Shane Beamer recruited Brock Vandagriff at Oklahoma: "I know what kind of talent he is"

Saturday will only be Brock Vandagriff‘s second game as a starting quarterback at the college level, but he’ll be going up against a coach who has been familiar with his game for years, going back to his days at Prince Avenue Christian School in Bogart, Georgia.

Before Shane Beamer took the head coaching job at South Carolina in 2021, he was the associate head coach and tight ends coach at Oklahoma under Lincoln Riley. One of the Sooners’ top prospects in the 2021 class? Vandagriff, who originally committed to Oklahoma in June 2019, picking the Sooners over Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee. The five-star prospect pulled that pledge on January 1, 2020 and later committed to Georgia. After three years as a backup, Vandagriff transferred to Kentucky this past offseason and now, will face Beamer’s South Carolina Gamecocks in Kroger Field on Saturday afternoon.

“He’s a really good player,” Beamer said of Vandagriff on today’s SEC Teleconference. “I’m very familiar with him. When I was an assistant coach at [Oklahoma], he was committed to us at [Oklahoma] and Lincoln Riley was our head coach. And obviously, when you’re the head coach, you’re very limited on how often you can go out recruiting, so I was the one who was going to see Brock about every week, so I know what kind of talent he is.”

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Due to the weather, Vandagriff’s debut as a Wildcat was short but sweet. In 35 minutes of play, he completed 12 of 18 passes for 169 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception and added another 35 yards on the ground. Those are all career highs.

Vandagriff’s impressive performance came as no surprise to Beamer, who told reporters that Lincoln Riley chose Vandagriff over Caleb Williams, who played one season at Oklahoma before following Riley to USC, where Williams won the 2022 Heisman Trophy.

“People forget that Brock Vandergriff was committed to Oklahoma before Caleb Williams; that’s who Lincoln chose. He watched them both, and he felt like Brock Vandergriff was a better quarterback at the time than Caleb. And the only reason Caleb ended up at Oklahoma was because Brock decommitted and went to Georgia. So you know he’s a talented guy and he’s athletic. He showed that the other night when he took the ball and ran and they had some designed runs for him.”

All but one of Vandagriff’s 35 rushing yards came in the first quarter on Saturday. Three of his five carries were for first downs. Beamer knows his defense will not only have to prepare for Vandagriff’s arm but also his legs.

“He’s somebody that we got to account for keeping the ball and running, and then his arm talent speaks for itself as well. So, I thought he did a great job in game one and I know he’ll continue to get better throughout the season, just like our guys will.”