South Carolina entered Shane Beamer’s sixth season with modest expectations, but the early results have only turned up the pressure.
The Gamecocks were picked to finish 11th in the SEC in the preseason Media Days forecast, and that wasn’t exactly a vote of confidence after a 4-8 finish in 2024. Still, Beamer needed a clean start to get momentum moving in the right direction. Instead, South Carolina is 0-3 in the league after Saturday’s 35-34 overtime loss to Kentucky at home, a game the Gamecocks led 17-0.
The on-field problems are only part of the picture. South Carolina’s best player, Dylan Stewart, remains suspended indefinitely.
The defensive end, projected as a Top 10 pick in the NFL Draft, punched an Alabama player last week and also had altercations with the South Carolina coaching staff. He is away from the team, and Beamer said he will decide when Stewart returns.
Beamer’s job security has also become part of the conversation. Yahoo Sports reported his buyout is approximately $24 million, and he is under contract through 2030. In five-plus seasons at South Carolina, Beamer is 35-33.
If the school does decide to make a change, several names could enter the picture.
Buster Faulkner is one of the most intriguing offensive-minded options. Now the offensive coordinator at Florida, he’s riding the buzz around the Gators’ revived offense.
Before that, he was Georgia’s quarterbacks coach from 2020 to 2022 and then spent three seasons as Georgia Tech’s offensive coordinator. He’s 45 and has never been a head coach.
Charles Huff brings a different kind of résumé. He is 4-1 in his first year at Memphis after a strong run at Southern Miss, where he turned a 1-11 team into a 7-5 team in one season.
Huff also won the Sun Belt at Marshall in his fourth season there. Marshall hired him from Nick Saban’s Alabama staff, where he served as assistant head coach, and in his second year with the Thundering Herd, he helped engineer a 26-21 upset of Notre Dame.
Shannon Dawson has built his own offensive reputation at Miami. Since taking over the Hurricanes’ offense in 2023, he has had them ranked in the top five nationally in scoring in two of those four seasons.
Dawson has also called plays at Houston, West Virginia and Kentucky. The Louisiana native is 49 and has never been a head coach.
Jason Eck has already shown he can win quickly. In his first season at New Mexico last year, he went 9-4, matching the program’s best record since 1982.
Eck played offensive line at Wisconsin and previously spent three seasons as Idaho’s head coach before moving to New Mexico. Another winning year would almost certainly draw plenty of attention.
Shiel Wood is the defensive name on the list, and his stock has climbed fast. He played at Wofford and coached there for eight years before moving on to Texas Tech, where he has spent the past two seasons.
In 2025, he led the nation’s No. 3 defense. His P5 background is limited to one year each at Georgia Tech and Houston.
Tony Elliott is the one with the deepest South Carolina-Clemson ties. He played at Clemson and spent 12 seasons on Dabo Swinney’s staff, including the 2016 and 2018 national championship runs.
After Clemson’s 2016 title, he was named national assistant coach of the year. Elliott is in his fifth season at Virginia and is coming off an 11-3 campaign that set a school record for wins.
He also earned praise for helping guide Virginia through the aftermath of a mass shooting tragedy that killed four of his players.
In Other News...
Gamecocks Blew Another Winnable SEC Game And The Questions Are Growing
A game that looked well within reach for much of the afternoon turned into another painful SEC finish for South Carolina, which fell 35-34 in overtime at No. 24 Kentucky after squandering a 17-point lead. The Gamecocks had also owned the recent series, winning four straight over Kentucky, but this one flipped on a handful of damaging mistakes, including a fumble by Jabree Coleman and missed chances on fourth down.
The defeat stretched South Carolinas SEC skid to eight straight and kept the spotlight on Shane Beamers record in league play, where close games have too often turned the wrong way. For a team that has spent the season trying to establish momentum, the frustration is no longer just about one loss or one bad sequence. It is about a pattern that is growing harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Penn State Already Has A Problem Fans Didn't Expect
Penn States early-season stumble has quickly turned into a much bigger conversation, and not just because the losses are piling up. With the College Football Playoff picture already tightening in Week 5, any slip by a major program starts to carry real weight, especially when other contenders like Michigan are also fading and the margin for error keeps shrinking.
For South Carolina fans following the national board, the ripple effects matter because the season is already producing coaching pressure and shifting expectations across the sport. Shane Beamers seat may be getting warmer after the loss to Kentucky, and Penn States own back-to-back defeats under Matt Campbell only add to the sense that the middle of the season is where reputations can turn fast, with one more bad result threatening to send the whole narrative in a new direction. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Faces A Tough QB Twist In South Carolina Matchup
LaNorris Sellers is slated to get the start against No. 24 Kentucky, and South Carolina is still carrying some uncertainty at the most important spot on the field. The sophomore has had an uneven season, completing 62.1% of his passes with six touchdowns and four interceptions, but the Gamecocks have continued to build the offense around his ability while keeping the quarterback picture fluid behind him.
Cutter Woods is the next name to watch if the staff decides it needs a change. The 2025 recruit has already seen action in relief roles and arrived with the profile of a polished winner, having been a high school state champion and a player the staff views as a possible future starter. For now, South Carolina is trying to balance patience with performance, and how long it sticks with Sellers could shape the rest of the afternoon. [Read more 🡒]