Video: Breaking down the Gamecocks SEC Media Day

Wes Mitchell and Kendall Smith are back to break down the Gamecocks appearance at the 2023 SEC Media Days in Nashville, Tennessee.

Watch below for the latest on what Shane Beamer said, thoughts on where South Carolina is predicted to finish in the SEC East, and what’s going on with recruiting.

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MORE: How coordinating special teams prepared Shane Beamer to be Gamecocks’ head coach

By Collyn Taylor

When Shane Beamer came to South Carolina as the Gamecocks head coach, he never once had a business card saying offensive or defensive coordinator. 

He was never a full-time play-caller on either side of the ball but takes exception when people say he was never a coordinator.

Beamer was a longtime special teams coordinator and mentioned at SEC Media Days how vital that role played in preparing him to be a head coach.

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“Being a special teams coordinator is being a coordinator. Everybody talks about, well, that guy has not been an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. Being a special teams coordinator prepared me better to be a head football coach than if I had been on the offensive side of the ball or the defensive side of the ball,” Beamer said. 

“And I say that because when you’re the special teams coordinator, you’re the only coach other than the coach that stands in front of the whole team and talks to the team because coaching special teams takes the entire roster. So you have got to have a relationship with every player on the team. You have to be able to motivate guys to play special teams.”

Beamer was the special teams coordinator at Georgia and an associate head coach at both Georgia and Oklahoma. 

During his first stint at South Carolina as an assistant (2007-2010) he helped coordinate special teams in 2007 and from 2009-10. He was also the recruiting coordinator there and at Mississippi State from 2004-06. 

Doing both obviously taught him the ins and outs of not only building a roster and what it takes top to bottom but also how to be efficient with time at practice with limited reps on special teams. 

“You have to be able to be detailed and organized because you might get 20 minutes in practice,” he said. “So you’ve got to be efficient at what you’re doing in that time. So my time as a special teams coach really prepared me.”

That’s not to say he doesn’t know what he’s doing offensively or defensively. Beamer’s coached five different positions over his career–cornerback, safety, running back, tight end and outside linebacker–over five different spots. 

During his time at South Carolina before he bounced around from coaching outside linebackers one year to cornerbacks another and then safeties.

“And then the fact that all along, I was coaching offense and defense. So I told Ray Tanner and Chance Miller when I interviewed for this job that, no, I have not been an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator, but I would not have changed my career path for anything,” Beamer said. 

“Because of how it did prepare me to be a head football coach as well. You know, I like to think that I’m somewhat knowledgeable on the offensive side of the ball and defensive side of the ball as well, but it was a great experience for me and really beneficial.”

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While it hasn’t been perfect, it’s hard to argue with the results to date. The Gamecocks outperformed preseason betting win totals and have gone 14-10 over two regular seasons and 1-1 in bowl games under Beamer. 

The Gamecocks also inked the No. 16 overall class recruiting class in 2023, just the fourth class since 2010 to rank in the top 16 nationally. On3 ranks South Carolina’s 2024 class No. 19 currently with 62 percent of commitments blue-chip prospects. 

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