Shane Beamer reflects on the state of South Carolina football halfway through 2023 season
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About half of Shane Beamer’s third season as the head coach of South Carolina football has come and gone.
What does he think of the state of the program two and a half years into his tenure?
“I think the state of the program is fantastic right now,” Beamer said Tuesday. “Are we happy with being 2-3? No. Did we expect to be 2-3? No. Am I discouraged, or do I feel like we’ve had any kind of step back? No.”
South Carolina had one of the toughest first-half schedules in all of college football, with three ranked opponents (including No. 1 Georgia) – all at road or neutral sites – in the first five games. The Gamecocks are about a week and a half removed from their last contest – a heartbreaking 41-20 loss to the then-No. 21 Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville. Having a sub-.500 record at this point in the season is less than ideal, but Beamer is reckoning with that by exercising a positive attitude toward the immediate and distant future.
“I think the natural progression that people think in their minds is, ‘OK, they won seven. Then they won eight. Now they’re just supposed to win 10 or nine,’” he said. “And we still may. Who knows, you know, there’s a lot of football left.
“But I look at the big picture as far as everything, where we were when I got here in December of 2020. What we’ve done from a culture standpoint, and what we’ve done from a recruiting standpoint since we got here, the success that we’ve had on the field. I couldn’t be more fired up.”
South Carolina has exceeded expectations in Beamer’s first two seasons, going 7-6 in 2021 with a Duke’s Mayo Bowl win and 8-4 in 2022 with win over AP Top 10 Tennessee and Clemson teams and a Gator Bowl loss. Most sportsbooks set USC’s over/under at 6.5 wins for the 2023 season.
Beamer, who is 17-14 overall and 8-11 in SEC play as the Gamecocks coach, also said the love he sees in the football operations building between players, coaches and staff excites him for the future.
So do his ever-improving recruiting classes, with last year’s group headlined by five-star wide receiver Nyck Harbor and the class of 2024 led by five-star edge rusher Dylan Stewart.
Special teams coordinator Pete Lembo told reporters Wednesday he went on a recruiting trip to the Midwest during the bye week. He reflected on how those visits have changed over his time at South Carolina as the program has improved on the field.
Before Beamer’s tenure, USC had missed consecutive bowls in 2019-20 under former coach Will Muschamp and hadn’t been ranked in the AP Top 25 since 2018.
“We definitely have some credibility,” Lembo said. “There’s no question about that. And I think people have noticed the momentum of the program. That doesn’t mean you’re gonna win every game, but I think there’s a general vibe out there about the positivity going on here in our program and at the university in general.”
Next USC football game
Who: South Carolina (2-3, 1-2 SEC) vs. Florida (4-2, 2-1 SEC)
When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia
TV: SEC Network
