COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – Shane Beamer is often thrilled to step onto the field for spring football training.
The first year coach from South Carolina is even more excited about the fact that the focus is back on the team and not on the ups and downs he has had since becoming a coach for the first time.
Gamecocks begin training on Saturday under Beamer, who was hired in December to replace Will Muschamp.
“Overestimated to start spring training,” said Beamer. ”We are a football team with a different appearance than we were when I was hired in December. We are more ahead of the game than we would be in normal years. “
Beamer, the 43-year-old son of the great college coach Frank Beamer, and the Gamecocks had a long, long way to go.
Shane Beamer had to hire 14 assistants for his team of 10 when four of whom he hired, including former Gamecocks interim coach and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, left for other jobs after accepting Beamer’s offer.
In the past two seasons, Gamecocks have gone 6-16, including 5-13 at the Southeast Conference, leading to Muschamp’s resignation last November, with three games remaining in the impacted season of COVID-19.
The players also turned on both sides of the ball. The attack lost two full-backs to Ryan Hilinski, the 2019 starter who moved to Northwestern, and Collin Hill, last season’s starter who missed the chance to return for a sixth season in college.
In defense, South Carolina lost several key players to the NFL draft, including the one expected in the first round of cornerback Jaycee Horn and the main tackler for linebacker Ernest Jones.
Defensive matches have since included high-profile recruits such as five-star passer Gunner Stockton, who committed to the Gamecocks from August to January before moving to Georgia after the South Carolina coach change.
Even so, Beamer believes that the players have overcome the problems. He has seen an increase in intensity and commitment in off-season training over the past three months.
“We have a large group of guys on this team who are hungry,” said Beamer. “They are motivated to succeed and soon. They did everything we asked them to do.
“There were some bumps along the way,” acknowledged Beamer, “and we deal with them as a family.”
Beamer chose Marcus Satterfield as the offensive coordinator after Bobo, who signed a new contract with South Carolina, left for Auburn in mid-January.
Satterfield, also a coach for defenders, is dealing with a position in which only the second year on the rise Luke Doty has started a game in South Carolina.
But no one, including Doty, who shot 405 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions at the start of the final three games, has a block in the starting lineup.
Beamer said everyone had a clean sheet for spring training, 15 sessions ending with the annual Garnet & Black game on April 24.
“Ideally, we would love to stay healthy throughout this spring,” he said. “I think the most important thing is, from a general point of view, to learn the mentality, the temperament and the physicality that we want to play with every time we take the field. We need to develop depth. “
Getting to know each other will be a start. Beamer’s team includes only a remnant of outside defense defender Mike Peterson, and the new coach added several transfers to fill in the squad numbers.
Beamer purposely postponed the start of spring training so that players could have more time in the weight room to bond with the team and teammates.
“We needed this and I am very grateful for that,” he said.
The work to find out how well they will compete on the field starts this weekend. Beamer hopes to bring a positive outlook to a program that needs to be reinvigorated in recent seasons.
“We have a strong and strong work ethic here,” he said, “and a strong, strong desire to be successful.”
___
More college football AP: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football e https://twitter.com/AP_Top25