South Carolina football defensive assistant leaves for job in Big 12
.JPG "Jordan Dove is greeted by fans during the Gamecock Walk before the Gamecocks’ game against South Carolina State at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia on Saturday, September 6, 2025.")
Shane Beamer and the South Carolina football team lost a defensive assistant to the Big 12 last week.
Former Gamecocks defensive assistant Jordan Dove has accepted a position at Kansas State. Dove is listed as the Kansas State defensive tackles coach. He started in the role on Jan. 20, he told The State.
Dove, a Winnsboro native, started as an equipment manager with the Gamecocks during his time as a student at USC. Dove graduated in 2023 and served as a graduate assistant on Beamer’s staff for two years before being elevated to defensive assistant for the defensive line in 2025.
“There was nothing more I loved than being able to work for the hometown team,” Dove told The State. “Building a relationship with the guys, growing in this coaching profession, I learned so much.… Obviously very grateful for Coach Beamer for giving me the opportunity.”
Dove had a baptism by fire in 2025 after defensive line coach Travian Robertson was involved in a car crash just before the start of the season. Dove was tasked with leading the defensive line in Robertson’s absence, which lasted most of the season.
“When I first started, [Beamer said] he was big about promoting from within,” Dove recalled. “And he stuck to that. This last year was a whirlwind, talk about getting thrown in the fire, but that really propelled me to being able to come out [to Kansas State] and really get to showcase what I know.”
Dove said he’s grateful for his time under Robertson and the relationship he built with him.
“It was hard to leave him,” Dove said of Robertson. “He means a lot to me football-wise and just in life. We got really close. And then obviously with everything that happened, I still leaned on him a lot last year. Maybe he wasn’t as physically there as much as he could have been, but he was always a phone call or text away, which meant a lot to me.”
Dove heads to Kansas State in year one of the Collin Klein era. Klein, a former Kansas State quarterback, was hired as the Wildcats’ new head coach in December following a two-year stint as offensive coordinator at Texas A&M.
