| Herald-Journal
The NCAA transfer portal remains a busy place after a season during which players received a free season of eligibility due to abnormal conditions caused by the pandemic.
He added another occupied dimension to football coaches across the country.
New South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer flew back to Norman, Oklahoma, last weekend for a visit with his family and found himself at the local gym on Friday and Saturday watching his kids play basketball. The youth league featured children from several of their former Oklahoma teammates, and they all spent most of the games doing multiple tasks at the same time on their phones.
“(The transfer portal) is so new for everyone,” said Beamer. “It has been constant since last year and now I am constantly on the phone. You want boys to have the opportunity to go to places that give them the best chance of success on and off the field. We always want to help young people do that, but it’s just a bunch of moving parts that all schools are dealing with.
“I’m in the game and the Oklahoma team members are texting me in the same way that I’m dealing with the portal. Someone on their own team is trying to talk about not going into the portal and staying, and then they’re ‘I’m getting calls from people interested in moving to Oklahoma. It’s a constant thing the whole country is dealing with. “
More: South Carolina Beamer Mining Transfer Portal; Greer Skinner eyes USC, Clemson
The USC has added five transfers – including two from Power Five schools of ex-wide receiver Ahmarean Brown of Georgia Tech and former striker Jahkeem Green of Nebraska – since December 31. Beamer said he met individually with all of the more than 90 players on his team. After a team meeting on Monday, he said he does not expect anyone else to leave Gamecocks.
During a virtual press conference on Tuesday with reporters, Beamer spoke for the first time about the five who were transferred to Columbia.
► Green (1.80 m, 310 pounds), by Sumter, initially committed to USC before playing two seasons in JUCO and two seasons in Nebraska, the last two of which count as years in the red shirt: “For a guy who is leaving school to go to another school (coaches from Nebraska) had many reasons if they didn’t want to have anything positive to say, but they were very positive about him and the type of young man he is. Obviously, his size and athleticism inside Everyone is looking for defensive players across the country, and he’s a guy who can be upsetting on the inside and he’s an older guy, so he has experience and a history that kind of hardened him along the way with different stops he had to end up back here. ”
► Brown (5-10, 170) played two seasons at Georgia Tech and tied the school freshman record with seven receiving touchdowns: “Very excited when you look at what he did at Georgia Tech, (matched) the record for freshman receipt from Calvin Johnson. When I got here … we sat down and talked about what are some immediate positions of need, and the receiver was one of them … He will help us here immediately in that position. It brings a little speed and big play skills, which we definitely need out there on the perimeter. “
More: South Carolina returns to the transfer portal to add the highly successful linebacker Debo Williams
► Linebacker Darryl “Debo” Williams (6-0, 210) enrolled in his first year in Delaware, but never played after the season was postponed until spring because of COVID-19: “It was someone who (freshman from USC running back) MarShawn (Lloyd) brought it to us, so we told him that he is a 1 for 1 recruiter. MarShawn said, ‘Look, I know this guy from home’ in the Maryland-Delaware area ‘, just take a look in your video. ‘ You turn it on and think, ‘My God, how was that guy not recruited from ACC, SEC, Big Ten, his name, schools?’ Really impressive videos, very productive college career and he is a guy who only thinks about business.
“I walked into the weight room last week, like 5:45 am and there were two guys there already lifting weights and they were Debo and Marshawn. (Williams) is a guy who is certainly grateful for the opportunity to be here and really excited, he’s part of the program. He’s one of those guys who can be just 18 or whatever, but he’s 18 and almost 22 in the way he behaves. “
Beamer laughed when asked about the chance of getting another player with the neighborhood bully’s nickname in the comedy movie “Friday”, being the first ex-Chapman and star recipient of USC Deebo Samuel.
“To put another Debo in the building is a no-brainer, especially someone who plays a linebacker. You almost have to catch that guy.”
More: South Carolina adds cornerback David Spaulding from the NCAA transfer portal
► Cornerback David Spaulding (6-2, 185) played eight games last season at Georgia Southern: “He gives us some length in the defensive back position. Immeasurable really impressive when you look at his size, his length. Everyone in America is looking for quarterbacks with some size, speed and length, and he has it all. He will help us in another position of need where we are short of numbers there in high school for different reasons. ”
More: South Carolina adds national bag leader Jordan Strachan from the NCAA transfer portal
► External linebacker Jordan Strachan (6-4, 225) led FBS with 10 1/2 sacks as a junior redshirt last year in Georgia: “What a story. He was a £ 185 high school veteran who left from Georgia Affirm that a few years later you take the whole nation in bags. You talk about a phenomenal story and a great young man. When he entered the portal, we jumped on him immediately. “