James Coley shares his expectations for South Carolina's wide receivers
Newly hired South Carolina wide receivers coach James Coley has a vision of what he wants his positional group to look like. A vision that he shared this past Friday when he met with the Columbia media for the first time.
“I pride myself in the phrase, ‘change the game,'” said Coley. “That can be from an 80-yard touchdown bomb to a slant where you make a guy miss that had a perfect angle on you and you score. It could be from a key block that springs a running back 80 yards… Those things change the game, right? So when you see my guys on the field, our guys, you know — you want to see a bunch of competitors. Not a lot of me guys, that’ll come. Your me time will come but competitors. Guys that want to compete that want to be the best in this conference because if you’re the best in this conference you’ll be the best in the country.”
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While Coley is the new guy on the block, five of USC’s 14 wide receivers on their spring roster will also be new. With the changes he’s seen with college football, he’s no stranger to the added challenges that come with recruiting and how it can impact your room.
“Two years ago you could be visiting a bunch of high school prospects and maybe you have someone get on campus or going to see one person. Nowadays, you’re probably gonna see some high school students who are about to graduate and go to college and your next visit is with a transfer… And it could be (a meeting) with someone from your own team that you want to keep and you want to make sure no one’s trying to poach. Then you have to bring them together in a locker room and they have to mesh. It’s hard but when you’re upfront as a coaching staff and when your head coach stands in front of the team meeting like he did last week and explains why certain guys are on the team… There’s a tact to this and some teams don’t have a great tact.”
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Considered a strong recruiter, Coley has coached not only collegiate football but he’s also coached professionally and at the high school level. His coaching experience includes being an offensive coordinator as well as coaching multiple positions throughout his career including quarterbacks and tight ends. But his success at coaching wide outs is what grabbed Shane Beamer’s attention to bringing in the Miami, FL native.
“I’m not the only head coach that felt that way because James had other choices out there,” explained Beamer. “One that I know of in the SEC and one that I know of in the ACC that were pretty significant positions… I saw what he did with the receivers at the University of Georgia (when we coached together there) and what he was able to do at Texas A&M from a coaching and recruiting standpoint.”
