Shane Beamer Recaps Early National Signing Day

South Carolina's head coach Shane Beamer met with the media and talked about their early signees and the latest on the team.

Few teams have seen as big of a jump in recruiting as South Carolina has undergone over the last two years. In the aftermath of Will Muschamp's firing in 2020 and the hiring of Shane Beamer, some recruiting services had South Carolina ranked as one of the worst teams in recruiting.

Fast forward to today, and the Gamecocks are on pace for a consensus top-20 class and have signed multiple players viewed as potential game-changers for the program. Beamer started his press conference by mentioning some notable prospects from the Palmetto State.

"Guys like Monteque Rhames, Markee Anderson, and Xzavier McLeod, guys from here in the state of South Carolina. Those are guys that, from day one, we started recruiting heavily when I first got here. We always want to start here in this state. I say it all the time, that's how we got this program to a high level where we were playing for the SEC Championship, [we were] doing it by keeping the best players in South Carolina at home."

Beamer noted that 15 players who have signed up to this point would be early enrollees and in Columbia for spring practice and that there could be more depending on how their final few recruiting battles shake out. 

The main thing that sticks out regarding this recruiting class is the talent in the trenches on both sides, which was a priority for Beamer and company.

"We knew it was going to be important. That's an older group on the defensive line, and it was a position, honestly, that we wanted to attack last year on the o-line and d-line. Really excited about the group we got coming in. We had to win some major recruiting battles against some major programs to get those guys."

Turning his attention to the bowl game, Beamer covered personnel notes. Running back Lovasea Carroll won't be able to play in the Gator Bowl, and that wide receiver Jalen Brooks is dealing with an off-field issue. While he's still practicing with the team, it's unclear if he'll be able to play in the Gator Bowl.

Safety Devonni Reed won't play after he declared for the NFL draft on Tuesday. The same is true for right tackle Dylan Wonnum, which has led to multiple young linemen like Tyshawn Wannamaker and Cason Henry battling to grab a stranglehold of that starting spot.

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