What Shane Beamer had to say about every early signee in South Carolina’s 2021 class
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer met with the media Wednesday to discuss his first ever early signing period in charge of the Gamecocks. Here’s what he had to say about all seven players who officially joined USC.
Nicholas Barrett, DL
Three stars | 6-foot-3, 329 pounds | Goldsboro, North Carolina
“Great size, 6-foot-3 1/2, 325 pounds, really athletic, great length, has long arms. That’s what you’re looking for at the defensive line position. He’s a guy that can play inside and has a lot of great initial quickness. When you watch defensive lineman, being able to see their get-off, how they are able to strike people and knock offensive linemen back, that jumps off the tape with him.
“Really solid high character guy that going to be an asset for us not only on the field, but in the locker room. And he’s a guy because they didn’t play high school football up there this year, that we really feel like as a staff if he had played — you know, I don’t put a whole lot of stock in where guys are ranked and things like that — but he’s a guy that certainly would have skyrocketed, in our opinion, up the rankings if he had played.”
O’Mega Blake, WR
Three stars | 6-foot-1, 188 pounds | Rock Hill, South Carolina
“O’Mega Blake from up the road at South Pointe. Anytime you get a player from South Pointe high school, you know you’ve done something well. There’s been a long line of great players that have come out of South Pointe High School, and he’s just the next one and I hope the next of many many more for sure. Comes from a great program and is getting coached by a great player up there in the DeVonte Holloman, who I was around before when I was an assistant coach at South Carolina. And I’ve really enjoyed talking to DeVonte quite a bit over the last few weeks, and I want to commend him on what a great program he’s running up there as well.
“But excited about O’Mega and what he brings to the table. Multi-talented, can do a lot of things, very productive and he’s a guy that you really enjoy talking to. I think he and I FaceTimed back and forth like seven times on Sunday about different things, just calling and wanting to talk and ask questions and things like that. So really excited about his desire to join the program.”
Jordan Davis, OL
Three stars | 6-foot-5, 300 pounds | Fairburn, Georgia
“He’s another one that’s got a lot of positional versatility — he can play offensive tackle, he can play either side, has played either side at tackle, and then also can play offensive guard as well. Got a lot of upside and potential as well. Very, very big man but has athleticism, and he’s a guy that, his best football is in front of him.
“And I can say that about a lot of these guys. We want to have an amazing strength and conditioning program that’s going to develop our players in the weight room and on the football field, and a lot of these guys, we feel like are certainly raw and are just now scratching the surface of what they can mean from a football standpoint.”
Marcellas Dial, DB
Three stars | 5-foot-11, 177 pounds | Woodruff, South Carolina
“Marcellas Dial, from Georgia Military, another South Carolina guy, in-state kid, originally from Woodruff. A defensive back — there’s a lot of major positions of need, but defensive back is certainly an area that we have got to improve our depth and get some more guys in there.
“I really enjoyed visiting with him, just like all these guys, so many FaceTime calls and regular phone calls in the last couple of weeks. And his energy, it doesn’t go up and down. Every time I talk to him, he’s excited, he’s energized, he’s got a great smile on his face. He’s got some length of the position that allows us some flexibility in playing press coverage on defense as a defensive back playing off. Was a great long jumper in high school as well, so he’s got some great athleticism.”
Colton Gauthier, QB
Three stars | 6-foot-3, 214 pounds | Dacula, Georgia
“Our very first signing this morning, so pretty cool that as the head coach of South Carolina, he’ll always made the very first signee that came in. A really productive football player, three-year starter that’s thrown for over 2,000 yards every single season as a starter.
“And the one thing that I want to commend him on that I’m really excited about is, he’s the kind of guy that is a leader, that you can build a program around. He did an amazing job of keeping this class intact, an amazing job of recruiting other players as well that weren’t committed and really excited about what he brings to the table and having him over there as well.”
Caleb McDowell
Three stars | 5-foot-8, 180 pounds | Leesburg, Georgia
“Ju-Ju McDowell from over in Georgia, great program at Lee County that’s still making a run in the playoffs, and we continue to wish them luck as they finish up their run in the playoffs. But just a heck of a play maker. Versatile, tough, dynamic with the ball in his hands. He can be a weapon out of the backfield as well, which we’re excited about. Got an edge to himself, certainly has some speed as well, and really pumped about him being a Gamecock and the instant impact he’s going to have on the field.”
Sam Reynolds, WR
Three stars | 5-foot-8, 170 pounds | Alabaster, Alabama
“Great athlete from over in Alabama. He’s a guy that’s just a play maker, can do a lot of different things. He can play in the slot at the wide receiver position, can be a third down back. As a guy like myself that has some special teams background, I’m excited about his potential in the return game and what he brings to that. He comes from a great program at Thompson High School over there that just won to state championship, so he’s used to winning. And I like that that fact that you got a lot of guys that are used to winning and have been successful as well. So we’re really excited about Sam being a part of the program.”
