Shane Beamer turns to former Gamecock players as he builds his first staff at USC
When Shane Beamer was introduced as South Carolina football’s new head coach, he repeatedly thanked the program’s former players for rallying around him and supporting him for the job, pledging that “this is your program.”
“You guys laid the groundwork. You are always welcome here,” Beamer said.
Sure enough, in the days and weeks that followed, he hired Erik Kimrey to be his tight ends coach, bringing one of those former players on to his very first staff. He also made it clear that he was going to retain another former player, program legend Connor Shaw, in an off-field role.
And while his on-field staff is nearly full, Beamer indicated Monday that he’s still interested in bringing even more ex-Gamecocks onto his staff in some capacity.
“There’s certainly qualified guys out there. There’s a lot of former players that I’m interested in that have an interest in this position,” Beamer said. “And we’re just working through that offensively, defensively and special teams wise, just to make sure it’s the right fit.”
One of those former players who rejoined the program is Byron Jerideau, who is now the Gamecocks’ assistant strength and conditioning coach, the school announced Tuesday.
Jerideau, who played defensive line at USC from 2010 to 2012, has spent the past three years as the Tennessee Volunteers’ assistant director of football sports performance.
And he’s not the only former Gamecock in Tennessee’s weight room. Former linebacker Shaq Wilson is an assistant director for sports performance at UT as well. Wilson has already spent time as a coach for USC, serving as a graduate assistant, defensive quality control coordinator, assistant director of recruiting and assistant director of player personnel.
Another potential candidate to return to Columbia is Darian Stewart. The veteran Pro Bowl safety retired from the NFL in December and told ESPN he wanted to join Beamer’s staff to “help student-athlete development on and off the field.”
Beamer didn’t address any of those specific candidates Monday, but he did say he and newly hired defensive coordinator Clayton White have already been talking about names they like.
“Clayton and I, we left the office last night late and he came over to the place where I was staying, and we sat down and talked for a while just kind about some of those roles — guys he had in mind, guys I had in mind, the whole fit, that dynamic with analyst roles, graduate assistant roles,” Beamer said. “It’s all got to fit with the staff dynamic and who’s coaching what and where we need to get guys in at.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 4:02 PM.
