Window of opportunity
Shane Beamer’s Gamecock football team entered the 2022 season hoping to take the kind of leap on the field that could give the program a charge of momentum heading into a critical offseason.
After the past two weeks, it’s easy to say a wave has been created on which USC can now ride.
Following a thrilling final pair of games that saw the team wreck the College Football Playoff dreams of an SEC East counterpart and the program’s biggest rival, Shane Beamer’s brought the joy to the Gamecock base that he’s so often asked them to find.
Carolina’s fans, who have hungered for a reason to fall back in love with USC athletics, seem to have jumped back in headfirst.
Where this program has been lately has been exciting.
Where it could go could be even more exhilarating.
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Shane Beamer’s made it crystal clear that is not satisfied, that his program “has not arrived”, as he’s fond of saying.
It’s that type of thinking that could very well take the Gamecocks to the next level, if all parties pull in the same direction.
There’s more to be done for Beamer. Other coaches and programs standing in his way continue to recruit extremely well, as South Carolina looks to move its own efforts up to the next level. An important offensive coordinator hire is also in process for the second-year coach.
There’s also more to be done for the university and it passionate base. This new era of college football also necessitates the university – and, frankly, the fan base – supporting the program with financial resources.
There’s no doubt that a key component of future success will be South Carolina’s ability to deliver on the NIL front. It’s a recruiting element that’s become every bit as important as other past factors, and perhaps even more so with roster retention and recruiting of new talent.
The highest percentage of NIL activity in the college ranks has been booster funded, and the reality is that South Carolina is still behind many of its counterparts in that regard. Tennessee, for instance, has set an annual NIL goal of $25 million. Clemson immediately raised a commitment of $5 million earlier this spring. Florida, which has a top ten recruiting class according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings, has a multi-million dollar NIL warchest. These are just a few of the many examples of how other teams – and their fans – are using NIL to try to win.
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The month of December will be a critical one for all college football programs, especially in 2022, because of NIL, the continuance of the early signing period, and the dominance of the transfer portal.
With the way USC finished the 2022 season on the field, the circumstances are ripe for the Gamecocks’ program to springboard that success into something even greater.
There is a very recent, very painful example of what happens when a program does not take advantage of an opportunity to take another big step.
It was right after the 2013 season, and Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks had just finished an unprecedented run. 2010 was the program’s first appearance in the SEC Championship Game. The 2011 through 2013 seasons brought 33 wins and just 6 losses. Connor Shaw was a pristine 17-0 inside Williams-Brice Stadium.
Perhaps best of all, Spurrier’s teams had beaten Clemson not once, not twice in a row, but five times. Dabo Swinney was “fivebombed” when he went in high schools to recruit. USC fans were beside themselves. Even though USC didn’t get another opportunity to play for a title, perhaps one was still around the corner?
Beneath the surface of that glee, an unfavorable situation was simmering.
Clemson fans were blinded by the pain and anger of being on the losing end for that long, and the Gamecock football faithful perhaps didn’t notice because of the jubilation of the last five seasons.
Even though South Carolina’s defense had held the Tiger offense – led at that time by Chad Morris – in check for three seasons dating back to 2011, the fun and productive system had led to an influx of offensive talent. Clemson was losing to South Carolina then, but they were getting better as a program. In 2014, the Tigers would sign five-star quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Defensive coordinator Brent Venables, who recruited and developed several dominant defenses in the Upstate, was just in his second season with the program.
Earlier in 2013, Dabo Swinney hired away his former Alabama teammate, Thad Turnipseed, from Nick Saban to come in and make the program better in multiple areas including facilities and recruiting. Turnispeed built a first-of-its kind operations center and instituted Alabama’s recruiting model with some unique twists.
South Carolina, meanwhile, had lost some key assistant coaches that were on staff during the front end of the run. Recruiting was beginning to slip in Columbia.
In short, everyone got too comfortable.
Gamecock fans know what followed the next several seasons, both against Clemson and in conference play. South Carolina decided what it had done was good enough. Clemson decided it did not want it to happen again.
In 2014, Clemson – led by Deshaun Watson and his torn ACL, won in Death Valley. The Tigers would go on to win every game since then until last weekend’s catharsis.
Steve Spurrier would walk away in the middle of the 2015 season. And South Carolina was unable to recapture the success of those five rivalry wins in a row, a trip to Atlanta, or 11-win seasons.
There are some differences, of course, from that time period until now. In 2014, the transfer portal did not exist. The idea of players being compensated for their name, image, and likeness was just an interesting idea, and one that did not look close to happening.
Both of those are here now, and they are an integral part in the recruiting process, the lifeblood of any program with championship aspirations.
And now, Shane Beamer, a former assistant, is at the helm. And he’s been steadfast that he’s not comfortable with what has been accomplished.
No, South Carolina does not have the trophy case or the logo appeal of the programs it is trying to leap past in the college football pecking order. What it does have is a school with resources, location, conference affiliation, and a fan base that keeps coming back for more.
Oh, and USC has a coach who’s showing he may just be pretty unique in a cookie-cutter business.
All that, coupled with some recent successes on the field, has created a situation that can now be quite favorable. If Beamer can keep the Shane Train moving forward, the “Block C” becoming big-time will take care of itself.
During a Wednesday appearance on the Zach Gelb Show, Beamer was blunt when asked about the ceiling of the Gamecock football program.
“I think we can accomplish everything,” he said. “When I say that, I mean win championships.”
With how Beamer kept this team together during a season that finished with plenty of ups and downs to play its best ball at the end of the year, the proof seems to be in the pudding that his approach is working.
That leads one to wonder just how far Beamer can take this program if he gets what he needs to take that next step.
The good news for Gamecock fans, coaches, and administrators is that Shane Beamer’s program has delivered reason to trust him. A reason to believe again. A reason to find some joy.
Things are good in Columbia right now.
They could just be getting started.
