Shane Beamer's South Carolina embraces next man up culture amid injuries

South Carolina’s 2025 season has gotten off to a 2-0 start as the Gamecocks enter Southeastern Conference play. However, those wins have come at the cost of extensive injuries all across the roster.

“Injury update, it would be too long to name, guys, so don’t even ask,” Shane Beamer said after the Week 2 win over SC State. “… Our third-team nickel is Jaquel Holman; he got hurt in the first quarter. So, we were down to literally our fourth nickel.”

Beamer’s injury report during his Sunday teleconference was more optimistic. However, the list remained long and included multiple starters. Beamer said Tuesday that the team is “trending in the right direction” injury-wise.

The SEC requires teams to release an availability report on Thursday around 8 p.m., followed by one on Friday and one 90 minutes before kickoff.

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The depth within the Gamecocks’ roster also helps when injuries accumulate, as they have early in the season. Everyone on the roster has a backup that needs to be ready.

“We’ve got good young players as well,” Beamer said. “… We all talk about being ready when your number’s called and everybody’s got a job to do.”

That kind of mentality extends to the coaching staff, defensive coordinator Clayton White said before the season. When a car crash sidelined defensive line coach Travian Robertson, the staff had someone ready to step in until Robertson returned.

“There’s a linebacker coach that’s ready, there’s a D-line coach that’s ready, there’s an edge coach that’s ready, and there’s two or three DB coaches that are ready,” White said. “So this is one of those things that we kind of, not saying prepared for this exact thing, but we want to make sure that we’re good to go.”

As injuries plague the secondary, DQ Smith said he sees the same guys he saw all camp step up.

“I see the same guys I’ve been seeing all summer, all spring,” Smith said. “The same guys that continue to work. Someone went down, they stepped in (and) made an impact on the game. So, just, guys I trust. … It’s a testament to those guys because they stepped up to the place when they didn’t know they would have to.”

Having guys ready to go extends back to practice, Beamer said. South Carolina does a lot of “good on good” that helps develop its young talent.

“So you can get them ready. We do, you know, kickoff versus kickoff return. There may be a scout team kickoff, but they’re guys that we’re trying to get ready to play on Saturday,” Beamer said. “Or they might already be playing on Saturdays, and they’re getting better that way. When they get into games on Saturdays, they’ve been there in the sense that they’ve been working in practice for those moments.”

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