Shane Beamer reflects on South Carolina program entering fifth season as head coach

On Dec. 5, 2020, South Carolina walked out of Lexington, Kentucky, after suffering a 41-18 loss to the Kentucky Wildcats. One day later, Shane Beamer became the 36th head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks.

On Dec. 6, Beamer stood inside the Jerri and Steve Spurrier Indoor Practice Facility and addressed his new team for the first time.

“I literally stood in this spot right here, and the team was right here because of COVID, and I had my very first team meeting literally right here,” Beamer said. “You come and you go from there to where we are now. Now, five seasons later, and you’ve accomplished a lot going into a season where you’re probably going to be in preseason rankings, people are talking about you as a potential playoff team. We made a lot of progress, there’s no question about it.”

Four seasons and 51 games later, Beamer stands alone with the most wins of any South Carolina football coach in their first four seasons (29). The 48-year-old coach also became the third coach in program history to win SEC Coach of the Year in 2024.

Get GamecockCentral for $1 your first week. As a bonus, your membership includes a complimentary year of The Athletic.

Beamer’s fourth season in Columbia, SC, saw him lead the Gamecocks to their first six-game win streak since 2013. It also featured a school record four wins in a row over AP Top 25 opponents. The strong campaign led Beamer’s Gamecocks to open the 2025 season ranked No. 13 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

While the accolades from 2024 are great, 2025 is a new season with new challenges.

“Understanding that every year is starting over, and this is a new team,” Beamer said. “What we did in 2024 was great, but 2025 is a brand-new season, and we got a lot of work to do.”

Beamer’s program also excels off the field, he said. South Carolina’s players set the program record for GPAs in each of the past two semesters.

“Highest GPAs ever last fall semester, and then we shattered the fall record in the spring with what our guys did academically, the way we’re graduating players,” Beamer said. So off the field, things are going well. Culture-wise, making good decisions and doing good things off the field, for sure.”

South Carolina enters 2025 with a host of new expectations. On top of opening the season ranked inside the top 15, quarterback LaNorris Sellers is a viable Heisman Trophy candidate.

In 2024, Sellers won the National Freshman Offensive Player of the Year award, as selected by the Football Writers of America. Additionally, Sellers won SEC Freshman of the Year, a freshman All-American and third-team All-SEC. Those accolades came after Sellers threw for 2,534 yards alongside 18 touchdowns while rushing for 674 yards and seven touchdowns.

Sellers enters 2025 on official watchlists for the Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards, awards given to the nation’s top player. He’s joined on the Walter Camp watchlist by edge rusher Dylan Stewart.

However, some expectations for 2025 feel eerily similar to the expectations the Gamecocks had entering 2023. Coming off an 8-4 season with a loss in the Taxslayer Gator Bowl, South Carolina failed to meet expectations, finishing the year 5-7.

“It’s something that I’ve thought about a lot,” Beamer said. “Because coming off the finish of 2022 and then going into 2023, the first game was a neutral-site game against an ACC opponent, and we lost. And then the third game was an SEC game, just like it will be this year, and we lost.”

However, the difference lies in the maturity of the 2025 roster compared to the 2023 group, Beamer said.

“And I’m not saying that 2023 didn’t, it just feels different,” Beamer said. “… Last year’s team finished on a six-game winning streak in the regular season and then fell short in the bowl game. Brings back a lot, and there’s a great hunger to take things further.”

In comparison, 2022’s roster closed the regular season with two strong wins. However, inconsistencies mired the team in a way it didn’t in 2024, Beamer said. Beamer also believes 2025’s group is deeper than the roster that entered the 2023 season.

“I know there’s a lot of expectations for this year’s team, and there should be,” Beamer said. “I’m excited. We got a chance to have a really good team, but we’re going to be good in years to come as well.”

Discuss South Carolina football on The Insiders Forum!