Shane Beamer filled the South Carolina football team.
Shane Beamer, meanwhile, completed the South Carolina coaching staff last month by hiring offensive line coach Greg Adkins. But a few days after signing, Gamecocks lost another employee, this time running back coach Des Kitchings.
Kitchings stayed only one season in South Carolina, where he helped lead one of the SEC’s top groups. Second-year rear Kevin Harris won the regular season of the conference, surpassing the 1,100 yard mark and finding the final zone 15 times.
Under Kitchings ‘tutelage, Harris became the Gamecocks’ first 1,000-yard rusher in nearly a decade, despite the fact that the team played a shortlist of all leagues in 2020.
Beamer seemed to have convinced Kitchings to stay in Columbia, but at the end of January news broke that he was taking a position on the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons for the 2021 season. Kitchings became the second running back trainer to leave Gamecocks for a while. opportunity in the NFL after just one year with the program.
Now, however, it appears that Beamer has focused on his next target, with Football Scoop speculating that the trigger has been pulled on the next candidate. According to the website, former Tennessee highlight Montario Hardesty will be the next running back coach in Columbia.
Hardesty was an artist at all of the volunteer conferences between 2005-2009. After redshirting like a freshman, the talented tailback accumulated 2,373 yards and 26 touchdowns in Knoxville. He led the SEC in race attempts as a senior, and totaled more than 1,600 yards of scrimmage in that final season before being selected in the second round of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns.
After leaving the NFL, Hardesty chose to enter as a coach. He has been on the Charlotte team for the past two seasons, while also previously working at Florida Atlantic and Norfolk State.
Hardesty is from North Carolina and hopes to help recruit in the state of Tar Heel, as well as Tennessee, Georgia and the DMV area. He will also take on a very talented group of positions including Harris, MarShawn Lloyd, Rashad Amos and ZaQuandre White.