Inside South Carolina coach Shane Beamer’s plan to attack the early signing period
The situation is a tight one, to say the least, for Shane Beamer.
He was named South Carolina’s head football coach Dec. 6, giving him and a staff he has yet to assemble about 10 days to lock in a first part of his inaugural signing class. Such is life with December’s early signing period. Such is life with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing back the season.
But the first-time coach has a plan.
“Every young man that’s committed to South Carolina, I’ve had multiple conversations with them and their families,” Beamer said Monday in a radio interview with 107.5 The Game. “And then I’ve had multiple conversations with some guys that obviously aren’t committed to South Carolina that we’d obviously like to get signed this week. It’s a small signing class, we anticipate it being this Wednesday, which is OK.”
Only one or two players have asked about potential position coaches, Beamer noted in Monday’s interview. In those cases, he’s asked for their trust as he assembles things on that front.
The Gamecocks are only sitting at 10 commitments at the moment. At least three, T.J. Sanders, O’Mega Blake and JonDarius Morgan, have said they’re going to wait until February to sign.
“I understand that there may be some guys that potentially would have signed with us Wednesday that are committed to us that won’t (sign) because it’s not concrete yet,” Beamer said. “And I understand that.”
His message to recruits has been that they committed to USC for reasons to do with the place and institution, and all those reasons are still in play.
That leaves players such as quarterback Colten Gauthier, running back Caleb McDowell, receiver Sam Reynolds and defensive tackle Nicholas Barrett all set to officially join up Wednesday.
Overall, the Gamecocks will have 21 total spots they can add to the roster for this 2021 season. They will negotiate what could be an unusual offseason with more transfer flexibility under NCAA rules.
With an extended NCAA “dead period” that prevents in-person interactions, Beamer can’t meet with players anyway. He said he’s been handling practice at Oklahoma, his old job, in the morning and dedicating his afternoons and evenings to chatting with potential future Gamecocks.
Asked about recruiting within the state of South Carolina, Beamer pointed out how much the landscape has changed in 10 years. Players such as Alshon Jeffery were probably not as close to their incoming USC classmates as players are now, just because of social media. But talent inside the borders still holds an important role. (He also talked about the prospect of recruiting regionally and nationally.)
South Carolina’s 2021 class
RB Caleb McDowell
WR Sam Reynolds
WR Omega Blake
WR Derwin Burgess
OL Jordan Davis
DL Nick Barrett
DL TJ Sanders
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 2:04 PM.
