Shane Beamer previews February signing day: ‘I like the way that we’re finishing up’
Shane Beamer hasn’t been on the job as South Carolina football’s head coach for two months, but next week he’ll reach his second major recruiting milestone.
The first one, coming during the early signing period in December, saw nine high school and junior college commits sign with the Gamecocks. On Feb. 3, the traditional National Signing Day will likely be even quieter for USC.
With seven transfer portal additions over the past several weeks, Beamer has mostly filled out the 2021 recruiting class, with just a few open spots remaining.
“I like the way that we’re finishing up — obviously a lot of that was guys that have transferred in and have joined us, or mid-years that came in, they’re obviously a part of this new group as well,” Beamer said. “There’s a handful of guys that we’re still pursuing that are seniors right now or that will be here in the fall, and then we’re constantly full speed ahead doing everything that we can on those underclassmen or younger guys as well.”
Next Wednesday, the Gamecocks expect to officially sign defensive lineman T.J. Sanders and linebacker Kolbe Fields, who have already committed. Presuming they do so, Beamer will have three open spots available to count toward 2021’s scholarships. South Carolina remains in the hunt for a couple more prospects such as wide receiver Jordan Mosley, safety Juwon Gaston and cornerback La’Dareyen Craig.
USC’s 2021 recruiting class ranks No. 94 nationally and last in the SEC, according to the 247Sports Composite. The rankings do not factor in the team’s transfer portal additions.
In all likelihood, the Gamecocks will go through National Signing Day without a recruiting coordinator among the assistant coaches that Beamer has now hired.
“I’m not against it, and I know (offensive line coach Greg Adkins) has been a recruiting coordinator and has done it at a high level at a lot of different places. So certainly that’s something that I’m open to,” Beamer said Wednesday. “I think there’s more pressing things right now for our staff to get done. We have a personnel staff that we’re trying to fill that handles a lot of that, and then nowadays with recruiting, like when I was here before, we had Robbie Liles handling high school relations and Patrick Shine was basically our recruiting office and ... Scott Morgan were two guys that were here. And that was it.
“You look at the volume of staffs and the way they’ve exploded, it’s a little bit of a different time than what it was even five years ago, so certainly something that I’m open to, but nothing that I think is pressing right now that we have to have that title.”
Perhaps more pressing is hiring a replacement for director of player personnel Drew Hughes, who left for Texas last week. On that front, the Gamecocks are reportedly set to hire Maryland director of recruiting Taylor Edwards, though the move wasn’t official enough Wednesday that Beamer could address it. Edwards would presumably handle much of the logistics and film work that on-field assistants who are recruiting coordinators have to deal with.
Of course, in the modern age of college football, no assistant coach is exempt from recruiting. Going into the 2022 class and beyond, Beamer expressed optimism about the ties his new staff carries over to USC.
“One thing ... I’ve really been excited about is just the other areas, resources that we’ve been able to tap into — the guys that (wide receivers) Justin Stepp was recruiting at Arkansas, that they want to come play SEC football, and they’re maybe not from this particular region, but they have a great relationship with Justin from his time at Arkansas and he was recruiting them. Guys that I was recruiting in Oklahoma that maybe aren’t in this region that have reached out, they want to play in the SEC and have an interest in us because of previous relationships,” Beamer said.
“Recruiting is all about relationships, that’s what it is and obviously we have a fantastic product to sell here academically and athletically. But then when you have good prior relationships — (offensive coordinator) Marcus Satterfield was at Baylor, he’s got ties to that part of the country, where Greg Atkins is coming from — there’s a lot of connections that, I knew that when I put together the staff, but couldn’t be more pleased with the way that’s kind of coming to fruition here in these initial few weeks.”
