'Our guys are hungry': Beamer, USC coaches gearing up for season

Jul. 28—Shane Beamer can feel the excitement growing as summer inches toward fall.

The University of South Carolina's head football coach sees it every day with his players and staff, on social media or any other time he checks his phone, even when he's out and about among the fans.

It's a cautious optimism for many of those fans, having just endured a 2-8 season that ended with a six-game losing streak and the firing of Will Muschamp.

But as that Sept. 4 opener against Eastern Illinois grows closer, so too does the anticipation for the date those fans have had circled since Dec. 6 when Beamer was officially introduced as the Gamecocks' new coach.

There are a few final orders of business before the season begins, and one of those was a stop Wednesday at the Aiken County Shrine Club along with several other Gamecocks coaches, including men's basketball coach Frank Martin, as the Aiken County Gamecock Club and Augusta County Gamecock Club hosted a stop on the Welcome Home Tour.

"I love it. It's one of the things that makes Carolina special, the passion of this fan base," said Beamer, who knows it well from a previous stint in Columbia as an assistant coach. "It was this way in 2007, '08, '09 and '10 when I was coaching here in those seasons, and it's even more so now.

"Love being able to get out, particularly right before you start football practice, and the expectations and anticipation and excitement is maybe at an all-time high. I love being able to get out and hear that from our fans and visit with them and get to know them and talk Carolina football, along with the other coaches we have here as well."

Beamer knows the expectations coming from outside the team facilities aren't high — the sportsbooks in Las Vegas are taking action on whether the Gamecocks will finish over or under 3.5 wins this upcoming season — but still exudes excitement. That's reflected in how his players attacked their offseason workouts and how he and his assistants have hit the recruiting trail.

"We're really excited. Our guys are hungry. They've been through a lot," Beamer said. "You go back to last season with COVID, winning two games, their coach getting let go. They've been through a lot. Our guys are very motivated and eager to start practice, motivated to have the kind of season they want to have and we want to have to bring them some joy, because they certainly deserve it."

Aiken County Gamecocks in position battles

Two of the Gamecocks' strongest position groups include Aiken County products vying to stand out in a crowded room. South Aiken's Jesse Sanders starts his redshirt-freshman season looking to break through in a deep tight end battle, and Silver Bluff's Devontae Davis is competing for a spot on the defensive line in his redshirt-senior year.

Sanders missed all of last season after tearing his ACL in the first week of practice — as did prized freshman running back MarShawn Lloyd — but was cleared to return earlier this summer.

"First of all, I just love what he's about, love his work ethic, the way that he comes to work each and every day," Beamer said. "I saw the feature that was on TV on him recently and had some of his clips from when he was playing high school quarterback. I was gonna tell him he was pretty impressive, running around playing quarterback as well. The thing with him, life is tough and things happen that you can't always control and make sure we respond to it the right way and come back stronger because of it."

Davis enrolled at USC in 2019 after two seasons at Georgia Military College, then took a redshirt when surgery to fix a foot injury ended his season before it began. He saw action last season in the Georgia game and will look to earn a spot on the depth chart this season. In May, he earned a degree in criminal justice.

"Working hard. He's another one that I think has had a really good summer, guys that have really committed to getting better this summer as individuals and the way they've worked in the weight room," Beamer said. "He's a guy that's a great young man that I've enjoyed getting to know since I got back here as head coach. I'm excited to see him in preseason camp, as well."

Schedule additions coming soon to SEC?

The hot topic in college football all week has been the speculation that Oklahoma and Texas would leave the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference, creating a 16-team super-conference that could start a nationwide domino effect as other leagues try to keep pace.

That talk is becoming more concrete by the day, especially after those schools made their request Tuesday to join the SEC in 2025. SEC presidents will vote on the move, which will require 11 of 14 members in favor of the addition, which could soon add road trips to Austin and Norman to future schedules.

"It's pretty wild," said Beamer, who came to Columbia after spending three seasons at Oklahoma as an assistant head coach. "We were talking about it coming over here. It's interesting. I've got all kinds of thoughts on it. It's the toughest conference in America that just got a whole lot tougher."

And with the next pick in the NBA draft...

The chatter Wednesday wasn't limited to football. Several other USC coaches joined Beamer to sign autographs and take questions from fans, and some of the talk was about the potential for Gamecocks guard AJ Lawson to be taken in Thursday night's NBA draft.

The 6-foot-6 Lawson had a strong junior season, earning All-SEC honors while averaging a career-high 16.6 points per game. After an initial snub, he earned an invite to the NBA draft combine and turned heads.

Martin is optimistic Lawson will either be drafted Thursday night or sign as a free agent, which would make him the fifth Gamecock under Martin to make it to the NBA. PJ Dozier, Anthony Gill and Chris Silva all signed deals, and Sindarius Thornwell (48th overall in 2017) was the program's first draftee since Renaldo Balkman (20th overall in 2006).

"I tell players all the time, you don't have to get 30 people to like you — you only need one," Martin said. "AJ's done an incredible job with growing up, embracing becoming better a player, and then what he's done is he's taken this moment to get in front of people — because he couldn't do it last year because of COVID, everything was shut down — he's gotten in front of the facilities, had the interviews one-on-one, and people are starting to fall in love with him. Anyone that knows him, you understand why."