Shane Beamer on Dante Reno: 'He's our best recruiter'
With how busy the month of December has been with recruiting, it’s been all hands on deck for Shane Beamer and his coaching staff. Every day has been a constant grind of traveling around the country to land the next crop of talent.
It’s not just the coaches doing all the recruiting, though. Even the recruits themselves are getting in the mix, the biggest of which has been Dante Reno.
“He’s done a great job. He’s like our best recruiter,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “Even talked to him on the way home yesterday, make sure you call this guy, make sure you do this, make sure you do that. And I didn’t have to tell him a lot of things. They did it themselves and probably knew more about the recruiting class than I did.”
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Reno, rated as a three-star quarterback, was the first player to verbally commit to this year’s recruiting class. He did so back in July 2022, well ahead of his fellow recruits.
“Obviously, you’re blown away constantly of what a great recruiter he is. I mean, he works his butt off. It’s almost to a point where you’ve got to be like, ‘Hey, slow down on that guy a little bit. Maybe he’s not interested or maybe we’re not really sure about him.’ But he was full speed ahead on everybody,” Beamer said.
In that time since, Reno has been just like any other coach, doing his part to persuade high school players to join the program.
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Reno has been active on X, formerly known as Twitter, putting on the recruiting hat quite a bit. As a future quarterback and leader of this program, he’s been doing his part to make sure the newcomers have good chemistry.
“He works his butt off as a recruiter,” Beamer said. “Whenever his playing days are over, whenever that is, I will definitely try and hire him because he’ll make our program better as a player and when he’s done playing as well.”
But it’s more than just recruiting Reno is good at doing. After all, he’s here to play quarterback for the Gamecocks. As a senior at Cheshire Academy (MA), he completed 159-of-248 passes (64.1 percent) for 2,358 yards with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
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So it’s clear he has the talent. However, he also has a great understanding of the inner details of the game. He’s been around it for so long now. His father, Tony, has been the head coach at Yale since 2012.
“I love having coaches kids on the team, because there’s not much they haven’t seen. So he’s battle tested, even though he hasn’t played at the college level yet,” Beamer said.
“Probably the thing I’ve learned is no surprise, but just his work ethic. You knew he was big and strong, but the more and more you’re around him, he’s constantly working. Whether it’s throwing, running, or lifting, he’s a guy that’s about the right stuff.”
