Everything Shane Beamer said about National Signing Day, South Carolina's offseason

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer met with the media on Wednesday for his annual National Signing Day press conference. Here’s everything he had to say.

Opening statement

“Certainly, today is a great day. We got better today as a football team, there’s no question about it. I’m fired about not just the talent of the players that we brought in, but the kind of people they are. Brought some big-time players in today that we signed, and we brought in some big-time people in addition to that. Everybody looks at signing classes and the number of guys that you sign. This is not a huge class, but if you talk about quality over quantity, we absolutely hit the mark on that. Everybody’s got their different rankings. But I think I said this Saturday after the game, in regards to average star rating, this is a top 10 class in the nation, and we’re not done yet. As we finish up, these guys are big-time people. As I said, we have certainly a tough year on the field, but most games, when I came in the locker room or I got done in the press with the press conference with you guys after the game, usually when I pulled out my phone, the first text messages I had after the game were from these guys, because they believe in what we’re doing. Their families, I usually would hear from their moms and dads as well, and they believe in what we’re doing, and they know how close we are, and they want to be a part of this without a doubt.

“So nine of these guys will be here with us in January, and when we start spring practice, it could be more as we go down the list. And these are the ones that we’re able to talk about right now. We signed the number one player by two different services, two different number one players in the state of South Carolina. So, as you guys know, we always want to start in the state of South Carolina. Always have and always will, as long as I’m the head coach here. A couple of different services have a different number one guy. We signed the number one guy from multiple services, which I’m fired up about. We always want to go into North Carolina. When I got here, I realized that we did not have enough players on the state from North Carolina. Nick Barrett was committed to come here when I got hired, and I believe he was the only one. And I said, ‘That’s crazy that we don’t have anybody from North Carolina.’ So we made a major point of emphasis to recruit North Carolina, and we’ve been able to do that by signing four guys from the state of North Carolina that we had to beat everybody in the country out for.

“And then to be able to go into Alabama and make an impact, to sign the number one player in the state of Virginia that we beat everybody in the country out for, is something that we’re really proud of without a doubt. I like guys that play multiple sports. So many of these guys are multiple-sport athletes, whether it be basketball, whether it be track, and then guys who play both ways. You watch a lot of these guys in their high school videos; they’re playing offense and defense both, and the more you can do, the better. There’s no question. So really proud to have these guys as Gamecocks right now. There’s a lot of work that went into signing these guys. I feel like, you know, Darius Gray, I’ve been recruiting since I got here as the head coach. A lot of trips to Richmond, Virginia. The bye week of 2024, I was in Richmond; the bye week of 2025, I was in Richmond High School basketball games that I’ve been to, but he’s just an example of someone that you spend years and years recruiting, and it’s pretty cool to see it all come together today and celebrate these families and all their hard work.

“So many people to thank. First of all, high school coaches, all these guys’ high schools, and so many of them to thank as we culminate the signing class today, their work and their willingness to help us as coaches here at South Carolina. Darren Uscher heads up everything from a recruiting standpoint. Darren’s done an amazing job. He and his team, with Brian Bachman and Brandon Middleton, Sam Serbay, who’s done an unbelievable job, particularly with these offensive linemen, getting them in here. Jessica Jackson and Alley Brokaw head up our on-campus recruiting team, and then all the people that work with them. When you’re bringing guys in on visits and their families, there’s so many people that are involved. It’s not just if David comes here on a visit, that it’s just me and the position coach with David. If we’re recruiting David, it’s so many people. It’s academics, it’s the weight room, it’s the training room, it’s Joe in video, it’s the nutrition department, it’s the equipment department, it’s Justin King and his team when it comes to photo shoots and all that. I mean official visits and unofficial visits, it’s a team effort, and there’s so many people to thank. I’m sure I missed somebody, but everybody that contributed to this day, we appreciate you because there’s a lot of people that contributed to this day.

“As we go forward, I’m sick about the season that we just had. Pissed off that I’m not walking out of this press conference and going back down the hall and starting to get ready for the SEC Championship game. When we walked out of Atlanta back in August after the Virginia Tech win, we fully expected to be back there this week playing in the championship game. I’m happy that I’m here about signing day. I’m livid that we’re not getting ready for the championship game, and the players on this team feel that way too. I’ve been having exit meetings all week with guys. I’ve got about 40 to go over the next two days. Been meeting with guys since Monday, and they’ve been extremely, extremely, extremely positive. They’re extremely hungry about 2026. They are adamant, just like I am, that we need to get the right guys in this locker room and guys that may not be the right fit in that locker room, then they won’t be here in 2026. We’re hard at work on getting the right people in the locker room and on that bus. As we go into 2026, our guys know that we went toe to toe with the best teams in the nation this season, and return a core group of talented guys and older guys that will be leaders on this team next season. Sucks going through this past season, but we will be so much better in ’26 because of what we went through just now in ’25, and we’ll finish up those meetings with these guys this week. But can’t wait to get started. Already have started, but can’t wait to get everybody back here in January and get going on the 2026 football team.”

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Just from the early commitment list, three guys are yet to be confirmed or announced as signed. Any concern with those three guys that haven’t been announced?

“I do not. Signing day is an adventure. Particularly, there’s a lot of different factors at play nowadays. You never rest easy, but feel good about everyone that was committed, everybody that we were recruiting going into today. Every young man has to make the decision that’s best for them, but I don’t, and that’s the thing I alluded to in the opening statement. A lot of you guys are calling these recruits and asking them, like, ‘Are you still committed to South Carolina? They’re having a tough season,’ all that stuff. And they did. We kept this group intact, and we signed the ones that we wanted to sign out of this group. Really fired up about the people they are, the commitment to South Carolina that they have, and what they’re about. Because it would have been very easy to say, ‘Man, South Carolina isn’t having the season on the field that we want. Let me look elsewhere.’ And that did not happen with this class. We went out and signed a really solid group of people.”

You mentioned the size of the class and quality over quantity. Was that a conscious decision that you had made in the year leading up to this?

“Not necessarily. I know you go into every year saying, these are the ideal numbers that you would sign at each position: quarterback, running back, tight end. OK, we’re losing these guys. We think we need, you know, for example, 17 offensive linemen is like the target number that we always want to have on the roster. We want to have 17 scholarship offensive linemen at all times. You could look at who may be graduating, who may be leaving, and that’s how you kind of project how many linemen you want to sign. So you go into it, here’s our numbers, and we wanted to sign somebody at every position, without a doubt. But what the portal has done, and again, we’re always going to start high school recruiting, and I want to build it with high school recruiting, like we’ve done with Nick Emmanwori, and like we’ve done with Josiah Thompson, LaNorris Sellers, or whoever signed guys from the high school ranks, and develop them.

“But what the portal has done is, if you get to the point where you say, ‘OK, these were our top four guys at this position, and they’ve decided to go elsewhere,’ you can say, ‘OK, are we better off going to try and find the guy that maybe wasn’t in our top four, that’s a high school senior? Are we better off going to find somebody from the portal?’ And we didn’t go into it saying it was going to be a smaller class. We want to get the right guys here. We want to bring guys in here that can help us win an SEC Championship and a national championship. And as we looked at the recruiting board, if we found somebody that couldn’t help us win a championship, we weren’t going to bring them into the program.”

What stood out about two defensive linemen, Noah Clark and Aiden Harris, in this recruiting process?

“Yeah, one from the state of North Carolina. Great energy, both those guys. Size. When you talk about Noah, you talk about a guy that has got size and athleticism and can be, really be a force in the middle, as a run stopper, but can rush the passer. That stands out. With Aiden, same thing, a disruptive and bigger guy that can be very active. And we’ve lost a lot of defensive linemen here in the last couple seasons. When you talk about before that left there last year, (DeAndre) Jules, TJ (Sanders), Tonka (Hemingway), and Boogie (Huntley), and then this year with Nick and Monkell (Goodwine) leaving out of here, that was a position that we said, ‘Man, we’ve got to remake that defensive line.’ And those are two really good places to start. I love their energy. I mean, those were usually, Aiden was one of the first people to usually send me a text after a game. Noah, I’ll always remember him because I was walking on the beach with my family at Kiowa back in July when he made his commitment announcement. And I’m the guy on the beach screaming and yelling when he committed to be a Gamecock, because I was watching him on my phone. So I’ll always remember him. And just great people too. Good young men and always enjoy visiting with.”

With the 11 who have signed, and three commits are waiting to get signed officially, what’s the general number beyond those guys that you’re looking at possibly adding to the class?

“Really, nobody. There’s the ones that have signed, and there’s the, you know, however many two, three that people are still talking about that haven’t signed. But after that, no one really from the high school ranks, if that’s what you’re asking, where we are on the rest of the roster, because the other thing that comes into play is how many scholarships you have available. And right now we’re still at 85, and some other conferences have more than 85 available. We don’t in the SEC, so we’re capped at 85, and as you look at the roster, you’re having exit meetings, and you’ve got guys that got decisions to make in regards to their future, but you can’t be above 85 as it stands here today. So we’ll attack the portal here, and that’s what we’re already hard at work on getting ready for. But unless something changes, that’s it from a high school standpoint. The rest of the roster will be supplemented with portal additions.”

How has the OC search been going so far? Has the urgency increased, seeing that schools like Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, and Texas A&M are all in the market for one now too?

“I think there was already a sense of urgency. I’m not going to rush it, though, just to say that I hired an offensive coordinator. I’m gonna make sure I get this thing right. I realize it’s a critical hire. The process has gone really well. I’ve had some really good conversations with people going back for a couple of weeks that I’ve had some conversations with. I know we’re kind of coming down the stretch on that. There’s factors at play. All these offensive coordinators that are interested in potentially coming to South Carolina, they have a signing day today, too. So they had their focus on signing day and their own teams, and certainly want to be respectful of that. But I’ve had some really good conversations with guys. There’s a lot of interest in this position. Hopefully, we can get down the stretch and then finalize this in here soon. But again, I’m not gonna rush it either, just to say we hired a coordinator by the weekend. And again, as I’ve told many people, we’re gonna get the best guy in here, whether that’s within this staff, or whether that’s from the outside. We’ve got some hires to make, and there’s a lot of flexibility we have in regards to what we do on who’s the offensive coordinator in 2026.”

Just for clarity’s sake, the three publicly committed guys who have not yet signed, you’re expecting those three who have publicly committed to you to sign? Because there’s been some reporting about one of them that might flip.

“Yeah, I can’t analyze guys, and I can’t talk about. All I can tell you is, we’ve had conversations with their families last night, this morning, and you know, until people are signed, people are signed. But to clarify what I said, I feel optimistic and feel good about the guys that haven’t signed and want the guys that want to be here. If somebody decides not to come and doesn’t want to be here, then that’s obviously an opportunity for us to go replace them with someone else that does, is how I look at it, too.”

Besides those three, is it possible you could add maybe one or two more on Thursday and Friday from the high school ranks?

“After today, I think there’s one young man that’s deciding tomorrow that he’s already announced we’re optimistic on that. But again, I don’t know. Nobody’s told me anything, yes or no. Had good conversations with everybody that we’re still recruiting, the people that I’ve been recruiting here for a long time, I’ve had great conversations with all of them. I know not all of them have signed here to come with us, but outside of one that’s already announced, he’s making his decision tomorrow, I do not envision anything changing that we sign more than one guy in addition tomorrow. Now I can walk out of here and somebody can say, ‘Hey, so and so didn’t sign with school X, and he wants to come to South Carolina.’ And I may say, heck yeah, and that may change, but as we sit here today, that’s how I see things going.”

With Darius Gray, Zyon Guiles, and Anthony Baxter, what do you see in those three guys? And then on the offensive line, getting those high upside guys out of high school ranks, how important is that for the future of that position?

“Yeah, we’ve recruited well there, and those are three big-time guys. They’re really good people, for sure. I feel like good things happen when I’m down in Kiowa, like Baxter called and committed to me when I was at Kiowa, so I need to go there more often, maybe, I don’t know. But Baxter called and committed. He’s an in-state guy. Anthony has a ton of energy and comes from a great program there at South Pointe, and they’re obviously doing great things this season. So really fired up about what he brings.

“Darius, like I said, you talk about athleticism, you think he’s good at football, you ought to watch him play basketball. I went to his high school basketball game last year and sat with his mom and said, ‘Wow.’ Like, you see some big lineman play basketball, and you’re like, ‘Man, there’s no way this guy should be playing basketball. All he does is just stand in the paint and take up space.’ Like Darius has game. And I love that as an offensive lineman, like you see the athleticism, you see the ability to take guys off the dribble to position his body, the flexibility. I mean, he’s a big-time person that’s been here a lot. Love his family. They’re just super people. They were here on Saturday, and he will make us better when he walks in the door. Everybody in the country recruited him for a reason. Coach (Lance) Clelland, the head coach of St. Chris, I’ve been recruiting that school since I was at Virginia Tech, and really fired up to finally get one of his guys in our program, because they do a great job at St. Christopher’s in Richmond. Really pleased that he’s coming and what Darius means to our program, on and off the field. You talk about the glue in so many ways because of how high-profile he is, and rightfully so.

“And then Zyon, same thing. Went and watched Zyon play with Coach (Shawn) Elliott during our second off week over at Carvers Bay, and another one, just mom and dad are awesome, and just somebody that, when you meet with certain people, you’re like, OK, this guy’s not just a great player, but he’s about the right stuff. He’s a future team captain type guy, and that’s how I feel about those linemen. He’s immensely talented, and they will come in the door day one and add to that room, make us better on and off the field. Really proud to have those guys because we had to beat out a lot of college football for all of them, and to be able to sign all three of them, huge additions to that room.”

The offensive line struggled. A lot of those guys had a lot of stars beside their names. Some guys were transfers. So when a unit performs that poorly, is it easy to assign an area of blame between coaching or development? How do you kind of look at that after the season?

“We brought in highly ranked recruiting classes, and a lot of them have done some really good things. But then there’s also highly ranked offensive line classes, and a lot of them have done some really good things, and some of them, for whatever reason, haven’t quite worked out. There’s some guys that were part of highly recruited offensive line classes that have transferred from here and went to play in a different place or at a lower level. There’s some guys that maybe haven’t developed as quickly. I think it’s a few things: one, that’s a hard position to evaluate, for sure, because of the level of competition. There’s a lot of high school offensive linemen that line up and are blocking guys that look like (Steve) Fink on the defensive line. It’s a compliment, as you get older, or me, or whoever, and it’s just a different level of competition. So that’s one thing, you’ve got to do a great job projecting. And then two, it’s when you get them in your program, you’ve got to develop them. We’ve developed, I mean, Shed (Sarratt) started as a true freshman. Josiah (Thompson) started as a true freshman, Tro (Baugh) started as a true freshman. So we’ve done a lot of really good things from that standpoint, but probably not consistently enough.

“So yeah, you look at everything. You look at them in high school, what kind of senior years do they have? The level of competition, the overall athleticism, the hunger, and the desire to be great. Do they have that? And that’s hard to evaluate, because we’re limited more than ever on how much we’re able to go out on the road and get to know these guys. And then you look at everything you’re doing within your program, weight room, training room, nutrition coaching, all that. So we need to be better. But I know these guys that we just signed have the right ingredients of what you’re looking for when you talk about the linemen that we brought in here, whether it be from the portal or whether it be from high school recruiting, the ones that were really successful, the Nick Gargiulos, the Torricelli Simpkins, the Vershon Lees of the world, these guys have a lot of those qualities, and excited to have them here.”

What can you say about J’Zavien Currence and what he’ll add to the secondary?

“Yeah, he’s just got that it factor, whatever that is. He’s a heck of a football player. And you see what South Pointe is doing right now on the field and what they’ve done this season, I mean, he is leading the way, playing quarterback, playing defensive back. I remember, they come to 7-on-7, Coach (Bobby) Collins brings his team down here for 7-on-7 every year. I’m watching him, I guess, going into his sophomore year, I guess, and just saying, like, he’s got it, whatever it is, size, speed, athleticism. But just the energy and the competitive spirit that he brings. He’s a day one impact guy, in my opinion, has all the qualities you’re looking for in an elite football player.”

South Carolina has always pulled a lot of guys out of South Pointe, even going back to your days as an assistant. How important is that, and what is that like to keep that pipeline between USC and South Pointe going?

“There have been some great ones, some of the best players to ever play here that came out of that high school. So many of them in the Rock Hill area. And for us, it always starts in the state of South Carolina. We want to keep the best players at home. And it just so happens that South Pointe’s got a couple of them this year, and they’ve got some guys that we’re recruiting in future years, too. So we’re going to continue to go into South Pointe High School. We’re going to continue to go to all the high schools in the state of South Carolina and do our best to keep getting the best players in South Carolina here in South Carolina. That’s a high school that they’ve got a great tradition, rightfully so, and they’re doing great things right now and doing some special things on the field currently, too.”

Based on the conversations you’ve had with current guys and what you feel like may still be left to fill in terms of what you didn’t get in high school recruiting, what are the top positions of need as you enter the portal cycle here next month?

“Lines of scrimmage. And I’m just basing that off the target numbers that we want to have going into every season. From a scholarship standpoint, we are under those numbers at the defensive tackle position and the offensive line position. So right away, just from a need standpoint, offensive line, defensive tackle. Offensive line, defensive tackle. Offensive line, defensive tackle. We need to get our depth increased there, and we certainly need to not just bring in depth pieces; we need to bring in impact guys that can compete to compete with an already good room, in my opinion. You’re looking at the defensive tackle position with Gabe (Brownlow-Dindy) coming back and Troy Pikes, and some of the plays he made Saturday against Clemson, and Davonte Miles, and young guys coming in, young guys already here. We’ve got some good young players. But if you’re just looking at the personnel number of scholarship guys that we want to have at each position, we’re under there.

“And as we sit here today, we have three scholarship running backs in our program. That’s literally impossible to go into a season with three scholarship running backs with the wear and tear that you have at that position. So we’ve got to be able to then sign a high school running back. I don’t know if that’s a mystery guy, but I don’t plan on signing a high school running back, and we need to certainly go attack the portal to be able to increase the depth at those positions. But again, I wouldn’t close the door on any position, like there’s areas where we can always get better and increase the competition at. And again, I’ve had probably half Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, over half of the meetings that I’ve had, I want to meet with every player on the team this week, all, whatever it is, 109 guys, 10 guys that we have on our roster right now, and I’ve got the rest of them over the next couple days, and we’ll see how those meetings go. Somebody may decide to leave, and I’m not planning on, outside of one that was already announced and a couple other meetings I had with guys yesterday, where we decided that was on from both sides, that it was best to maybe go our separate ways, that I don’t anticipate a lot of additional attrition beyond that.”

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Is leadership something you’re planning on attacking in the portal, and how do you recruit leadership?

“Yes, we need to get older, whether that’s in the portal or whether that’s what the returning team, and we will automatically be older next year and more battle-tested because of who we have coming back. It’s just it is what it is. If you look at the teams that we played this season, compare the number of seniors that played for us compared to Vanderbilt. I think Missouri started more seniors on defense than we started on offense and defense combined. I think Alabama started more seniors on defense than we started on offense and defense combined. So, to me to your best teams are your older teams, frankly, this season. Youth isn’t an excuse, like you’re going to have young teams. And I’ve been around young teams that are great, that’s awesome, but there’s no substitute for experience. And then, in addition to that, the leadership. And we played three veteran teams this season that literally are having, you could argue, the greatest seasons in the history of their football program. I don’t know what some of the teams we lost to, what their history was back in the ’50s. I’m sure they won a national championship in like 1954 or something. But as long as I’ve been alive, you could argue there’s about three teams right now that are potentially going to the playoff that are having the best seasons in the history of the history of their football program, and they were veteran teams, and we ran into those teams this season, and we’re going to be an older team next year.

“Our team on Monday morning, they voted on permanent captains. Of the permanent captains that they voted five had the most votes, and two of them, three of them have eligibility left. And then of the top 20 vote getters for captain, there’s like 14 of them. They’re going to be coming back on next year’s team. So we’re going to be older, and you’re going to have that leadership. So we’re going to have an older team that has great player leadership automatically because of who we have coming back, and we will be older, with more juniors and seniors. But certainly, we’re looking for guys that have those leadership qualities. It’s hard to find. You go into high schools as a head coach. Now, I’m only allowed on the road, literally in the month of January period, unless I go out during the season, which I did every opportunity this year. I went out every Thursday and Friday of a bye week. I was out recruiting. I think next year we only have one bye week, and I don’t like going out on Fridays because I’m with the team on Friday. So if that means I’m only going out Thursday and Friday next year or during the bye, I’ve got two days in the fall, and I’ve got three weeks in January, and that’s the only time I’m in a high school, and that’s tough.

“But you do as much evaluation as you can, talk to the high school coaches, talk to the people in the schools about what kind of people and leadership guys they are. Then, when they get in our program, we have to do an awesome job of helping to teach and develop. I think you can develop that leadership in a lot of ways and put them in positions where they’re forced to lead. And absolutely, as we attack the portal, we’ll be looking for guys that are older, guys that have leadership qualities, where you could bring in a guy in here like a Nick Gargiulo, who arrived in January and was voted a permanent captain by his teammates 11 months later in December, or Torricelli Simpkins or Demetrius Knight guys like last season, who, when you think about the greatest leaders they ever come through here, I think about those guys in a lot of ways, and they were transfer portal guys. So yes, yes, and yes, to answer your question.”

How do you address the offensive line position as a whole this offseason? Is it by the offensive coordinator bringing in a new offensive line coach? Do you have to reexamine everything that y’all have done at that position?

“Yeah, I think you look not just at the offensive line position, but after every season, particularly after a disappointing season like we just had, you look at everything that you’re doing. So you evaluate all areas and all positions. But we know we have not been good enough on the offensive line. Looking at the stats yesterday, once again, I think we’re last in the SEC in giving up sacks. We’ve got to be better. And as I’ve always said to you guys, that’s not just on the offensive line, that’s receivers, running backs, tight ends, quarterback, coaches, so we all have to be better. But yes, that’s a position that hasn’t been good enough.

“I made a change there in the middle of the season. I felt like we were better down the stretch in a lot of ways, but still not where any of us want to be. And then, as you move forward into 2026, yes, there’s two staff hires that I still have to make at this point. And when you make those hires as the head coach, I’m looking at how do we enhance everything that we’re doing, and is everybody in our program in the right roles, and if you need to adjust, great, if you don’t, great. You continue to empower those guys in the roles that they’re in. But I really like some of the progress we made down the stretch, and we’ve got the opportunity now with a couple of our hires that I have to make to really take another step from an overall offensive standpoint, for sure. But you know, Shawn Elliott came in a tough position and really settled that group down and got them playing hard and doing a lot of good things here down the stretch. We still have the ability to continue to get better, and that’s what we’re hard at work to do.”

There were a lot of coaches who just wanted the one transfer portal window, but now there’s a month, or technically, there’s not supposed to be contact. And I’m assuming right when the portal opens, there’s gonna be a bunch of signees immediately. How do you navigate that as a head coach, when technically there’s not supposed to be contact? But one could imagine that schools and agents and things are going to be happening.

“Yeah, I’m also in that camp of only wanting one transfer window because I want to know who’s going to be on this football team when they come back, and we have a team meeting in January before classes start, I know that’s the 2026 football team. So I’m all for that, but yes, it is. It is a little bit different because they all have agents. It’s definitely a different dynamic. Last year, during the month of December, it was a period where people could come visit. And there was a practice out there last year when we’re getting ready for bowl practice, where Zyon, who we signed today, was at practice, but so was, I think, Gabe-Brownlow Dindy was at practice on a portal visit, and whoever else. And Justice Haynes, who went to Michigan as the running back, was here that day on a visit and whatnot. So you don’t have that this year. It’s a dead period, so they can’t visit your campus. So I think people that think that the portal is not active right now, and then all of a sudden, the portal is going to open on Jan. 2, or whatever it is, and then everybody’s just starting fresh and scratch that day. It’s not realistic because they all have agents, and their agents aren’t taking the month of December off to rest up for January when the portal opens. So it’s a different dynamic. There’s a lot of balls in the air right now in regards to being able to add to your current roster, but then also being able to work to retain your roster, along with signing by signing class. There’s a lot going on right now.”

Do you have to go get a transfer portal quarterback? Is that a position of need, considering that none of the guys you have are really experienced?

“Yeah, it’s something that I’ve thought a lot about, literally going back until the spring. How do we want to handle things going forward? And certainly, we have three on scholarship. We may have four on scholarship later. Who knows? Regardless, I think you certainly got to keep your options open. From that standpoint, LaNorris has a decision to make. We know that. So there’s a lot of balls in the air on that one. But yes, I would be all for a guy that you could potentially add to that room to add some depth without a doubt. You have Jimmy Francis in that room too, but after outside that, and Brandon Cunningham, so we’ve got some bodies. But in regards to scholarship quarterbacks, we don’t have many, and we’re young and inexperienced. I remember, I think I’ve told you guys, when I was in Oklahoma with Lincoln (Riley), there were some years where we had some quarterbacks, Tanner Mordecai, Austin Kendall, some guys that were in our program that transferred, because we had Spencer (Rattler) and we had Jalen Hurts, and we had Kyler Murray, and they didn’t want to sit around and wait. Next thing you look up, you’re down to like Chandler Morris. You’re down to like two quarterbacks in your program that you’re either recruiting or have on your roster. So I don’t want to get in that situation, and we won’t next season, but I don’t think at any position, I don’t think a quarterback position, you can ever have enough. But there are other positions, certainly. Let’s say we only have five scholarships available. There’s other positions that are certainly a higher priority than going to get another scholarship quarterback in my opinion.”

With the other two defensive backs, Kosci Barnes and KJ Johnson, what do you feel like you have with them coming in?

“When you look at the DBs in general, you talk about Kosci, you talk about KJ, you talk about just J’Zavien, and you talk about Triston Lewis, another one. Triston Lewis called and committed when I was a Kiowa. I was actually, I’m gonna give people blast coaches for playing golf. I was actually going to play golf, and Triston Lewis called and committed to me this summer. So for those of you, there’s another coach in the league who took all kinds of crap for playing golf, well, I got a commitment while I was playing golf, so you always have your phone on. But Triston is an in-state guy that we had in camp. I know you asked about two others, but you talked about two in-state DBs, Tristan and J’Zavien, but then KJ and Kosci. We reloaded the secondary. We lost Nick off last year’s team, and you lost O’Donnell (Fortune) off last year’s team, and then this year, you lost DQ (Smith), and then we’ve got a couple that have NFL decisions to make that they’re still weighing right now. So we knew that we needed to add some good young players in that room, but we needed to add depth. And when you talk about Kosci, KJ, J’Zavien, and Triston, those are all guys with size and athleticism that can do a lot.

“Particularly, you know, KJ and Kosci, we see as corners that have length, they can run, they have athleticism. Kosci, I thought, had a great senior season. Didn’t commit when I was in Kiowa, but he did commit while I was going across the bridge in Charleston to a Luke Bryan concert this summer. So there’s good things happening when I’m down there with the Post and Courier territory there, for sure. But Kosci has an awesome family and comes from a great school; it’s good to get somebody from up there, out of Grimsley High School, and that’s where Kosci came from. That’s a really proud program, and rightfully so, it’s still playing up there. I love guys that, if you watch their senior year, they get better as seniors. When you start talking about red flags and guys that maybe don’t pan out when they get to college, I think if you look back at the senior seasons they had, their senior seasons aren’t as good as maybe their sophomore and junior seasons. And when you talk about all these guys, you watch how they played as seniors, they got better. They didn’t commit somewhere, get the scholarship offer, and all of a sudden, coast and protect themselves. They got better as seniors. And I would say that about all those DBs, and we expect them to get in here from day one. Kosci’s a guy that we got in on late, or everybody did, he didn’t get a ton of offers until really the spring going into his senior year, and then blew up. And rightfully so. And they really really had a good senior season. So proud to have them join our program, and excited to get them here.”

What are your deepest, truest feelings about LaNorris Sellers and Dylan Stewart? Are they going to be with you in 2026? Wouldn’t you like to know sooner? Isn’t it important to know as soon as possible?

“No, it absolutely is. And that’s what I’ve conveyed to LaNorris, Dylan, Nyckoles Harbor, Brandon Cisse,, Jalon Kilgore. There’s a lot of guys that have NFL decisions that they can make. I mean, that’s a few. Anybody that’s been in college football for three years has the ability to go to the NFL if they want. But certainly those guys are guys that have decisions to make, and I don’t want to rush them, but certainly I told their families when I talked to them, the quicker that they make a decision, the better it is for all of us. In regards to hiring offensive coaches, they want to know if Nyckoles Harbor and LaNorris Sellers, ‘Am I going to be coaching them if I come to South Carolina?’ So the quicker I can tell them yes, the better that is for all of us in this entire program. Same thing from a defensive standpoint, as we go down the road with the portal and offense and defense, guys that want to come here and play, they want to know who’s going to be there with them. So I want everybody to make the right decision for themselves when the time is right. We’re not pressuring anybody. Those are conversations that I’ve had with those guys leading into this week. Those are conversations that I’ve had with those guys this week.

“I’m not going to give you my deepest, most inner feelings, but I do know this. If you talk about Dylan and LaNorris specifically, those are great young men, and Nyckoles too, who really believe in what we’re doing. In my conversations with them, they’re extremely excited about what this team could be in 2026, and they’re a big part of that. There’s no question. I know there’s no sense of, ‘I’m not really sure South Carolina’s where I want to be.’ It’s them making the best decisions for them and their families and their futures. My conversations with them and their families have been awesome, along with the agents that they have. We want them to do what’s best for them, and we’ve got to do what’s best for our overall program; there’s no question about it. But I think all those young men believe in what we’re doing here; they know what kind of team we can have in 2026. They’re extremely disappointed by what we did in ’25 and they’re extremely hungry about 2026. That doesn’t mean that I’m saying they’re coming back, but I know if they don’t come back, it’s not going to be because they’re unhappy or don’t believe in the direction of where we’re headed, that’s for sure.

“And along with Dylan, too, I think David asked me after the game on Saturday, the guy basically had a broken back. Not that anybody is, but for anybody to criticize that guy and try and create any kind of conspiracy theory about why he wasn’t out there as much against Clemson, it’s because most players in the country wouldn’t even have been playing in that game. But he gutted it out, and to me, I told him the other day when I met with him, how proud I am of him, because of how he gutted it out through an injury, and not a broken back, where we’re risking his health and his future. We’ve had conversations with doctors and mom and everyone else, and everybody is on board with him being out there. So other players across the SEC have a similar injury that are playing just like Dylan is, but he’s in a position where, let’s be real, it’s physical, and there’s a lot of bending and contact, and he gutted it out throughout the season. Particularly from the Ole Miss game on, because we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to play against Ole Miss. I’m proud of him. He’ll be the first to tell you that there are plays from Saturday that he wasn’t at his best, and he wanted to and would want to be better. I’ll agree, there’s some plays that I’m sure he wasn’t proud of Saturday, but really proud of him for being out there, gutting it out and and attempting to go because I don’t know as many people that maybe would have if they were in his situation. So just wanted to say that, because again, I love all y’all, and I haven’t been on social media reading a lot other than about what you’re writing and what people are saying, other than just retweeting Gamecock football guys committed to and signed today, but it got back to me that there’s people maybe beating him up a little bit about the Clemson game. If you want to beat anybody up or blame, beat me. I’m the one that’s the head coach, and we put a poor product on the field Saturday.”

Does Stewart need surgery?

“Rest. Does not need surgery. He just needs to rest. When we had that conversation with the doctors and with Dylan and Dylan’s mom, it was said that you’re not going to make it worse by playing, so you can’t hurt yourself worse by being out there. You don’t need surgery, but the only way for this to get better and get well is for you to have extended rest. He easily could have said, ‘Man, it’s Nov. 1. We’re not having the season that we want. I’m going to shut it down and rest and get ready for January.’ And he didn’t. He went out and played against Ole Miss. He went out and played against A&M. He didn’t play, I guess, against Coastal. And then he went out and played against Clemson. So, no, no surgery is needed, just needs rest and to get it under control where it’s not aggravating him like it is right now. And when I say broke back, it’s not like his spinal cord is shattered. I’m not saying that. He’s got a little bit of a back issue that’s somewhat common with some guys, other guys on this team, too, that he battled through. And he’ll rest up over December and be ready to roll in January, hopefully here at South Carolina, as I unload my deepest thoughts in regards to him. I love all those guys. Love all the guys on this team, and excited to get the core of these guys back in January and get rolling on a better ’26.”

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