Gamecocks head football coach Shane Beamer is moving toward the standard set by his South Carolina predecessors, Will Muschamp and Steve Spurrier, in Columbia. After a 34-30 home win over Missouri in Week 12, Beamer achieved his sixth win over a top-25 opponent.
As 247 Sports’ Brad Crawford pointed out, Beamer now has more top-25 wins than Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Ole Miss’s Lane Kiffin, LSU’s Brian Kelly, USC’s Lincoln Riley, Penn State’s James Franklin, and Florida State’s Mike Norvell have.
“Since the start of the 2022 season, Shane Beamer has six wins over Top 25 teams at South Carolina. That’s more than … Ryan Day (5), Lane Kiffin (5), Brian Kelly (4), Lincoln Riley (4), James Franklin (3), Mike Norvell (3),” Crawford tweeted.
When asked postgame what it meant to defeat three straight ranked opponents, Beamer talked to the importance to the young players on his roster and future recruits who are seeing his proof of concept.
“That we are on the right track. You talk about the young players we have in this program right now. The quarterback, Dylan. On and on. You talk about the recruits that are here tonight. The ones that are committed to us. The ones that we are recruiting. I tell high school recruits and their families all the time. The best days of South Carolina football are right in front of us. I truly believe that with the direction we are heading right now. There has been so many great moments from this season and it is pretty cool to be a part of,” Beamer said to reporters on November 16.
Shane Beamer building a sustainable Gamecocks football program at South Carolina
Giving a slight mulligan to the 2023 season, Beamer continues to build a Gamecocks program capable of beating anyone in the SEC.
Taking a chance on LaNorris Sellers with the more SEC-experienced Robby Ashford in the QB room has paid off and then some for Beamer. Not ditching offensive coordinator/QB coach Dowell Loggains after not getting the most out of Spencer Rattler was a major move in good faith. Somehow keeping Clayton White on staff and not losing him a head coaching position continues to be a major win for Beamer.
The Gamecocks are serious. The trajectory is upward.
Beamer has built something sustainable.
