South Carolina expected to hire NFL veteran special teams coordinator
South Carolina is expected to hire veteran NFL special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis in that role as Pete Lembo’s replacement, GamecockCentral has confirmed.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported the news on Saturday morning. DeCamillis was first mentioned to GamecockCentral subscribers as a possibility earlier this week.
The 58-year-old DeCamillis spent the 2023 season as a special assistant to the head coach at the University of Texas after spending over 30 years in the NFL including stints running the special teams for the Giants, Falcons, Jaguars, Cowboys, Broncos, and mostly recently the Rams, where he won a Super Bowl for the second time in his career.
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DeCamillis has a unique connection to South Carolina in that his wife is the daughter of the late, great Dan Reeves who played quarterback for the Gamecocks before going on to play and coach in the NFL.
DeCamillis, who also won a Super Bowl in 2015 with the Broncos, was a featured speaker at South Carolina’s high school coaches clinic last year.
His wealth of experience will be welcomed as Carolina looks to replace another special teams veteran in Lembo who was named the head football coach of the University at Buffalo after three seasons in Columbia.
Lembo also served as Shane Beamer’s associate head coach and has his fingerprints all over the program.
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DeCamillis, affectionately known as “Joe D” by those who know him, was assistant head coach during his two seasons with the Bears which were one season off from overlapping with South Carolina offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains’ time in Chicago.
Once the hire is official, South Carolina will once again have a complete staff.
Earlier this offseason, Beamer parted ways with running backs coach Montario Hardesty while tight ends coach Jody Wright landed the head job at Murray State. The Gamecocks shifted receivers coach Justin Stepp to tight ends coach and hired James Coley to coach receivers and Marquel Blackwell to coach running backs.
