COLUMBIA — Shane Beamer, South Carolina’s fourth-year head football coach, walked his flip-flop-covered feet into a meeting room and immediately doled out apologies. His scheduled post-scrimmage session with the media on Aug. 10 not only had its time changed, but shifted from outside Williams-Brice Stadium to the team’s headquarters across the road.
“I apologize for moving things up an hour,” Beamer said, “and I apologize for the change of locations. I’m sorry if any of you guys had to lug equipment into the stadium and then had to walk over here, as well. You certainly got your steps in today.
” So did his football team. The Gamecocks worked out for a little more than two hours, going through 103 plays in muggy conditions. All of it’s typical for this time of the year, nothing really unusual with regards to routine or the weather.
The first scrimmage on a Saturday morning is as much of a benchmark on every team’s preseason schedule as the first day of practice (which was football-in-shorts on Aug. 3) or when it can actually strap on pads (two days before the scrimmage). Coaches have it highlighted in red ink weeks before players report for camp.
Beamer would hit the high notes of what happened during the scrimmage; the successes and failures of it wouldn’t be totally assessed until later. He’d break down the video in his office with a bank of screens loaded with enough angles to make Big Brother proud. They’re necessary, too, because the details matter.
As much now as they will this fall. Probably even more so this year. South Carolina rarely, if ever, has the luxury of easing into things.
Even before the SEC juiced up by adding two more teams and dropping divisions. Even when it had a veteran quarterback, no changes on the coaching staff and a friendly flow to the schedule. But this year? Geez, this year.
First that schedule, an unfriendly slate in normal conditions, yet particularly disagreeable this season. There’s a trip to Kentucky in the second week to begin league play before a quick turnaround against LSU a week later. Then a three-game stretch of Ole Miss-Alabama-Oklahoma that’s especially hellish because those are either on the road, or against a playoff contender, or both.
Toss in Texas A&M and Missouri, and the trip to Clemson on Nov. 30 could determine if the Gamecocks go bowling. That is, if it’s not wiped from consideration weeks before, which is a real possibility.
And that could be as much of an assessment of the schedule as an indictment of the Gamecocks. We’ll see come November. For now, however, there’s still a buzz around the program even if it’s not the euphoria that engulfed it 365 days ago.
The joy of regular-season capping wins over then-No. 5 Tennessee and at then-No. 8 Clemson in 2022 lingered for months.
Or maybe it merely seems like a positive energy when you consider bruises remain from the end of the previous regimen. That era left the fanbase not angry, but something worse. Story continues below Apathetic.
At least anger elicits an emotion. Rage sells tickets, fuels discussion and fosters a desire for relevance. Apathy is just .
.. blah.
Fans and boosters and television don’t do blah. But there’s no apathy now, even after the buzzkill of a 5-7 record and no postseason with arguably the most talented quarterback in school history spinning the ball. Enough goodwill has been fostered, enough equity collected since 2021 to keep this from being any kind of make-or-break season.
Ignore any hot-take lists or message boards that say differently. Still file this away: Patience — even at a place like South Carolina where 10-win seasons are like striking plutonium — is a rare commodity. Particularly in this new era of the SEC and a college football world with so many billions of dollars attached to it.
Beamer knows it. Just as he’s aware the standard he’s being held to is actually of his own making. Going to bowl games out of the gate; crafting one of the great two-week stretches in team history; being generally likable and relatable.
Again, those first two years seem kind of like a golden age when juxtaposed to what he took over. Likewise, he realizes what’s ahead of him. And how it’s all exacerbated by other factors such as a first-time starting quarterback, staff changes and trying to integrate additions to gameday ops such as the use of in-helmet radios and sideline iPads.
It’s a lot. And seems like even more after he outlined what else the team had to do that evening, ranging from more film study to meetings. “We’re back on the grind,” Beamer said.
Indeed. And all of it to repeat, in one form or fashion over the days and weeks before playing Old Dominion on Aug. 31, and on into the season.
A season that — unlike a post-scrimmage media session — can’t be moved or have its start fiddled with..
