Why Shane Beamer and South Carolina are keeping the spring game tradition alive
Among the ever-growing list of traditions fading from college football — amateurism, four-year eligibility, walk-ons — it seems spring games are next on the chopping block.
In the past few weeks, a number of traditional college football powers have decided to scrap the annual event, in part, out of fears that opposing teams can scout young players down on the depth chart and lure them into the transfer portal.
Among the teams that have ditched the tradition of a spring game: Texas, Southern Cal, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Missouri, N.C. State, Florida State and Nebraska — and that’s with the Cornhuskers routinely drawing over 60,000 people to watch the intrasquad scrimmage.
Rather than noting the potential that a spring game could lead to roster poaching, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian cited the length of the college football season and the desire to keep his team fresh and healthy.
“The development that’s needed for these guys need to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be,” Sarkisian said on the “Up and Adams Show” in February. “Our approach is going to be a little more NFL-driven, kind of more of an OTA style early on as we grow into more of the scrimmage formats in the second half of spring ball.”
There is an argument to be made that everything Sarkisian said is accurate. And, heck, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer probably agrees with much of it, especially considering Beamer has said for years that he wants a preseason game in college football.
Well, that hasn’t happened yet. And, so, Beamer said, “Yes, we are absolutely going ahead with a spring game.”
That Garnet & Black game takes place at Williams-Brice Stadium on Friday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.
“If I told our players that we weren’t having a spring game,” Beamer said during a press conference on Monday, “I think they’d be pretty dang disappointed because of how much they love to compete.”
To the idea that a spring game would enhance poaching, Beamer almost laughed. No spring game is deterring anyone from trying to lure players into the transfer portal. They know the guys South Carolina has on its roster and, whether there’s a spring game or five closed scrimmages, other teams are going to try and snag someone.
And to the fear of injuries — well, what’s so different about a spring game versus a normal practice or scrimmage? There’s injury risk with everything. And if anyone wanted to use the injury excuse, it should be Beamer, who lost his starting left tackle in 2023 when Jaylen Nichols tore an ACL in the spring game.
To Beamer, it’s really the case of the positives outweighing the negatives.
One big positive: Fans enjoy packing Williams-Brice Stadium in the spring.
“I don’t want to take that away from anyone of them,” Beamer said. “Some of these schools that aren’t having a spring game, they maybe draw 1,000 people at best — not all of them.”
And because South Carolina draws a solid spring-game crowd — the school reported 32,500 people at the 2024 edition — it gives the Gamecocks’ freshmen and newcomers a little tune-up to playing in that environment.
“For a lot of guys, it’s the biggest crowd they’ve ever played in front of in their life,” Beamer said. “They get that experience and the first time they do it isn’t in front of 70,000 people in Atlanta against Virginia Tech (in the season opener).”
And then there’s the element of inviting prospects to that environment.
South Carolina will have recruits on campus basically every day through spring practice, but the spring game is the night to show off. And part of the reason South Carolina’s spring game is on a Friday is because it’ll be the only team playing that night.
“It will be a great recruiting experience for us and I don’t want to lose that,” Beamer said. “A spring game in Williams-Brice is different than a spring game in some places that I have watched on television before.”
