Shane Beamer impressed in debut season at South Carolina. What can he do for encore?
We asked a collection of SEC journalists for their take on the state of the South Carolina football program heading into the 2022 season.
Here, they address the perception of head coach Shane Beamer as he enters Year 2 with the program. Beamer speaks from 1 to 4:15 p.m. Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta, including 2:25 to 2:55 p.m. on SEC Network.
—Tony Barnhart, “Mr CFB” and longtime college sportswriter—
“I think what Shane Beamer did was put his stamp on the program there. ‘This is the way that we want to play. This is the way we want to go about our business.’
“I think beating (Florida) the way they did sent a message — ‘Hey, this guy knows what he’s doing.’ And so in that sense, I thought it was a really good first year for Coach Beamer.”
—Andy Staples, The Athletic—
“I think they’re really intriguing because you don’t know what version of Spencer Rattler’s there. Spencer Rattler had such a good end of 2020 and he gets pulled in 2021. But the guy he got pulled for seems to be really, really good. So like, getting benched in favor of Caleb Williams doesn’t seem like it’s necessarily a reflection on how good of a player you are. (Rattler is) a really good player. I think it feels like they’ve certainly upgraded there.
“But what I think is interesting about South Carolina is they overachieved last year. If there is any sort of regression to the mean, people may look at that as them being worse when probably they’re more on schedule than anything else. The end of last season was just a strange situation, because they caught Florida and Auburn at very strange times in their existences and then ended up beating them.
“And then the bowl game was just wild. I wouldn’t be shocked if they wind up with a similar record but are a better team.”
—Connor O’Gara, Saturday Down South—
“South Carolina is the ultimate good vibes team in college football. Being the ultimate good vibes team and college football doesn’t necessarily translate to wins. Last year, Ole Miss was the ultimate good vibes in college football coming into the year that did, in my opinion, translate into wins. Building off of what they did last year is not a given, because in this league, if you don’t improve on the line of scrimmage you can’t be very good. That’s just as simple as it gets.
“Spencer Rattler put on the 12 pounds of good weight to be able to kind of withstand what he’s probably going to take in this league. It’s bigger, faster, better defensive linemen, and I think he understands the task ahead. But so much of this momentum feels like South Carolina has a guy at the two most important places: head coach and quarterback. If you have those two things, all the other things kind of feel like maybe they get this, or maybe if this guy kind of steps up here. That’s why I think you’re seeing this optimism where it’s at.
“Do they have a chance of being a New Year’s Six Bowl team this year? I don’t want to definitively say ‘no’ to that. I wouldn’t expect it, because I think the East can be really good. But do they have a chance to take another step up? Absolutely and I’d be surprised if they didn’t.”
—John Talty, AL.com—
“I think South Carolina last year, I feel like they overachieved. I think that’s something that is a good and bad thing moving forward. I think it raises the expectation. Last year, I feel like South Carolina got a lot of national praise and credit from people like me, just because they were overachieved outside expectations. We’re all curious to see, can they take that next step? Bringing in somebody like Spencer Rattler, can you get another win or two to keep feeling like you’re moving up?”
This story was originally published July 19, 2022 at 7:11 AM.
