matt Zenitz of 247 Sports. Coley has experience at several SEC programs and most recently the past three seasons at Texas A&M.

Coley coached the Aggies receiver in 2021 before being promoted to co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach the following season. He also has experience as an offensive coordinator at Florida State (2010-12, Miami (2013-15) and Georgia (2018-19).

Coley also coached briefly in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins. He now joins a Gamecocks offense that finished just 12th in the SEC this past season in points per game (26.0). South Carolina finished 5-7 to miss a bowl game for the first time under Shane Beamer.

Hopefully Beamer has found the right fit in Coley to help the offense improve. The Gamecocks lose starting quarterback Spencer Rattler and receiver Juice Wells, but added a big name through the portal in Arkansas running back Rocket Sanders.

We’ll see whether those additions can help them get back to being competitive in the SEC East and at least reach a bowl game.

Shane Beamer recently discussed the new recruiting paradigm

For the son of a coach like Beamer, watching college football change over the years has been a process. Beamer’s been around the game seemingly forever.

But recruiting, in particular, has really shifted over the last decade or so.

“It’s changed so much. The attention on recruiting, the technology,” Beamer said on the Andy Staples On3 show in December. “Probably more than anything, Andy, is just the fact that everybody knows each other, all these recruits just because of social media, all-star games, combines. The world is a lot smaller in a lot of ways, without a doubt.”

While the world is smaller in some ways, the competition is more fierce than ever. It’s a stark change from when Beamer was first getting into coaching himself, when things moved much more slowly.

For one, the rules didn’t allow for quite as much communication.

Take Beamer’s first stint at South Carolina, for instance, when the Gamecocks were able to land in-state prospects like Alshon Jeffery and Stephon Gilmore.

“I think when we were recruiting Alshon I don’t even think texting was legal to recruits at that point,” Shane Beamer said. “I think you had to like e-mail and literally write hand-written letters, if I’m not mistaken. I’m pretty sure that you couldn’t text back then to recruits.”

The lesson from the recruitment of those key players, though, was this: You have to win in state as a starting point. That’s the way to build a base at South Carolina.

“Absolutely the success that we were able to have here previously started with being able to keep the best players in South Carolina home, and we’ve done that now for the most part, signing four out of the top five guys in South Carolina this year,” Shane Beamer said. “Last year same thing, guys we brought in like Markee Anderson, so we’ve really done a good job recruiting this state first.”