Lockdown on recruiting might soon be lifted. Beamer, Gamecocks have a plan of attack
Recruiting has been a challenge for Shane Beamer and other college football programs in the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There might be some relief on the way soon.
On Wednesday, the NCAA’s Division I Council discussed the return of some recruiting activities and will vote on the matter next month. According to an NCAA news release, the council supported transitioning back to some in-person recruiting in all sports starting June 1, but said that schools in different parts of the country might face different health and safety restrictions.
One of models discussed was allowing official and unofficial visits beginning June 1, and a normal recruiting calendar beginning Aug. 1. CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd reported this week that plans also would allow schools to conduct camps during the period that begins June. 1
Beamer told The State he hopes the measure goes through and that his staff will be ready if and when it happens.
“Full speed ahead, full throttle once June 1 hits, if that is the case. We are hoping everything opens up June 1. From a COVID standpoint, I hope things are under control and we are in a position as a state, city and campus to do that,” Beamer said. “Assuming we are, we put together a tentative plan from what June will look like. There is talk that the NCAA recruiting calendar could be tweaked. We will cross that bridge when it comes to it.
“We are trying to be proactive that everything will open up on June 1. And that means unofficial visits, guys coming on their own and official visits guys coming on our dime. Hopefully that means camps. We are preparing that every day in June would be back to normal. We will certainly tweak and adjust as we go along.”
On Feb. 17, the NCAA D1 council extended the recruiting dead period for all sports through May 31. The dead period began in March of 2020 when COVID-19 shut down sports. Division I coaches are not allowed to meet face-to-face with a recruit off campus or do any in-person scouting. Prospective Division I athletes could visit a campus on their own but could have no contact with coaches or anyone associated with athletics. (Division II schools were allowed to have athletes on campus for normal visits.)
Not having on-campus visits and not getting into the recruits’ homes have made things challenging, especially for new coaches like Beamer, who was hired as the new USC coach Dec. 5. The Gamecocks have relied on text messaging, FaceTiming and Zoom video calls with potential recruits.
Beamer and his staff have stayed active during the dead period. According to the South Carolina Athletics Department, the USC football program has conducted 75 virtual visits with recruits since Beamer took over.
“I’m trying to spend the majority of my time on recruiting now. I’m on this phone, texting, FaceTime, doing Zoom visits,” Beamer said.
South Carolina signed 13 newcomers out of high school or junior college in the 2021 class — nine of those were commitments originally made to Will Muschamp’s staff. USC also utilized the transfer portal to fill out the 2021 scholarships and has one commitment for the Class of 2022. Defensive back Anthony Rose committed to South Carolina last month.
Beamer is known as a strong recruiter at his stops at Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Georgia and when he was an assistant coach at USC from 2007-10. He was the recruiting coordinator his final two seasons with the Gamecocks.
USC’s 2009 class was ranked 12th best by Rivals and included future NFL players Stephon Gilmore and Alshon Jeffery. Beamer also helped recruit Connor Shaw and Marcus Lattimore, and the Gamecocks’ 2010 and 2011 classes both ranked in the top 25 by recruiting services.
And even though he is now a head coach with more responsibilities, Beamer said he will have a hands-on approach with recruiting. He doesn’t want to be known as a guy who comes in late in the process to try and convince a prospect to come to USC.
“I’ve tried to maintain the same mentality that I had as an assistant coach, with the way that I recruit no different. That’s what the bulk of my time is spent on during the day, talking to high school coaches, talking to prospects, talking to parents,” Beamer said. “I also might be watching videos of guys we might potentially offer scholarships to. Certainly don’t want to be a guy who comes in at the end.
“I want to get to know all these guys we are recruiting just like I was doing when I was tight ends coach at Oklahoma. But instead of five or six guys, you get to do it with every single position. That’s been fun.”
