7 questions with Shane Beamer: On the playoffs, LaNorris Sellers, team expectations

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer addressed reporters Monday during 2025 SEC Media Days event at the Omni Atlanta Hotel. Here are highlights from his larger Q&A session in the main media room.

Q. College football playoff has obviously been discussed quite a bit, and South Carolina was on the brink or maybe should’ve been in arguably. How important do you think is that the playoffs get expanded, and what are your thoughts about the eight- versus nine-game schedule considering your annual rivalry against Clemson?

BEAMER: I’m all for expansion to give more teams opportunities. We have the greatest regular season in any sport in college athletics, in my opinion. Every regular season game means something.

You want to make sure that the regular season doesn’t lose meaning, and confident that it won’t, if we expand. It’ll still make a lot more games meaningful in the month of November.

And then gives more teams opportunities to go compete for a championship, which is what everybody wants. We went into the last weekend last year against Clemson, Thanksgiving weekend, and not just us, but there were a lot of teams around the country that felt like they still had an opportunity to get into that 12-team playoff.

I’m all for it.

In regards to the eight and the nine game, competition is a core value of our program. I’m never going to shy away from competition. We have a schedule we get to play, but we also get to play Clemson every season as well.

That’s a non-conference rival that we have that not every school in this league has. Florida plays a non-conference rival from another conference. Georgia does as well. Then Kentucky does.

But I think we’re the only ones. I know everyone is going to play Power 4, Power 5 teams in the regular season typically, but in my mind we’re always playing nine conference games. If we go to nine, we’re now playing 10 conference games.

We’ve also got future schedules with Miami, Virginia Tech this year, North Carolina, North Carolina State. So I’m all for competition; I want to make sure that other teams in this league aren’t the playing nine SEC games and playing three whatever you want to call them games that they should win. Because I’m not very smart as the head coach ? South Carolina to be doing that if that’s what the other teams in this league aren’t doing.

Q. Your mantra this season is to move forward and continue going further than last year. You did that this offseason by producing another top 25 recruiting class. How are you guys going to put that into action on the field this year?

BEAMER: Yeah, just continue to develop. After every season, I’m no different than any other coach, you look back at the things you did well the previous season and the things you didn’t do well and figure out how you’re going to improve and be better.

We did a lot of good last season. There is a lot we need to be better at offensively, defensively and special teams. We’ll go to work at doing that. We’ll go to work developing our roster.

And then just realizing that every year it’s a brand new year, now more so than any other. Guys will be here this week at SEC Media Day representing their teams that have never played a game in the SEC. I’m not knocking them, but it’s making the point that people’s rosters are completely different every single season. We’ll be picked higher this week than we were last year when ya’ll did the picks in Dallas just because we’ve won nine games and we bring back our quarterback.

Also understanding that none of that matters because every year is a new year. There are a lot of new faces all across the SEC. For us it’s continue to work and try and get better and take this thing farther in ‘25.

Q. Saw a stat around the NFL draft that former three-stars all ranked outside the top 500 nationally as recruits, turned those guys into three top 50 NFL draft picks. How does that story about development help make it easier to get more elite recruits, and also be able to tell that story to recruits moving forward?

BEAMER: It’s something we pride ourselves on, the development. When we ask high school prospects or transfers, what are you looking for in a school, I know there are more factors at play now than ever, 90% of the time the word “development” is going to come out their mouth. Whether it’s a transfer, they want to be developed, or a high school senior, they want to be developed. It’s hard to argue that against our blueprint, if you will, because of what guys have done.

Whether it be Nick Emmanwori who was a three-star recruit coming out of high school and was an early second round pick this year, DQ Smith, high school quarterback and getting ready to be a four-year starter and have a chance to go on from the next level.

Or from a transfer standpoint, Demetrius Knight who transferred in from another school or had been at two previous schools and one of those school caught us and said, that guy can’t play for you. Ends up being an all-conference type guy and being the first guy drafted from South Carolina.

So credit the young men and what they’re about from a character standpoint. Also give some credit to our program, the culture, the people in our program, the whole development aspect. The weight room with Luke Day, the training room with Clint Haggard, nutrition with Yimy Rodriguez, character development with Derrick Moore.

We’ve got a great thing from all across our building that’s into developing the total player and total student-athlete, and those guys are great next examples of that as well. We’re not perfect. I understand that. When you talk about the culture we have in place, it’s hard to argue with the results from a development standpoint.

Q. How do you balance trying to turn the page on last season’s success while still trying to emulate some of those elements that you brought it?

BEAMER: You look back at last season and there is a lot of momentum going into this season because of what we did last year. There is no question about it. And we have a lot of guys coming back.

But I would say a few things. One, it’s realizing that just because it happened last season doesn’t mean it just automatically happens this year. There are plenty of examples of teams across the country every year in college football that they’re getting pumped up all summer long and then go out week one and get smacked in the face and never recover.

That happens every year. It’s because just because it happened last year doesn’t mean it happens this year. For our team it’s making sure our guys realize all the work that went into 2024, it’s going to take all that and more to go where we want to go in 2025.

So building on the things we did last season without a doubt, and then looking back at things we didn’t do well and making sure we improve those. People want to talk about the close losses we had last season, the two-point loss to Alabama, three-point loss to LSU. I realize that. But nobody wants to talk about the four-point win against Old Dominion. Then we had a three-point win against Clemson and a four-point win against Missouri.

So understanding in this league every Saturday is a battle. It’s a fine line between winning and losing and understanding we’ve got to be going ever detail, every small thing, even though they’re not small things, to get where we want to go this year.

Q. What’s been said and written about LaNorris in the offseason, what’s been your perspective on seeing those conversations?

BEAMER: I think LaNorris, it’s exciting to see that. You’re talking about a guy that is very humble, very hard working, and has not changed. It is what it is. His life, his world has changed from last year at this time to right now because of what he did last season.

But he’s got a great family around him. He came back in January knowing the things he needed to work on to get better at. He’s done a great job of working hard and improving, all while staying grounded and staying the same person.

I think we’re going to be better around LaNorris as well on the offense, more depth and competition at pretty much every position I feel like. That’s going to help him. He doesn’t have to be Superman for us. Just continue to be the person he is, the leader that he is, and the player that he is, and watch him continue to take the next step.

Certainly it’s different for him. I think he’s done a great job handling it and is continuing to focus on the things that are important for sure.

Q. When you coach an explosive playmaker, how do you find that fine line between saying, we want to you play within the system, play on time, and not limiting that playmaking ability that he naturally has?

BEAMER: Yeah, it’s a fine line, but that’s what makes him so good, is just that natural playmaking ability that he has.

I’ve never told him don’t run or anything. Be smart. He’s a smart guy. He knows when to get down and try to avoid contact. He’ll be even better at that this year for sure.

The thing I would like to see is a lot of his long plays last year from a running standpoint or throws were because, one, protection broke down, or, two, he maybe didn’t get rid of the ball as quickly as he should have.

So let’s be better in 2025 about when to get rid of the ball, but also with protection so he’s not getting hit by four people in the backfield against Clemson and somehow comes out and runs for 40 yards down the field. As cool as that is to watch, I would rather it be the other way.

It’s one of those you try not to over-coach it. I’m not a quarterback guru, but I was in college with Michael Vick and I was at Oklahoma with Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts, and being around those guys that are weapons with their feet, you want to have that as part your offense and also be smart, too, especially in this league with the defenses we play week in, week out.

Q. Majority of the misses in college football are on the personal football character side of things. You guys have a retention rate much higher than a lot of other teams. Is there specifically something there? Are you doing anything you feel like is cutting edge on the front end evaluating this kid, is he great teammate, or is it he’s just coming in and he’s by osmosis blending into your culture?

BEAMER: It’s a lot of that for sure. You want to make sure you’re bringing the right people into your program. It’s harder than ever to do that. The amount of time that we as coaches are allowed on the road recruiting, it’s limited. Particularly for a transfer portal guy, guys goes in the portal, we may recruit a guy in high school for three years, guy goes in the transfer portal, you got about six hours to get him scheduled and get him on official visit because other people are.

So doing as much research as you can on guys, and then probably in a lot of ways, and I am talking portal specifically now, when a guy comes in on a visit, I’ve never coached in the NFL, but it’s probably very much like a free agent visit in the NFL where you’re trying to find out as much as you can about this while he’s on your campus.

It’s recruiting, don’t get me wrong, but it’s making sure he’s a fit, a fit for and you you’re a fit for him, without a doubt. There is no question about it.

I think it goes back, guys have to choose to come to South Carolina or whatever school for the right reasons. There is a money aspect involved now that hasn’t been there before. I get that. If that’s the only reason they’re probably going to be in the portal or looking to go in the portal or looking to go in the portal every year. We have a lot of guys at Carolina, our retention rate is strong; appreciate you saying that. We’ve got a lot of guys that came here for the right reasons, because of the culture, the people that we have here.

But it’s hard. We’ve not done great on some guys as well that we brought in that didn’t work out. I think if you just rely on bringing the right people into your program, being willing to walk away from guys that don’t fit — and I rely on our players a lot, too. We have had guys on our team that have come to me after we brought somebody on a visit and said, uh-uh, coach. He ain’t going to fit what we’re about. We’ve walked away from guys.

Now more than ever in college football, I think culture is more important than it’s ever been. You screw that up, it can torpedo your entire team pretty quickly.