Shane Beamer on Dakereon Joyner's role in 2022
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer recently spoke at an event in Charleston and all of the fans in attendance wanted to talk about one person: Dakereon Joyner.
“I came back and I told him, ‘Man, you could run for mayor down there right now. Everyone loves you.’ And rightfully so,” Beamer said of the North Charleston native and Duke’s Mayo Bowl MVP on Thursday’s episode of the JB and Goldwater show.
The topic on everyone’s mind? Other than reflecting on Joyner’s historic performance at quarterback in the Mayo Bowl, what does the future hold for the quarterback-turned-receiver-turned-quarterback-again?
“I sat down with him in my office a couple of weeks ago and we just had that conversation, ‘DK, what do you want to do? What do you want to be?’” Beamer said. “And that was a great conversation for us to have.”
Mayo Bowl MVP
As pretty much everyone knows by now, Joyner stepped into the QB role in the Gamecocks’ bowl game and sparked the offense to a 38-21 win over the Tar Heels. The former four-star QB completed 9 of 9 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown and added 64 more yards on the ground.
Joyner, who spoke with Garnet Trust supporters on a recent Zoom call, has enjoyed the ride following the big performance, signing mayo bottles for Gamecock Traditions, serving as Duke’s Mayo Bowl Ambassador, and launching his own youth camp.
But details have been scarce on the exact future role for Joyner, who primarily played wide receiver this past year prior to the bowl game other than brief appearances as a wildcat quarterback.
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“I was kidding with him, because he did what he did on offense and he’s really one of our best special teams players as well. And we were out on the field the other night, as a team, doing some special teams drills that we’re allowed to do, NCAA rule-wise,” Beamer continued. “And he wasn’t doing the drills. He was over there throwing with the quarterbacks. I was busting on him, like, ‘Come on man. You were the special teams MVP, now you’re not even a special teams guy.’”
ALSO SEE: How the Gamecocks are mastering the transfer portal
Getting Dakereon Joyner the ball
Where will Joyner line up in 2022 for the Gamecocks? The answer appears to still be determined. Or maybe the answer is, everywhere.
“We want to get the ball in his hands as many ways as possible,” Beamer said. “He’s proven that he can play quarterback. We’d be crazy not to continue to find a role for him at the quarterback position. Wide receiver-wise, he’s shown what he can do there. Special teams-wise – I know this, our team is better when Dakereon is on the field. We need to get him on the field as many ways possible and continue to grow what we did with him in the bowl game also.
“So, whether that’s quarterback, whether that’s receiver, there’s a lot of different ways. We’ve got some playmakers in our offense, we need to find ways to get them all the ball, and DK is certainly one of them.”
