Shane Beamer isn’t focused on gameday uniforms, but USC players have plenty of input
If South Carolina has a uniform czar, in theory, it’s Shane Beamer.
How he’s taking to that remains a work in progress.
“I talk to certain guys on the team,” Beamer said of how he actually picks each week’s set. “Like I said last year, I want us to be worried about how we play and how we prepare to play and not worry about what we’re wearing each week.”
The Gamecocks’ second-year head coach joked on Tuesday he was chatting with one of South Carolina’s receivers — who remained unnamed — in recent days. What uniform USC would wear in Week 1 against Georgia State was part of the equation.
The other part? That would be the accessories.
“They’ve been in my ear for a while,” Beamer joked about his players. “One of them — and I won’t name who — we were talking uniforms this morning. He wanted to know what accessories were wearing with the uniforms. I was like ‘Oh my god.’ You think in 1970 those guys were worried about the accessories they wore with their uniforms? It’s a different time.
“I think he was talking socks, wristbands, all that,” he continued, laughing. “I was like, ‘Are you serious? Accessories?’ ”
Weekly uniform reveals on social media were the norm under Will Muschamp via South Carolina’s in-house creative team — and wildly popular among the fanbase.
“Garnet and black are our colors and we certainly mix that in there as well. But trust me, I hear from plenty of people on our uniforms and all that,” Beamer said. “I want it to be about how we play, but also want these guys to have some input (on jerseys) as well.”
Whatever South Carolina does wear on Saturday, it’ll have its hands full with a Georgia State squad helmed by former Steve Spurrier assistant Shawn Elliott.
The Panthers finished the 2021 season 8-5 and earned their fourth bowl bid in five seasons under Elliott’s guidance. Georgia State returns its talented tailback tandem of Tucker Gregg and one-time South Carolina transfer Jamyest Williams.
Beamer cautioned against taking the Panthers lightly.
“No disrespect to Eastern Illinois, who we opened up with last year, but this ain’t Eastern Illinois,” he said. “And we made that very clear with our players this morning. This is a team that 17 of their 22 starters are juniors or seniors, so they’ve played a lot of football together. They beat Tennessee not that long ago. They had a heck of an opportunity to beat Auburn last year at Auburn.”
“It’s a very confident team that has gone on the road in the SEC and performed very well,” Beamer continued. “(They) did win one game and had an opportunity to win a second game against an SEC team on the road.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 3:24 PM.
