There’s a lot going on for South Carolina’s Shane Beamer as he navigates being a head coach for the first time, including roster management, coaching hires, working the transfer portal and finishing his first signing class. The Gamecocks this week added national sack leader Jordan Strachan as a transfer from Georgia State, but lost the commitment of Class of 2022 quarterback Gunner Stockton.
Strachan is the fourth transfer Beamer has added from the NCAA transfer portal, and 19 of the 25 spots in the 2021 class are filled.
Phil Kornblut has hosted the SportsTalk radio show for 36 years and has covered recruiting for The State since 1996. We asked Kornblut for his take on the state of USC recruiting more than a month after Beamer’s hire.
The loss of Gunner Stockton’s commitment, while not surprising, still stings. How much of a hit is it?
PK: Certainly, it has to hurt. The kid is an absolute talent based on reviews and his career statistics. You just don’t lose five-star talent and not feel it, especially when you’re a talent-starved program like USC. And the PR hit, as it were on social media, bites as well. Just not the kind of issue a new coach wants to deal with.
What now with QB recruiting?
PK: There are other quarterbacks in the 2022 class, and new quarterbacks coach Marcus Satterfield has gotten right to work on that list. One that has emerged as a potential target is Sam Horn of Suwanee, Georgia. He’s another highly regarded dual-threat quarterback.
Do we expect USC to try and add a handful of new signees in February? What about 2022?
PK: Before the staff can really start to focus on the 2022 class, it has to shore up the 2021 group. There is still work to be done there with transfers and junior college targets leading the way. And there are a few high school possibilities as well. All the while, there is groundwork being laid for the 2022 class and several new offers have gone out in recent days.
Can you speak to the different recruiting environments that Will Muschamp faced in December 2015 and January 2016 after he was hired — which had no early signing period and no transfer portal — vs. the world Beamer has to navigate now as a first-time head coach?
PK: The recruiting world has changed a lot in the last five years. There is true free agency in college sports now. All a coach has to do is open his laptop, tap into the NCAA Transfer Portal, and hundreds of possibilities exist. That easy access to players should be helpful for a first-year head coach like Beamer. He can quickly identify targets, find out who is interested and begin the recruiting process. Filling needs has never been easier..
How much of Shane Beamer’s early tenure is about accentuating the positives and trying to make sure the publicity the program gets is as happy as it can be?
PK: Shane Beamer has to be all about selling the positives of his program. You can put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. But if you constantly push the positive narrative, and can sell it, eventually it begins to take hold. People start to view things in a more positive light. You just have to be careful not to mislead. Trust is very important at this stage of rebuilding a program.
Not to give away your age, ahem, but you’ve seen a handful of South Carolina football coaching changes in your day. How is Beamer doing so far, especially as it relates to setting up the program for some recruiting success?
PK: Beamer is saying all the right things thus far. He has been praiseworthy of people, and he’s avoided direct criticism of some people who may have disappointed him. He has been emphasizing the positives he has inherited at USC, and he has spoken highly of the players. He’s got to build that family unit inside the building, and playing up the “want to be here” card is a good way to start. He no doubt is working as hard as he can when it comes to recruiting, and that will put him in position for some successes there. But eventually he’s got to be able to show recruits the final product, and the success on the field will drive the majority of the recruiting success.
Have you ever seen as many bumps and roadblocks when it comes to filling the coaching staff? And how does this manifest itself on the recruiting trail, if at all?
PK: Coaches bolting when a new regime enters is not unusual at all. Neither are brief stays. John Latina and Brian VanGorder are just two examples of assistants hired by USC who didn’t stay long enough for their coffee to cool. Assistant coaches are, to an extent, mercenaries and always looking for the next best place. And you can’t blame them. They are, after all, trying to take care of their family. They also know then can be fired at any time, so loyalty doesn’t run all that deep. The bottom line for Beamer is, he lost Mike Bobo — and by connection Will Friend — to a higher bidder. And he lost Tracy Rocker to his alma mater. But he also took coaches from other programs who probably didn’t want to lose their guys. It goes both ways.
What is a new coach’s message to recruits? How does a Year 1 coach sell the program perhaps in a way that someone in his third or fourth year on the job would not?
PK: The first thing the new USC coaches can sell is opportunity. If you are a big-time prospect, good enough to play in the SEC, and you can’t see a chance to play early for a 2-8 team then you’re not looking closely enough. There is the league and the facilities and the academics, but everyone can sell that. What the new coaches have to sell is Beamer. Why is he different? Why do you want to play for him? Why is what he is going to build special and for a lifetime? Beamer is the name and face of the program, and they have to convince recruits that he is somehow different from all the others who are in their ear.
Strachan is the fourth transfer Beamer has added from the NCAA transfer portal, and 19 of the 25 spots in the 2021 class are filled.
Phil Kornblut has hosted the SportsTalk radio show for 36 years and has covered recruiting for The State since 1996. We asked Kornblut for his take on the state of USC recruiting more than a month after Beamer’s hire.
The loss of Gunner Stockton’s commitment, while not surprising, still stings. How much of a hit is it?
PK: Certainly, it has to hurt. The kid is an absolute talent based on reviews and his career statistics. You just don’t lose five-star talent and not feel it, especially when you’re a talent-starved program like USC. And the PR hit, as it were on social media, bites as well. Just not the kind of issue a new coach wants to deal with.
What now with QB recruiting?
PK: There are other quarterbacks in the 2022 class, and new quarterbacks coach Marcus Satterfield has gotten right to work on that list. One that has emerged as a potential target is Sam Horn of Suwanee, Georgia. He’s another highly regarded dual-threat quarterback.
Do we expect USC to try and add a handful of new signees in February? What about 2022?
PK: Before the staff can really start to focus on the 2022 class, it has to shore up the 2021 group. There is still work to be done there with transfers and junior college targets leading the way. And there are a few high school possibilities as well. All the while, there is groundwork being laid for the 2022 class and several new offers have gone out in recent days.
Can you speak to the different recruiting environments that Will Muschamp faced in December 2015 and January 2016 after he was hired — which had no early signing period and no transfer portal — vs. the world Beamer has to navigate now as a first-time head coach?
PK: The recruiting world has changed a lot in the last five years. There is true free agency in college sports now. All a coach has to do is open his laptop, tap into the NCAA Transfer Portal, and hundreds of possibilities exist. That easy access to players should be helpful for a first-year head coach like Beamer. He can quickly identify targets, find out who is interested and begin the recruiting process. Filling needs has never been easier..
How much of Shane Beamer’s early tenure is about accentuating the positives and trying to make sure the publicity the program gets is as happy as it can be?
PK: Shane Beamer has to be all about selling the positives of his program. You can put lipstick on a pig, and it’s still a pig. But if you constantly push the positive narrative, and can sell it, eventually it begins to take hold. People start to view things in a more positive light. You just have to be careful not to mislead. Trust is very important at this stage of rebuilding a program.
Not to give away your age, ahem, but you’ve seen a handful of South Carolina football coaching changes in your day. How is Beamer doing so far, especially as it relates to setting up the program for some recruiting success?
PK: Beamer is saying all the right things thus far. He has been praiseworthy of people, and he’s avoided direct criticism of some people who may have disappointed him. He has been emphasizing the positives he has inherited at USC, and he has spoken highly of the players. He’s got to build that family unit inside the building, and playing up the “want to be here” card is a good way to start. He no doubt is working as hard as he can when it comes to recruiting, and that will put him in position for some successes there. But eventually he’s got to be able to show recruits the final product, and the success on the field will drive the majority of the recruiting success.
Have you ever seen as many bumps and roadblocks when it comes to filling the coaching staff? And how does this manifest itself on the recruiting trail, if at all?
PK: Coaches bolting when a new regime enters is not unusual at all. Neither are brief stays. John Latina and Brian VanGorder are just two examples of assistants hired by USC who didn’t stay long enough for their coffee to cool. Assistant coaches are, to an extent, mercenaries and always looking for the next best place. And you can’t blame them. They are, after all, trying to take care of their family. They also know then can be fired at any time, so loyalty doesn’t run all that deep. The bottom line for Beamer is, he lost Mike Bobo — and by connection Will Friend — to a higher bidder. And he lost Tracy Rocker to his alma mater. But he also took coaches from other programs who probably didn’t want to lose their guys. It goes both ways.
What is a new coach’s message to recruits? How does a Year 1 coach sell the program perhaps in a way that someone in his third or fourth year on the job would not?
PK: The first thing the new USC coaches can sell is opportunity. If you are a big-time prospect, good enough to play in the SEC, and you can’t see a chance to play early for a 2-8 team then you’re not looking closely enough. There is the league and the facilities and the academics, but everyone can sell that. What the new coaches have to sell is Beamer. Why is he different? Why do you want to play for him? Why is what he is going to build special and for a lifetime? Beamer is the name and face of the program, and they have to convince recruits that he is somehow different from all the others who are in their ear.
