Shane Beamer talks about South Carolina's kickers and the team's transfer portal plans

On Monday, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer made a stop in Summerville on his Welcome Home Tour. While there, he spoke to the media about a number of topics, including the kicker position.

The Gamecocks lost 2024 starter Alex Herrera to graduation. All-American punter Kai Kroeger also graduated. Both the kicker and punter jobs are open this offseason. However, it has seemed like a foregone conclusion that redshirt freshman Mason Love will take over in Kroeger’s stead. The kicker spot, though, has been a bigger question.

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According to Beamer, after poking around the transfer portal a bit, South Carolina will look internally to answer that question.

“Joe DeCamillis and I sat down after spring practice and said, ‘You know what? We don’t feel like there’s any kicker in the portal right now that, frankly, is better than what we have.’ We’ve got a lot of confidence in Mason (Love), whatever his role ends up being. William Joyce, Peyton Argent, Max Kelley coming in–they’re unproven. And that’s certainly concerning as you go into a game or go into a season with…a kicker and a punter that have never kicked in a big game like that, as well.”

He went on, “But as far as guys that were in the portal, we watched them. And there’s some good kickers and punters, don’t get me wrong. But in the portal, there’s no one that we looked at and just said, ‘You know, that guy’s absolutely better than what we have.’ And I didn’t want to bring in somebody just to muddy the waters just because they were an older guy.”

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Beamer understands that he, DeCamillis, and the rest of the South Carolina coaching staff are responsible for getting their guys ready.

“But that’s our job as coaches. We’ve got to develop these guys and get them, from a mental and physical standpoint, where they can go out there and perform.” None of the four (Love, Kelley, Joyce, or Argent) have kicked or punted in a game. Joyce was the team’s holder for one game in 2022 while Kai Kroeger dealt with an injury.

Love was signed as a scholarship player in the class of 2024. Kelley will enroll this summer as a scholarship player in the 2025 cycle. Both Joyce and Argent are walk-ons heading into their fifth and third years at USC, respectively.

In the 2025 Garnet and Black Spring Game, Love had a great day as a kicker and as a punter. Joyce also had a good showing as a kicker. Argent delivered some nice punts but missed his field goal during the team’s field goal kicking competition. Kelley did not participate as he has not enrolled yet.

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