Shane Beamer's hiring leaves more questions than answers for Gamecocks
South Carolina has its next football coach, and its Shane Beamer.
Beamer takes over for Will Muschamp, who was fired mid-November after a 59-42 loss to Ole Miss. The loss marked a third straight poor performance for the defense, which gave up 159 points in that stretch.
Muschamp finished with a 28-30 career mark in Columbia, but went 8-13 the final two years. He finished tied ninth, with Warren Giese, in wins among coaches but 12th in win percentage at 48.3 percent.
LINK: Will Muschamp fired at South Carolina. Who should Gamecocks look to replace him?
LINK: College coaches must win now, or else
The hiring marks a return to Columbia for Beamer, 43, who was an assistant coach from 2007-2010 under Steve Spurrier. Since leaving Columbia he made assistant coaching stops at Virginia Tech (2011-2015), Georgia (2016-2017) and Oklahoma.
The son of legendary Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, the new Gamecock coach brings an affinity for special teams, as well as a strong recruiting ability.
This new direction raises questions, though.
Athletic director Ray Tanner said early in the process they preferred to hire a younger coach known for their ability to lead an offense and recruit.
Beamer, while young and a good recruiter, has never been known as a great offensive play caller. He has never been a coordinator, much less a head coach. There is virtually no proven history of winning. There also isn’t a proven history of losing either.
He has been under the leadership of great offensive minded coaches in Spurrier and Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, but being familiar with an offense and running that offense are two different things.
It appears Tanner and university president Bob Caslen are going with the CEO model of head coach, similar to what has worked with rival Clemson.
Nationally, this hire won’t make a big splash. It will likely be labeled a reach hire reeking of desperation. It is hard to argue against that criticism.
My only argument is how many times has a hire been called a “home run?”
Tom Herman at Texas? Jim Harbaugh at Michigan? Willie Taggart at Florida State?
Other questionable hires have turned out well. Swinney for one. Ryan Day at Ohio State had questions, as did Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma. Granted, the hires at Ohio State and Oklahoma inherited far better situations than Beamer, and both had been coordinators.
WHAT IS NEXT?
Beamr will need to assemble a staff quickly with the December 16 early signing period looming. Who he hires as coordinators will say a lot about the identity and culture he wants to create in Columbia.
Outside of assembling a staff, Beamer's first priority will be to recruit, not just future players but the current ones.
He will have to make an impression quickly on players who are looking to the transfer portal. He will also have to decide which players don't fit the new South Carolina.
Beamer and staff will also need to quickly identify high school and junior college players to slap a recruiting class together.
Expect him to also hit the transfer market hard.
Truthful, the 2020 class won't reflect Beamer's vision. That will be seen in the 2021 class.
WHAT IS BEAMER INHERITING?
That is hard to say with how transfers work now in college football.
Looking at what is set to return, running back and defensive line look to be areas of strength potentially.
The defensive line alone will star a pair of former five-star prospects in Zacch Pickens and Jordan Burch, and four-star prospects Alex Huntley and Rick Sandidge. Add in sophomore Tonka Hemingway who played a good bit this season, and you have a young, but talented group.
You may also have a returning Kingsley Enagbare, who was the team's top pass rusher.
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| Kevin Harris |
The offensive line does return tackle Jakai Moore, center Eric Douglas and guard Jovaugn Gwyn, along with Jordan Rhodes, Jaylen Nichols, Vershon Lee and Jazston Turnetine, who all logged playing time this year.
Tackle Dylan Wonnum could declare for the NFL Draft, but his intentions have not been made public.
Having a 1,000-yard rusher is a positive reflection on the line, but pass protection has been hit or miss.
In fact, according to grades, the Gamecock line finished the year ranked 100th out of 127 schools.
LINK: College offensive line rankings
Quarterback you should feel okay with likely returns of Luke Doty, who took over starting duties late in the year and has shown mobility and a lot of potential. You also return 2019 starter Ryan Hilinski, again, if he doesn't transfer out.
Depending on the system run, Dakereon Joyner could also flip back from receiver to quarterback.
The defensive secondary is largely unproven with the early departures of Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu. Jammie Robinson is set to return to lead that unit, but there are major questions at the other safety spot and at the entire second unit is a toss up.
Linebacker outside of Ernest Jones is unproven. Freshmen Mo Kaba and Darryle Ware showed potential, and senior Sherrod Greene could return, but like most positions, depth is the biggest issue.
The two biggest sore spots are receiver and tight end though. This past year showed a complete lack of confidence in the receiving corps outside of Shi Smith. Tight end wasn't much better with inconsistency plaguing the position.
There is young, athletic talent in receivers Rico Powers, Mike Wyman and Ger-Cari Caldwell, as well as at tight end in Keveon Mullins, Jaheim Bell and Eric Shaw, but it is all unproven and inexperienced.
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| Jammie Robinson |
WHAT SHOULD FANS EXPECT?
It is hard to say right now until coordinators are hired and the rest of the staff is filled out.
In blunt honesty, not much.
The goals for year one will be instill a new culture and start bringing in players that fit that culture and system once coordinators are hired.
As far as success on the field: Hope to win more than you lose. If that sounds familiar, that was the message 15 years ago when Spurrier was hired.
After back-to-back losing season, win more than you lose is a major step up.
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From a numbers standpoint, aim to see the offense average around 28-30 points per game. They currently average 23.5 under Bobo.
A 30-point per game average has not been seen since 2018. Historically, South Carolina averaged at least 30 per game between 2010-2014, arguably its most successful stint in program history.
Defensively, about anything is better than giving up 36.0 points per game in 2020. Hold the staff to shave that down to around the 30 mark, paired with an offense scoring about 30 a game, and you will win more than you lose.
Give this new staff at least four years to install their systetm, their culture, and get players in who fit that system and culture.
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