Shane Beamer weighs in on first year of new recruiting calendar

Today marks the end of a truly breathless stretch for Shane Beamer and the South Carolina football staff. 

After an eight-week stretch that was largely spent as a blur, the contact period is over and the first year of an essentially a brand new recruiting calendar is officially over. 

But it doesn’t come without its pros and cons. 

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“December was really, really, really, really, really tough for a lot of reasons. I know why we pushed back signing day,” Beamer said. “We finished the season Saturday and had a week of being in the office with our own team before we hit the road recruiting. Therefore signing day was pushed back. I understand why they did that and wasn’t against that. I loved that on the front end.”

This was the first year of the transfer portal window. South Carolina dealt with that along with the typical frenzy that is December and the final push before signing day and bowl prep.

South Carolina’s regular season ended Nov. 26 at Clemson and, in a change of pace, the Gamecocks staff wasn’t on the road almost immediately after the season ended. 

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This year, the staff spent that week meeting with players ahead of the Dec. 5 transfer portal window opening and hit the road for two weeks after that. 

The NCAA’s push back of the on-the-road portion of December then delayed the early signing period. In years prior, the Gamecocks inked most of their signing class the third Wednesday in December. 

This year it was Dec. 21, right in the throws of bowl practice and recruiting the transfer portal. 

“I didn’t love it on the back end where signing day was four days before Christmas, two days before you break for Christmas with your team in a bowl game. And you have the transfer portal going on while trying to host guys for visits and things like that.”

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So not only was South Carolina’s staff on the road trying to put the finishing touches on the 2023 class–which ranks top 20 nationally–coaches were in the thick of recruiting players out of the transfer portal while also preparing for a bowl game against Notre Dame. 

It was an exhausting stretch for the Gamecocks, and every other college coaching staff. Beamer did that, too, on top of trying to hire an offensive coordinator. 

There was a two-week reprieve to end 2022 and start January before the Gamecocks were right back at it. 

The Gamecocks hosted transfer portal prospect the first weekend in January. Then there was a 15-day stretch that included traveling during the week to in-home visits. South Carolina’s coaches then hosted prospects on the weekends.

January was tame compared to the whirlwind that was December. Beamer and the rest of the SEC coaches might want to revisit the calendar as they head into a quieter part of the year.

Beamer mentioned there are coaches’ meetings and the annual SEC meetings coming up.

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“It was a lot. We all dealt with it the best we good,” Beamer said. “There were some good things about it, some not good things out of it.” 

The entire month of February is a dead period. That means coaches can’t host or go to visit recruits, although communication can continue. 

March and the first two weeks of April are quiet periods where coaches can’t be on the road but programs can host prospects on campus, mostly for spring practices. 

April 15 then April 17-22 and 24-29 are evaluation periods where coaches can be on the road visiting prospects for spring practice at the high school level. Almost all of May is the same with June the big stretch in recruiting for camp season.

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