Shane Beamer delivers tearful tribute to Gamecocks’ senior class after Clemson loss

South Carolina coach Shane Beamer drew in a deep breath.

He paused for a painful moment. Ten seconds of silence interrupted only by ambient noise and the clicking of laptop keyboards.

Beamer tried to start again, mustering only a couple words before apologizing and taking another pause. His eyes welled up with tears. His lip quivered. And as the words finally managed to come out, his voice cracked.

“We talked about it in our team meeting yesterday,” Beamer said.

He’d been asked how much this group of seniors, whose season came to an end Saturday night with a 16-7 loss to in-state rival Clemson, meant to him. “A lot,” was his immediate response, but that was all he could squeeze out before his emotions overcame him. The last three years washed over him in an instant, and he struggled to not cry.

“Some of those guys were here when I got here (in 2020),” Beamer said. “Dakereon (Joyner) and Tyreek (Johnson) and Tonka (Hemingway) and (Xavier) Legette. And they stayed, which the easy thing to do is to leave.”

Joyner spent six years at South Carolina. Gamecocks football brought him to Columbia in 2018. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sport and entertainment management here. His 9-month-old daughter Kahlani was born here.

In 2021, he stepped in at quarterback after 12 games as a receiver to help lift USC to a 38-21 Duke’s Mayo Bowl win over North Carolina in Beamer’s first year as head coach. He played three different positions (quarterback, special teams and running back) over the course of his career, earning a reputation as one of the program’s most selfless leaders.

When the game clock ticked down to zero Saturday night, Joyner made one last trek toward the stands. He shook hands with fans in the Cockpit as well as those standing along the USC sideline, making his way from the student section end zone down to the tunnel at the other end of the field.

“Guys like Dakereon and those guys that have given so much to this program, for them not to be able to finish on a higher note,” Beamer said, “it’s something I’ll have a hard time getting over.”

He recalled sitting at home in Norman, Oklahoma before he moved to South Carolina after accepting the head coaching gig on Zoom with now-senior wide receiver Ahmarean Brown and his father. Beamer was looking to convince him to follow him to Columbia, each party unsure of what to expect when they arrived in the Midlands. But Brown and his family trusted Beamer anyway. So did edge Jordan Strachan.

Beamer took another long pause, about five seconds this time.

“They’re awesome,” he said. Two words that may not look like much on paper, but they sounded heavy when he delivered them with such a melancholic look on his face.

After lifting the brim of his garnet hat and wiping tears from his eyes, Beamer remarked in the fight his 2023 team showed throughout the season, winning three in a row after a 2-6 start and powering through numerous injuries. They never gave up. And that made going to work every day something Beamer looked forward to.

“The hardest thing about being 5-7, not getting that sixth win, is not being able to spend the next month with them,” he said.