With talking season over, Beamer and Gamecocks turn focus to highly anticipated Year 1
Shane Beamer trotted around the practice fields at the South Carolina football complex Friday as rain drops dripped from his hat.
The usually effervescent Beamer remained himself during Day 1 of fall camp. He strutted around, chatted with coaches, hyped up players and followed in tune with the personality fans have come to enjoy in his earliest days as the head coach in Columbia.
“As Coach (Steve) Spurrier used to say, ‘Talking season is over. It’s real,’ “ Beamer said on Thursday.
While rain soaked the fields behind the Long Family Football Operations Center, the Gamecocks showed only bits and pieces of what we’ll see come the season opener against Eastern Illinois on Sept. 4 and beyond.
Quarterback Luke Doty took first-team reps as expected. Jaheim Bell and Nick Muse lined up in double tight end sets opposite one another. Jalen Brooks and Josh Vann took reps as the first-team receivers.
But for a program that’s been more bad than good in recent years, there was a general energy around practice on Friday.
Head strength and conditioning coach Luke Day bobbed around the field, yelling and shouting in his voice that never really ever reaches indoor levels.
“We’re going to be the best in the business about the science of what it is we’re trying to do, and some of the X’s and O’s and all that sort of stuff,” Day told The State earlier this summer. “But it really doesn’t matter if we’re treating these guys like robots, and they don’t understand why they’re doing, what they’re doing; how it helps them; how it’s going to help them make money for their family someday; how it’s going to make them a better football player; how it’s gonna make them a better man; and how it’s going to care for them in this time.”
A noted early riser, Beamer told reporters on Thursday that he woke up at 4:15 a.m. that morning in anticipation of report day for players. He and 8-year-old son Hunter also shared a brief exchange about the upcoming season recently that ended in Hunter telling his father not to get fired.
Beamer has had fall camp practice schedules mocked up since the spring, he said. Former Mississippi State head coach Sylvester Croom — who gave Beamer his first position coaching job in 2004 — even chatted with South Carolina’s new lead man this week about what to expect in Year 1 as a head coach.
“I’ve always been impressed about Shane is his ability to be very professional and business like,” Croom told The State on Tuesday, “but also enjoy life, enjoy being around people and thoroughly enjoy the job that he’s doing.”
As Beamer has made the rounds this summer, there’s been a general buzz about the program. Some of that assuredly comes with the promise of a new coach. The rest? That comes from Beamer.
The first-year head coach brought back the media golf outing, now entitled “Birdies with Beamer” after it was shuttered during the Will Muschamp era. He’s bounced around the state, up to Charlotte and even down to Atlanta for alumni events.
But energy can only last so long when games haven’t been played. Beamer has long been vocal about being in the honeymoon phase in Columbia. He’s still taking over a team and program that finished last season 2-8 and has won just six total games the past two seasons.
Beamer, who still hasn’t moved into his new house locally due to ongoing construction, said a fan recently offered to let him and his family move in with them — though that was contingent on a certain number of wins. Truth be told, outside expectations aren’t high for the Gamecocks, with most national projections calling for four or so wins in 2021.
“To me, a successful season would be to maximize the ability and the potential of every single player, every unit in the entire team,” Beamer said. “And if I feel like we’ve done that, that’ll be a successful season.”
Success in Year 1 under Beamer, to some degree, is subjective. South Carolina’s been in a rut over the past few seasons and the 11-win years under Steve Spurrier continue to drift further into the past. Simply improving on last season’s two-win effort would be a positive. A bowl berth ought to put Beamer in the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year discussion.
Friday, though, marked the latest energetic morning in the Beamer era that continues to inch closer to officially kicking off next month.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 1:07 PM with the headline "With talking season over, Beamer and Gamecocks turn focus to highly anticipated Year 1."
