Shane Beamer among coaches in new EA Sports College Football video game
Gamecock football fans will see a few familiar faces on the virtual sideline of a new college football video game coming out this summer.
South Carolina announced on social media Friday that head coach Shane Beamer, offensive coordinator Mike Shula and defensive coordinator Clayton White will be in EA Sports College Football 26.
Last year’s game did not include real-world coaches, but this year the game will include over 300 real coaches.
“Suit up for Dan Lanning. Compete against Kirby Smart. Recruit as or against James Franklin,” EA Sports said in a blog post. “Go toe-to-toe with current coaches who bring distinctive playstyles to the field. Strategize like they would with their unique playbooks for a more authentic coaching experience.”
While at the SEC Meetings in Florida this week, Beamer told The State he thought he was in the game, but wasn’t completely sure.
“I told them I was willing and signed whatever I was supposed to sign to be in it,” Beamer said.
The official reveal trailer for the game was released Thursday morning.
South Carolina’s pregame intro of Cocky popping out of the Cockaboose on the field before the game was featured briefly in the trailer. The Gamecocks hype song “Sandstorm” by Darude was in the game last year and The Athletic (among others) reported the “2001: A Space Odyssey” music will also be in the game this year, rounding out the virtual pregame atmosphere for South Carolina.
South Carolina fans will likely favor the Gamecock representation in this year’s trailer over last year’s, which depicted Georgia tight end Oscar Delp stopping on a dime and leaving South Carolina defensive back David Spaulding flying by for a missed tackle.
EA Sports College Football 26 will be released on July 10. It’s the second installment of the recently revived series that was on hiatus for more than a decade. Production of the game stopped in 2013 — after the release of “NCAA Football ‘14” — because of the O’Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit that revolved around the lack of compensation for the student-athletes’ names, images and likenesses.
This story was originally published May 30, 2025 at 4:08 PM.
