Shane Beamer talks South Carolina position battles he's watching

Shane Beamer likes to say every position on the South Carolina roster is up for grabs, but in reality, there are only a few key spots with starter question marks heading into camp. 

And Thursday Beamer took some time to break down a few of those as the Gamecocks prepare to start practice.

There are a ton, but the ones he singled out are offensive line, defensive end, linebacker, secondary and receiver. 

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“How the offensive line shakes out is one. What does it look like from left to right? We have guys who’ve played multiple positions,” Beamer said. “So when line up against North Carolina in game one, what does it look like at all five spots? We’re going to play more than five linemen so who are six, seven and eight? We’re going to rotate guys in there.”

The Gamecocks have to replace three starters to expiring eligibility or the NFL draft–Eric Douglas, Jovaughn Gwyn and Dylan Wonnum–plus starting left tackle Jaylen Nichols. 

This means there will be plenty of newer faces up front that South Carolina has to rely on this year. The Gamecocks will also do the same at EDGE after the departures of Jordan Burch and Gilber Edmond. 

There are a few interesting pieces, but most are relatively inexperienced. 

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“Tyreek Johnson’s had an awesome summer. Tyereek can be a really good player for us. He already is but he can be a really impactful player for us. I’m excited to see Tyreek’s progress. JT came in from Syracuse. What does he do?” Beamer said.

“Jordan Strachan is coming back from his injury from last year. Then you have Terrell Dawkins, Des U, Bryan Thomas. There are a lot of guys there. We’ll rotat3 multiple guys, but when we like up game one, who are the first two guys who go out there?”

Beamer also said he’s excited to see how the linebacker room shakes out with a deep group and plenty of snaps to go around. South Carolina returns Stone Blanton, Debo Williams, Bam Scott and Mo Kaba while bringing in four-star Pup Howard. 

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But one of the more intriguing positions is in the secondary with the Gamecocks having to replace Darius Rush and Cam Smith and cultivate depth at corner. 

There are a few young options there like Vicari Swain, Zahbari Sandy, Emory Floyd and a few others.

“If you say O’Donnell Fortune and Marcellas Dial are our two starting corners right now, who’s the third guy at the corner position?” Beamer said. “Those guys in the secondary, we’d love them to play corner, we’d love for them to play nickel and love for them to play both safety positions. For the most part, they can. So who are our top two guys there.”

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The last is finding at least three more receivers behind Juice Wells, Xavier Legette and Ahmarean Brown to have true six-man rotation. 

True freshmen Nyck Harbor and Elijah Caldwell will be in the mix along with a few other players. 

“We’re not going to play the same three receivers all game. We’re going to rotate them in there to keep them fresh,” Beamer said. “If we’re going to play six every game–which is basically what we did last year–who are those guys?” 

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