What’s in a name? Get to know USC offensive lineman Boaz Stanley
Boaz Stanley is on track to make an immediate impact for Shane Beamer and the South Carolina offensive line this season.
Stanley joined the Gamecocks after spending the last two seasons in the Sun Belt Conference with Troy. Last year, his redshirt sophomore season, Stanley allowed just two sacks in 405 passing situations during his time that was mainly split between center and right tackle for the Trojans.
“He’s smart — that’s a big quality of a center,” South Carolina offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley told The State. “He’s strong, he has good play strength, and he’s a really good athlete. We can do some things where we can utilize his skill set.”
Get to know a little more about the promising transfer portal prospect who will likely play a big role for South Carolina in 2025:
What’s in a name?
The 6-foot-3, 325-pound offensive lineman’s given name is Adam Boaz Stanley.
Why does he go by Boaz, rather than Adam?
“That’s a great question,” Stanley said through a laugh.
“I guess because Boaz Adam just doesn’t sound as good? I don’t know why (my parents) gave me Boaz as my middle name and then decided to call me that.”
The name “Boaz” comes from the Book of Ruth in the Bible, Stanley said. In the story, Boaz essentially looks out for Ruth, who is poor and recently widowed. Stanley said his parents liked the story, thus they found inspiration for his name in it.
“In the story, Boaz is a redeemer and he kinda comes in and saves Ruth and her mother-in-law,” Stanley said. “ … They just thought that was a really strong name so they gave it to me. All my brothers, I’m pretty pretty sure, have Bible names. I have two. Some of us have two, some of us have one. I think they’ve kind of just wanted to incorporate that.”
One big happy family
Stanley is one of 12 children. He has six brothers and five sisters. Stanley has eight biological siblings and three step-siblings.
The newly 21-year-old Stanley (his birthday is Aug. 5) falls “right in the middle” age-wise and shares that spot alongside his stepsister.
Safe to say there was never a dull moment during his days growing up in Georgia.
“It was very fun. You always had someone to do something with,” Stanley said. “Now it’s super fun because all my older siblings, except for a couple, have kids. Then my younger siblings are the same age as them. So it’s like there’s just constantly kids whenever we get together.”
The redshirt junior added another member to his family last year when he married his wife, Payden, in May. Stanley joked that his teammates look at him like an old man, though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“They treat you older, with more responsibility,” Stanley said. “You can’t mess up as much, they hold you to a little bit of higher standing. But also, I think it’s funny, the guys, especially the freshmen, always say I’m an old guy. I’m like, ‘I’m only like, a couple years older.’ But that is definitely a funny thing that kind of happens when you’re married.”
Beamer has often stressed the family feel his South Carolina program has and how important it is to its culture. Coming from a big family himself, Stanley realized that right away and it played a role while he was being recruited by the Gamecocks out of the transfer portal.
“When we came on our visit, that was one thing that me and Payden, my mom and Payden’s dad kind of talked about,” Stanley said. “We were like, this is definitely something that we all feel welcomed here — that was an immediate thing. … They talk about family, but you could definitely feel it here. That’s gotten even more as I’ve been around here for the past six months. Everyone feels like family. The O-line is real close.”
Adjusting to South Carolina and his role with the Gamecocks
At the end of spring practice, Beamer essentially said that if the season were to start right then and there, Stanley would be the Gamecocks’ starting center.
Now the Gamecocks are just over a week into preseason practices. Stanley said it doesn’t matter what position he plays.
“Coach Teasly just said it’s a meritocracy,” Stanley said. “We’re going to put the best five out there. It doesn’t matter who it is. It doesn’t matter if I’m the best tackle or the best center, best guard. It doesn’t matter who’s at what position, we’re going to put the best players out there. That definitely just pushes everyone in the room to just play their hardest and constantly get better.”
Stanley said he isn’t worried about the difference between playing in the Sun Belt and the SEC. He emphasized that he’s felt prepared since he arrived to Columbia in January.
Stanley said one of the bigger adjustments to South Carolina has simply been the resources the Gamecocks have compared with Troy. Having team nutritionist Yimy Rodriguez has been a “big difference,” he said.
“I definitely came in here ready to work, ready to put in as much work as I needed to and (strength coach Luke Day) has definitely gotten my body ready for spring ball and for fall camp,” Stanley said. “… We put in a lot of work here in the weight room. So that’s definitely been something that I’ve like — I felt ready just from the training and the conditioning that we’ve been doing.”
