What rivalry? Clemson baseball transfers are ‘so happy to be Gamecocks’ in 2023
In March 2022, Noah Hall didn’t know much about Dylan Brewer, Jonathan French or Ricky Williams besides the fact they were wearing his least favorite color combination on the planet. But nowadays?
“We’re all family,” Hall said.
Welcome to college baseball in 2023, where an in-state coaching change combined with the most relaxed transfer rules in the sport’s history have amounted to a first for the South Carolina baseball program: three Clemson transfers and the Tigers’ former coach in the Gamecocks’ Opening Day dugout.
When the Tigers fired Monte Lee last May after missing a second straight NCAA tournament, it set off a notable chain reaction for their biggest rival, which also needed a bit of fresh start.
South Carolina, seeking transfer portal help for the roster after its first losing season since 1996, landed a commitment from former Clemson outfielder Brewer on June 6.
And former Clemson catcher French on June 15.
And former Clemson pitcher Williams on June 22.
Then, faced with an unexpected opening on his coaching staff after assistant Chad Caillet left the program for family reasons, South Carolina coach Mark Kingston tapped Lee as his associate head coach and recruiting coordinator last August.
It was a Tigers reunion at Founders Park. Well, a brief one.
Understandably, getting South Carolina back to the national level its fans expect has taken precedence over any rivalry banter or inside jokes. USC is No. 23 in D1Baseball’s preseason Top 25.
“Maybe early on there was a little bit of that,” Kingston said last month at the team’s media day. “But I think now they’re just so happy to be Gamecocks that that’s kind of worn off. And the fact that they’re here, I think, says everything about where they want to be and what they believe in.”
’Super competitive’ transfers
They can play, too. South Carolina got a reminder of that during last March’s 3-0 series loss that represented Clemson’s first three-game sweep of its rival since 1996. French had the game-tying home run in Game 1, and Brewer one-upped him by scoring the winning run in Game 1 and driving in the winning run in Game 3.
French ended up hitting .217 with eight home runs and 22 RBIs for the season while splitting time at catcher and designated hitter for Clemson; Brewer, playing primarily as a center fielder, hit .208 with 24 RBIs and led the Tigers in stolen bases.
Now, both four-year veterans are trying to capture those flashes of productivity for a South Carolina offense that ranked dead last among 14 SEC teams in team batting average in 2022 at .263 and lost three of its top four hitters from last year’s roster.
“French is probably one of the biggest professionals I’ve seen,” Hall said. “He comes in early, leaves late. Same with Brewer. They’re both just super competitive. I mean, at this point in the season, I forgot they even went to Clemson.”
As for Williams, who’s returning to the Midlands after an all-state career at River Bluff High School?
The third-year righty enters 2023 with a career ERA of 2.86 and is “one of the best people I’ve met in my life,” according to Gamecocks ace Will Sanders, the clubhouse leader of what might be Kingston’s deepest pitching staff at USC.
“Ricky has a distinct mannerism about him that he just goes about his work and he wants to put his head down and just play baseball,” Sanders said. “I think South Carolina is a great place for him to come.”
Records back up how truly rare these additions are. According to a team spokesperson, the only other two documented modern-era examples of Clemson baseball players transferring to South Carolina came in the 1980s.
Infielder Riley Polk, who was at Clemson from 1983-84 and USC from 1985-86, made the switch. So did catcher Billy Chastain, who was with Clemson in 1988 and USC in 1989. After two such instances in 39 years, South Carolina’s had three more in the past 11 months.
The return of Monte Lee
That doesn’t even account for Lee, whose May 31 firing after seven seasons at Clemson prompted all three of those players to enter the NCAA’s transfer portal in the first place — only for Lee to follow them down Interstate 26 to Columbia for a career move that he described as a “no-brainer.”
Lee, succeeded at Clemson by former Michigan coach Erik Bakich, had essentially decided to move on from college baseball and take a job with an undisclosed MLB team before Kingston called him late last August.
Caillet was leaving. Would Lee, who worked as a South Carolina assistant coach under now-athletic director Ray Tanner from 2003-08, return and fill his spot?
“I think because of our relationship and because he had already been here and had great success, it was pretty easy for both sides to know that this made a ton of sense,” Kingston said. “And so we’ve gotten along great. ... I think the players are the beneficiaries.”
Infielder Braylen Wimmer concurred. Lee, a well-regarded hitting coach who helped Seth Beer and Max Wagner develop into All-Americans at Clemson, “has been awesome,” Wimmer said. “He’s come in and he’s really set the tone for us as an offense. I think the things he’s brought in are gonna really have a big impact.”
And so South Carolina goes, working toward next weekend’s season-opening series against UMass Lowell and its annual Palmetto Series against Clemson the first weekend of March, with Lee coaching and Brewer, French and Williams all plugging away for the Gamecocks.
It’s normal. So normal, Hall said with a grin, that he has extended a formal pardon to Brewer and French, one-time rivals who since transferring have quickly become two of his best friends on the roster.
“I haven’t even thought about it,” Hall said. “I still hate Clemson, though. I still hate the fact that they went there instead of coming here first. But I’ve forgiven them.”
South Carolina’s Opening Weekend details
The No. 23 Gamecocks open with a Friday-Saturday-Sunday series at Founders Park. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
Feb. 17: vs. UMass Lowell, 4 p.m.
Feb. 18: vs. UMass Lowell, 2 p.m.
Feb. 19: vs. UMass Lowell, 1:30 p.m.
2023 SEC baseball preseason coaches poll
( ) denotes first-place votes
Eastern Division
1. Tennessee (12) – 90
2. Florida (2) – 79
3. Vanderbilt – 64
4. South Carolina – 51
5. Georgia – 48
6. Kentucky – 34
7. Missouri – 19
Western Division
1. LSU (12) – 88
2. Texas A&M (1) – 69
3. Arkansas – 68
4. Ole Miss (1) – 64
5. Alabama – 34
6. Auburn – 33
7. Mississippi State – 29
SEC Champion: LSU (11), Florida (1), Ole Miss (1), Texas A&M (1)
USC baseball TV games
Sunday, March 19 – at Georgia, 3 p.m. (SEC Network)
Friday, March 24 – vs. Missouri, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
Sunday, March 26 – vs. Missouri, noon (SEC Network)
Thursday, March 30 – at Mississippi State, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
Saturday, April 8 – vs. LSU, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
Thursday, April 20 – vs. Florida, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday, April 30 – vs. Auburn, noon (SEC Network)
Sunday, May 7 – at Kentucky, 2 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published February 9, 2023 at 11:43 AM.
