Everything Shane Beamer said wrapping up spring practice for South Carolina

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke with the media on Tuesday for the last time as spring practice ended. Here is everything he had to say.

Opening Statement

“Big week last week, finishing up spring practice, and then last weekend was certainly great. That was a good finish to the spring. The block party that we had here in Columbia, appreciate everybody that had a hand in that, and everyone that came out that was a lot of fun throughout the day, getting a chance of players to visit with the fans that were there.”

“The Darius (Rucker) concert on Saturday night, that was an awesome time for so many I know. It was great. Had a couple days, was able to go over to Augusta and be at The Masters, which was awesome. I lost count at how many ‘Go Cocks’ I got from people there at the tournament. That was awesome. And then shout out to all the students from here at Carolina that are working over there throughout the week. Anywhere you go at the course, there’s University of South Carolina students working there, so what an experience for them.

“And shout out to all of those students that said hello to me and all the different places I saw them at, over at Augusta National. So, hope they had a great time, and welcome back to class for those guys. Another great weekend from a recruiting standpoint, with the number of prospects that we had on campus. Didn’t have a spring game, obviously, but we had a ton of prospects and their families that were here last Saturday. Really, throughout the spring, I think I mentioned it before, it’s the most number of offered guys that came through spring practice that we’ve ever had in my time as the head coach.

“So appreciate them coming. Thanks to all the families and coaches and friends that got them here, and then kudos to our staff for their efforts and getting those prospects here to visit. Every prospect and their families that came through here, they all, every weekend or every day, we just comment on the the energy here at practice, the competitive spirit at practice, the overall culture. So pleased to hear that.

“Big recruiting period coming up for us. Our coaches are getting ready to go out on the road starting tomorrow… our May evaluation period technically starts in April, so that’s tomorrow. So our coaches will be on the road, really tomorrow through May, off and on. The rule has changed where we’re able to get more coaches out on the road, which will be another benefit for us because we’ve got some fantastic people in this program, and it’ll be nice to be able to get more of our staff out on the road visiting with guys, and then that’ll lead right into the summer official visits.

“So summers have always been a big time around here, for us, from a recruiting standpoint, and this year, anticipate being no different with the opportunities to get more young men and their families on campus. Our guys, our players, are finishing up academics. We’re obviously done with spring practice, but we’re still we got two weeks of class left, so this isn’t a take a breath and go, you know, kick back and hang out for the next two weeks. We’re working football-wise, we’re still lifting and having workouts very similar to what we did in January and February before we started spring practice, meeting with coaches.

“So that’s this week and next week. Along with everything that we got going on academically, we need to finish out this semester strong. We’re on track to have another really good semester academically. We’ve got eight players that we anticipate graduating in May from South Carolina to go along with the 14 guys that graduated in December. So really proud of that fact, that we’ll have 22 graduates between December of ’25 and May of ’26.

“Doing exit meetings right now with our players. That started Monday morning, at 7:15 a.m., our first meeting. So all of our assistant coaches are meeting with their players at their position to wrap up the spring, and then I’m meeting with all 100, however many guys we got, 112, 110, whatever it is right now, players that are on our team right now. I’ll be doing individual meetings with all those guys this week and next, just where they stand and how the spring went, and what we need to see going forward.

“So that’s always enjoyable, being able to connect with them. Won’t be on the road recruiting in May, it’s against NCAA rules for the head coach to be out, but we’ll be out at some Gamecock Club events. So looking forward to being out on that tour and being able to see so many awesome Gamecocks across the state of South Carolina, starting in a couple of weeks. I think we’re in Spartanburg first here in a couple of weeks. We’re looking forward to those visits and having a chance to visit with all the Gamecock fans, myself and all the other head coaches of different sports that will be with me.

“And then wrapping up the spring and recapping that, I like where we are. Got a lot of work to do, but feel like we made a lot of progress from the start of spring practice in March to now. And I like this team, the work ethic, the maturity, the intentionality about everything that they’re doing, even last Saturday. I mean, I think a lot of teams in the country, if it was practice 15 on a Saturday morning, you got the Darius Rucker concert later on in the night, you’re not having a spring game, would have not had the practice that we had. But we had a really spirited, energetic practice last Saturday and and those guys had fun out there, competing, working and making each other better.

“That was the theme of this spring, just the way they went out there and worked each and every day. So excited, we got a lot of work to do. Like I said, summer is going to be huge for for all of these guys. The months of June and July, or really May, when they come back for summer school. But the end of May, all of June, all of July, will be really big for our guys. We got to get healthy, but we’re on the right track. I’ve made a lot of progress and looking forward to seeing the steps we take here going forward.”

Shane, were there any goals that you set for the spring and as you’re coming out of there, you said ‘That one we definitely hit,’ or another where you said, ‘We probably could have used a little more work on that’?

“Yeah. I mean, I think anytime you’ve got as many new coaches, I think just acclimating those guys, David, and learning a new system… offensively, new coaches coming in offensively. Dion Barnes, new on defense, for a goal for me was just those guys acclimating to how we do things, and in particular on offense, installing a new system and how we go from there, or how it goes from there. And I thought that was really, really good.

“I think we hit on that and like the work that we got done from an installation standpoint, and where we are offensively, really, really pleased with that. I think our players would tell you the same thing. Certainly, we’ve got a battle going on right now from, you know, field goal kicker competition, and try to create some situations. We got a lot of kicks in practice, don’t get me wrong, we try and create a lot of situations within a two-minute drive, or situational football, where maybe it ends in a pressure kick.

“And a lot of the days that we had those planned didn’t quite end with a pressure kick for whatever reason, maybe the offense scored a touchdown, or maybe the defense kept them out of field goal range during a two-minute drive. So would have liked to have gotten, you know, a few more kicks in those type situations. But overall, I thought we accomplished a lot, and, you know, attacked a lot of those goals that we needed to see going into the spring.”

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You guys, as a staff, I’m assuming, decided to make Matt Fuller the offensive player of the spring. Where did you see him make the biggest strides? And ultimately, what led you guys to decide, ‘Let’s make him the offensive player this spring’?

“Yeah, you know, we went over the awards. ‘Here’s what they are, here’s what they stand for.’ And then I gave the offensive and defensive and special teams staff, you know, basically a week to kind of talk about it amongst themselves, and then that we would come back together in a staff meeting, and they present, you know, their thoughts to me, and there were a couple that I said, ‘I don’t know about that one right now.’ Don’t quite see it the same way, but that was one that they came back to me and felt like Matt had had the best spring, and I agreed with and we determined that as a staff in our staff meeting last week, but I think Matt’s always been a really talented guy.

“When you go back to the end of the Kentucky game last season, he got in on that long drive we had at the end of the fourth quarter to pick the game away, or really not give the ball back to Kentucky. He was the running back out there on the field that day. He did some things as a true freshman in ’24 that you said, you know, ‘this guy’s got a chance to really be a good player.’ Last year, the run against LSU. So he’s flashed, the thing from that has just been the consistency.

“And I believe that Stan Drayton has come in and done a phenomenal job with him, just the details, the understanding, really, the past protection. And there were a lot of you know, plays that we had in the passing game this spring that were a reflection of Matt and a blitz pickup that maybe he had. So I think it’s just confidence, his details of how he’s doing things day in day out. Is this, what, his third year in the program? So he’s a more mature version than what he was a couple years ago, and you’re seeing that manifest itself with the way that he’s performing on the field. But he’s a workhorse. It’s a load. And I think a lot of guys had really good springs, but he was just one our offensive staff felt like really, you know, really flashed and has us excited about.”

What are the plans for Dylan Stewart, the end of the spring, into the summer and going into August?

“Yeah, continue to just get well with his injury. It’s one of those that just needs rest right now. Kind of the same thing I told you guys a few weeks ago. He just needs to rest. There’s not like we, you know, send him to a doctor and he makes a couple adjustments and he’s good to go, or he jumps right back in the weight room. He really just needs to rest. So that’s the plan for him. Right now, he’ll be doing that rest while getting better.

“You know, he was out doing some things on the field this morning, and I was, you know, walking with him out there on the field, just talking to myself and Derrick Moore. But the thing for him is just resting, getting well, to be able to do the things he needs to do when we come back at the end of May to start summer school, to then put himself in position to go have the 2026 season that he and we want him to have.”

The two guys who won your Spirit Award were both guys who’ve only been on campus for a couple months now. I’m just curious, like, what does that award entail? And what have you seen from from Nitro Tuggle (reporter meant to say Landon Duckworth) and Kelby Collins over the spring?

“Nitro won the toughness award. Spirit, the way we explained it to the team, it’s the guys that really kind of approach practice each and every day with the right, with the right mindset of how they want to do things and what they want to be about. Landon is just a guy that he just loves to play the game of football. And you know, I don’t know if Kendal has talked to you about it, but we have a camera on the helmets of the quarterbacks during practice where he can see what they’re looking at, but it also picks up audio, and it’s every big play that we had on offense it seems like this spring, even if Landon wasn’t in the game, you heard him on the audio.

“LaNorris throws a touchdown pass, you hear Landon. Matthew Fuller has a long run, here comes Landon, getting in, even though he’s not on the field, running out on the field and getting in the face of LaNorris and talking trash on the camera to somebody on defense. But we just like his spirit, his energy, the way that he works and approaches each and every day. He’s going to be, he’s a good young player with, you know, a lot of energy.

“And then Kelby, I don’t want to say the opposite, personality-wise, but Kelby is a guy who’s been around a minute, and he’s very, very purposeful and driven, and business-like to make 2026 the best year yet of his college career. And I feel like, for a guy that’s just gotten here, he’s shown a lot of leadership, and just how he, you know, talks to the team, how he carries himself, the toughness and the work ethic that he shows… a lot like those guys we had on that ’24 team on the defensive tackle position, just kind of steady guys that do everything right all the time, that make plays, but just, you know, all business, all the time. Like Tonka (Hemingway), like Boogie (Huntley) were in so many ways, so that’s why we singled those guys out and like the way that they handle their business.

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I know earlier this spring, I believe you were talking about LaNorris Sellers and how you wanted him to be a more vocal leader, even if that’s a little bit out of his comfort zone. So how did he grow in that area this spring? And how would you assess his spring leading the offense overall?

“Yeah, I thought LaNorris had a great spring getting adjusted, learning a new offense. Getting adjusted to Coach Briles and Coach Briles’ coaching style, was really pleased with the spring with LaNorris had. I think he’s in a good place. He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now. Leadership-wise, same thing. I think he’s been really good there. You know, communicating with the offense, organizing throwing sessions, talking when he needs to talk. Like where he is right now.

“And he and I talked about it. He was one of my first meetings yesterday morning at like, 7:30, and and he and I talked about it, just that, you know, he’s not the young guy anymore. This is his fourth year in the program and all eyes are on him in so many ways. So don’t be somebody that you’re not, but continue to lead this team, and this summer will be big for you from a leadership standpoint, too. But really pleased with what he’s done there, and I like where he is right now, mentally and physically.”

With the new practice format y’all had this year, how would you evaluate it, especially offensively? How do you feel that helped from an installation standpoint?

“I thought it was really good, Alex, just talking to the players, and when I’ve been meeting with these guys individually the last couple days, that’s one of my questions, typically for them, is, ‘what did you think, you know, of this format and structure’, and what they’ve told me is they really liked it, that physically they felt like their bodies felt better, but even more so than that, with what we did on the first day each week, which were the days that you guys were out there for the first 30 minutes, or whatever it was, teaching-wise, they were able to rep everything, make mistakes, and be able to learn and get corrected in a little bit of a different, non-competitive environment.

“And then also being able to, you know, learn the techniques of each play and each block or each coverage that we’re at that we’re teaching them, really be able to hone in on the fundamentals. So I like it, you know, we talked about it as a staff, certainly something I think we want to continue going forward, a few tweaks that we may make, that we talked about yesterday in our staff meeting. But overall, I was really pleased with it, and thought it was better from a learning standpoint, from a technique standpoint, development standpoint, helped us where, you know, we maybe traded a few things to add this, but in the end, was a plus, a net plus for us in so many ways.”

Going back to Dylan, as you talk with him and the medical team, the trainers and all that, has the word surgery been thrown about as an option or even the possibility going forward?

“Yeah, we’ve always looked at everything, and always, you know, talked about what we’re always going to do, what’s best for, you know, each and every player. And if there’s ever anything to, you know, update you guys on, in regards to short-term, long-term stuff we will, but yeah, we always look at it all options. And those things were discussed going back to the last season in January, and feel like with Dylan and our medical team, that we’re, you know, where we need to be, and he’s where he needs to be, and we’re on the home stretch of being able to get well, get healthy, and for him to be the best version of him as a player that he’s been in college, going forward in ’26.”

Wanted to ask you about Noah Clark, he was a newcomer this spring and seemed like a guy that constantly came up in here talking to players. What do you see from him?

“Yeah, he’s, I may have mentioned it last week, but he’s a really good bowler. He was my teammate on our championship bowling team a couple of weeks ago. So he’s really good at bowling. So we’re proud of that championship, the trophy’s in my office if anybody wants to see it. We knew Noah was a great young man, awesome family, big kid, big young man. Size-wise, probably underestimated just his overall athleticism.

“You know, he’s a big guy that can move. He’s not a, you know, a big defensive tackle that just takes up space that you got to take off the field on third down. He’s got the athleticism to just command double teams, but then be able to rush the passer in passing situations too. So for him to be able to come in and do that as a true freshman that should still be in high school right now is really impressive.

“But just, he’s a mature guy, you know, handling his business off the field. Handling his business on the field, and excited for him to continue to develop as we go through the summer, and add to that room that we have at the defensive tackle position. Some really talented guys in there and like what he brings to the equation.”

Speaking of spring awards, I think on Thursday, your wife’s going to be presented with Humanitarian of the Year. What did that award mean to her and you? And can you describe some of the things she does behind the scenes that maybe people don’t see?

“Yeah, she’s a rock star. Forget about anything in the community, just what she does at home and managing, dealing with me and dealing with our three children and everything they have going on, two teenage daughters can be a handful a lot of times, and a 12-year-old son. So I’m extremely blessed to have her in my life because of what she does that allows me, you know, she makes so many sacrifices that allows me to do what I love to do.

“So that’s where it starts, the emotions of getting it were really cool. They called and they said that, you know, we give this award out, here’s what it stands for, and it’s going to go to somebody that you know that’s very close to you. And I wasn’t sure if they were talking about a player or a coach or a staff member. Thought about my dad, and then they said that it was going to be her. And I’ll be honest with you, man, I got a little emotional myself, and then told her that. I said, ‘Hey, guess who’s…’ and I went home, and I told her, I said, ‘Here’s what the criteria for the award is, guess who’s getting it.’ And then, perfect her being her, she looked at me, she’s like ‘you’. And I said, ‘No, you.’

“Really appreciative of the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame for thinking of her, looking forward to being up in Greenville Thursday night to see her get honored, along with Todd Ellis, he’s getting honored also, but really proud of her, and what she does, again, it starts at home. We have our own foundation here in Columbia, the Beamer Family Foundation, which she really heads up and works to give back to the community. Work closely with the children’s hospital here in town. Work closely with local elementary schools in town to support them. And different other, you know, endeavors with the opportunity to give back.

“So we’re very blessed to be where we are here in Columbia. We love living in South Carolina. We love being members of this community and want to be able to continue to make this a better place. And she’s very passionate about that and proud of her and excited for her to be honored for all of her accomplishments. Thank you for asking.”

This can sort of be true, I guess, about a couple other positions, but particularly, like the spring game-like scenarios give backup quarterbacks a chance to get a feel for stuff. How did not having a spring game change the way you evaluated? I know competition is a core value of the program, but just like the back-ups behind LaNorris, without having a spring game?

“Yeah, I’d say with the quarterbacks and then really with all the positions, it’s tough because you’re not able to get in that environment, in front of a crowd in the stadium. I wish for all the positions, those freshman DBs, those freshman offensive linemen, that we’d be able to get out there and do that. So you miss out a little bit. But we created as many of those in practice as we could. We got a lot of reps done in practice, or a lot of plays run in practice this spring.

“So typically, we would have, you know, whatever the first group did, quote, unquote. First group, quote, unquote, second group, we would have a third group that, you know, typically, I don’t think this is any, you know, state secrets, Landon and Lucian Anderson, we typically split those third group reps. So they got a lot of reps that way, whether it be teams, seven on seven. And you know, the one thing that they didn’t get a lot of would have been, you know, two-minute offense, that was primarily LaNorris and Cutter with the quarterbacks when we did those scenarios, but we lost a little bit of just more, just game action in the stadium. But outside of that, it probably wasn’t much different for those young quarterbacks, than it would have been if we had had a spring game.”

Neff Giwa, what’s his timetable for coming in? Is everything still on track for him to arrive?

“Yes, everything is still on track. I got asked that a couple weeks ago, and I still don’t have a definitive answer for you, but yes, everything’s on track. And I’m excited to excited to get here.”

You mentioned you’ll be hitting the road, and you’ll be speaking to Gamecock fans across the state. Coming off of last season, what do you expect to be the most difficult question that the fans will be asking you… the most difficult question you think you’ll face as you crisscross the state?

“‘Coach, we’re gonna be any better this year?’ I mean, I don’t know. I get the tough questions at home, too. We’re walking around the Masters Sunday, and like I said, there were tons of Gamecock fans that were coming up and were very, very, very, very, very nice. And my son was with me, and he stopped. He’s like, ‘do they know you went 4-8 last season?’ So I don’t think there’s any question that I’m going to get at the Gamecock Club that’s going to be any harder than what I get at home.

“But I say that in all seriousness, we’re all disappointed about last season, nobody more so than myself. But everyone that I saw this past weekend, I’m sure there were people that didn’t speak that were cussing me as I walked by and calling me a bum. I get it. That’s just the job I signed up for. But everyone that we saw in Augusta, and anyone that I’ve come in contact with, really since the end of last season, has been nothing but amazing and positive, and I love the passion of our fans.

“That’s why I can’t wait to get out to some of these Gamecock Club events and see and feel and hear their passion. And I’d rather coach at a place where you have passionate fans that ask you hard questions and whatnot, than a place where they don’t care. They care here. And I’m very, very passionate about getting us to where we need to be, and that’s competing for championships and proud to get on the road and represent this program and this university, and be able to talk about that on the road next week, or when we get out in a couple weeks.”

All the other guys that aren’t here now, what’s the timetable for them to be here?

“They will all be here, summer school starts the Tuesday morning after Memorial Day. So everyone we anticipate being in that team meeting on Monday night. So the next time, we’ve got team activities the next two weeks, but when we meet again for the first time at the end of May, it’ll be on Monday night, Memorial Day, and we anticipate everybody being in that meeting at that time.

“Now, there may be some guys, depending on final exams and when they finish school, that might be a little bit late getting here, got some high school graduations that we don’t want all these mid-year guys to miss, but everybody should be here when we crank up summer school that week. And if there’s anybody behind that, it may just be by a few days or so.

You mentioned the kicker competition is ongoing. I think it’s just three on the roster that all could do it. But any possibility of adding another one over the offseason?

“We’ve looked at it all season, meaning going into this season, yeah, we’ve looked at it. I would say right now, probably not, but I wouldn’t completely, you know, shut the door on that. I think I really like where we are right now. Upton and Max are really out there, you know, battling it out and doing a nice job.

“I think both those guys are really, really talented guys that had good springs that, you know, I walked out of spring feeling confident about the kicking position. But again, like all positions, if there’s ever an opportunity to add somebody to the program that you feel like can make the team better, I’m never going to close the door on that. But is there anything imminent, or anyone that I think is likely at this point? No, but you know, who knows what happens between now and August?”

Can you share which wide receivers may have separated themselves in terms of guys who can be those who contribute and play a good bit on offense this season?

“I think two guys had really good springs that won awards. Nitro won an award for a reason. DJ Black won an award for a reason. We’re really pleased with those guys coming out of spring. Nyck Harbor continued to progress and had a good spring. But I wouldn’t say that anybody really separated themselves, but right now, I say, here’s the six guys that we say we’re going to battle with. I think that’s going to fluctuate, and this summer is going to be big for those guys.

“There was a lot of competition in that room last year, and I would argue there’s even more competition in that room now because all those guys that were returning players last year, Nyck, Mazeo, they’re a year older, all those guys that were freshmen last year just trying to figure out their way. I mean, Jordan Gidron, and Donovan Murph last year were still juniors in high school, basically, and they were here. They’re now a year older. We’ve added some talented transfers that have come in. Jayden Gibson didn’t practice this spring. He’s out there running routes this morning, I was watching him and Duckworth and Mike Tyler out there throwing on their own. He’ll be back in the mix.

“Sequel Patterson’s coming. So that room has more depth. I think some guys had some really good springs. But like I told those award winners, whether it be the receivers or award winners at other positions, just because we gave you an award doesn’t mean that you’ve arrived and you’ve solidified your starting job. It’s just kind of a reflection of what you did this spring. But overall, Mike Furrey has done an amazing job at that room. There’s great competition in that room, and I’m excited to see how they separate themselves over the summer, because that’s a good group. And, you know, Mazeo, I thought had a bounce-back spring in a lot of ways, Jayden Sellers continued to progress. I mean on and on and on, I like where that room is and where they’re going.”

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