Biggest challenge for Shane Beamer in Year 1 at South Carolina

Shane Beamer is entering his first season as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks. What’s the biggest challenge he’ll face in Year 1? ESPN took a look at the biggest individual challenges facing every new hire in college football ahead of their first season.

Here’s Shane Beamer’s biggest challenge in Year 1 at South Carolina:

“There was a time when the South Carolina program had a swagger under Steve Spurrier, who guided the Gamecocks to unprecedented heights with three straight top-10 finishes from 2011 to ’13. The biggest reason was because South Carolina reeled in some of the best players in the state during that run, and Beamer played an integral role in putting together some of those recruiting classes,” ESPN states.

“Beamer knows as well as anyone how important it is for the Gamecocks to keep the best players in the state at home, and while he will invariably be learning on the job as a first-time head coach, he has a pretty good resource in his Hall of Fame father, Frank Beamer, to fall back on for advice.”

ESPN believes the biggest challenge for Beamer in Year 1 will be keeping the best players in South Carolina inside the The Palmetto State. Realistically, that is a tough task to accomplish in the first year. Beamer is naturally behind the curve with the 2022 recruiting class, as all first-year head coaches are. Having to contend with in-state power Clemson doesn’t help matters either.

Nevertheless, the Gamecocks can get ahead on future classes. Between recruiting efforts off the field, and handling business on the field, Shane Beamer and Co. can make an impression on high school players and coaches that could pay dividends down the road.

Recruiting history

South Carolina has lost out on some big-time in-state prospects in recent years.

In 2021, four-star Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins from Gaffney signed with Georgia. South Carolina only signed two of the top-10 prospects in the state in the 2021 class.

The Gamecocks had a lot more success in the 2020 class, signing seven of the top ten prospects in the state, most notably, former five-star defensive lineman Jordan Burch and four-star quarterback Luke Doty. They also signed five-star Zacch Pickens in the 2019 class.

In 2018, the top prospect in the state, five-star wide receiver Derion Kendrick, signed with Clemson. Kendrick switched positions and is now a cornerback at Georgia.

Currently in the 2022 class, four-star cornerback Jeadyn Lukus, four-star wide receiver Adam Randall and four-star offensive tackle Collin Sadler are all committed to Clemson while four-star linebacker Jaylen Sneed is committed to Notre Dame. The Gamecocks do sit in a good position with four-star wide receiver Antonio Williams from Dutch Fork, who has an official visit scheduled for late September.

Looking forward to 2023, the Gamecocks appear to sit in a good spot with four-star defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod, who’s considered the top prospect in the state.