Shane Beamer calls it 'very humbling' to coach the Kilgore brothers
When Shane Beamer was on the recruiting trail last year, one of his stops included going to see Jalon Kilgore.
At the time, Kilgore was already going to play at South Carolina. But this was a standard in-home visit for Beamer. Little did he know he’d also be meeting another future Gamecock, Kilgore’s brother, Gerald.
After spending one season at Tennessee Tech, Gerald entered the transfer portal and had interest from plenty of schools. But the one that stood out was South Carolina.
“With Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore and what they’re about as parents, you knew that what you had in Jalon…you would also be getting in Gerald from getting to know him during the recruiting process,” Beamer said. “I remember being in their home last year, the day before the SEC championship game between LSU and Georgia, being in their home and visiting with the family. They’re about the right stuff and all business.”
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Jalon caught wind of this and was on board with helping land his brother. With how close he was to him, it was easy to talk to him unlike any coach or recruiter could.
By Dec. 17, Gerald officially committed to South Carolina.
“Jalon was involved. He wanted Gerald to make a decision but he was involved when Gerald was here on his official visit,” Beamer said. “Jalon was obviously at dinner and was pumping up our program. When Gerald had called to tell me that he had decided to become a Gamecock, Jalon was right there next to him and was like, ‘I told you we were going to bring him home.'”
At Tennessee Tech, Gerald had 35 tackles, 25 of which were solo, and had five pass deflections as a freshman. He will join a secondary with a lot of experience.
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“Gerald was a guy that primarily was a quarterback and then really just started playing defensive back recently,” Beamer said. “So you didn’t have a lot of tape to go on. But you saw a skill set with him at defensive back. You saw size, you saw athleticism, you saw a willingness to tackle, saw ball skills that you would expect, obviously from playing quarterback. That was easy for us once he decided to go into portal.”
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It’s not very often two brothers get to play on the same team. It’s been done in other sports. For instance, Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo both play for the Milwaukee Bucks. Twin brothers Shaquill and Shaquem Griffin played together on the Seattle Seahawks a few years ago.
Beamer said it’s “very humbling” that the Kilgore’s felt comfortable enough to send a second son of theirs to Columbia.
“Yes, Jalon enjoys being here, but I tell the moms and dads and guardians of everyone we’ve recruited that I don’t take the responsibility that they entrusted the staff and I lightly of taking care of their sons,” he said. “Mr. and Mrs. Kilgore felt confident enough in me as the head coach and us as a program to not just have one son here but to send a second son here is really, really cool and very humbling for me in a lot of ways. Awesome family and both those guys make us better.”
