How an enticing Week 1 game adds urgency to August for South Carolina football

Shane Beamer hasn’t changed much in the nearly three years he’s helmed South Carolina’s football program.

Perhaps there’s an added grayer hair or two, but he remains smiley and effervescent in most public settings. He’s largely still the upbeat guy he was as an assistant coach at Oklahoma, Georgia and Virginia Tech, among other stops.

But if there’s any distinct change for Beamer and South Carolina in Year 3, it’s that the Week 1 matchup against North Carolina is a departure from years past and a potentially major indicator at the earliest possible date.

“It certainly heightens the urgency as well,” Beamer said Wednesday at his annual media golf tournament. “Our players are aware. ... We talk about competition in this program as a core value and what better way to start the season than getting a chance to go out on national television and compete against a team with really, really talented players and led by a fantastic quarterback.”

South Carolina and North Carolina have made a habit of playing one another more often in recent years. The 59-game, 120-year history of the matchup took a lull between 1991 and 2007, during which time the Gamecocks and Tar Heels didn’t meet once. They’ve since played five times in the past decade and this year’s opener on Sept. 2 in Charlotte stands to be as major a matchup as any of those previous chapters — including an appearance from ESPN’s “College GameDay.”

Where South Carolina began its campaigns against Eastern Illinois and Georgia State in 2021 and 2022, respectively, this first matchup brings droves of intrigue and legitimate danger. The Tar Heels bring back star quarterback Drake Maye, a presumed option for the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft next year and a likely Heisman Trophy contender. Couple that with an offense that hasn’t finished worse than 19th nationally in total offense since coach Mack Brown returned in 2019 and it makes this UNC squad as tricky as any USC has faced in the past decade.

“As you go through the dog days of preseason practice and you get in the middle of August, Game 1 seems like so far away,” Beamer said. “There’ll probably be a little bit more of an urgency this year maybe than in years past because of who we’re playing Week 1.”

That Beamer is cognizant of how crucial the season-opening matchup is shouldn’t be a surprise. The Gamecocks again boast one of the nation’s trickiest schedules in 2023, a borderline time-honored tradition around Columbia of late. South Carolina faces three teams that finished in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll in 2022 — Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi State — over their first five games. It also has Texas A&M, Florida and Clemson down the stretch.

Schedule aside, though, there’s reasons for optimism. South Carolina brings back a star quarterback of its own in Spencer Rattler. Receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells, the SEC’s leading returning receiver, is back in the fold. South Carolina also added a pair of intriguing options at tight end in transfers Trey Knox (Arkansas) and Joshua Simon (Western Kentucky).

“I think it gives Spencer a lot of confidence, and all our quarterbacks and the linemen playing beside them,” tight ends coach Jody Wright told The State of adding Knox and Simon. “Because they’ve made calls with an offensive tackle before and anticipated some things defenses are doing or if a guy’s in a certain technique on defense, what to anticipate.”

Beamer has spent the bulk of the offseason being greeted by droves of enthusiastic fans at Gamecock Club meetings throughout the state. Attend enough of those gatherings in a given month and it takes squinting hard to remember this is a program that bottomed out at 2-8 in the final year of Will Muschamp’s tenure in 2020.

That said, there are others that aren’t so fond of the Gamecocks.

Beamer recounted some rounds of golf he played over the summer with Tar Heels grads, who for 18 holes chided him with taunts such as “What’s the real Carolina,” “Little Carolina” and “Big Carolina.”

Beamer said: “... I think rivalries are what makes college athletics great. To be able to do it in a neutral site, right in between both schools, where there’s tons of alumni in those schools and it’s a natural rival, ideal location — it’s perfect in so many ways.”

Beamer hasn’t changed his tune from the early days of his tenure at South Carolina, but he’s on alert — and his team is too.

The Gamecocks start fall camp next week. Their feet are already seemingly dug into the turf as they await as daunting a season-opening opponent as they’ve faced since Beamer’s been back in Columbia.