Perhaps one of the biggest factors around the buy-in and optimism for Shane Beamer’s early tenure atop South Carolina football is the positive “culture” that Beamer & Co. continue to instill in the program.
This week, as the Gamecocks wind through just their second preseason camp under Beamer and gear for their first two home games – Sept. 3’s season opener against Georgia State; a rivalry with defending College Football Playoff champion Georgia two weeks later – Beamer and South Carolina’s video crew have provided a glimpse into a major component of Beamer’s message.
Gathering the Gamecocks in their team room for a full-squad meeting, the son of legendary former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer tells his players to prepare for “a 10-minute walk” across campus.
As the behind-the-scenes video reveals, Beamer leads his team into the upper deck bleachers inside Williams-Brice Stadium.
There, he delivers a passionate message.
“You all saw a lot of stuff happening on this walk over,” Beamer tells his players, as they’re seated row after row in the stadium’s notoriously steep upper deck. “You saw people out there trimming those trees to make it look great for gameday. You can see the new LED lights and ribbon-board. Now imagine you make that walk here and now you’ve got to climb all those steps to the very top of the upper deck, where your head is up against the back of the stadium on the last row.
“People pay money to come watch you guys play. And do that! I don’t want us to lose sight of the sacrifices that people make to come watch you guys play down there (on the field).”
A big part of our "why" that we won't forget. pic.twitter.com/gZunDpEfZW
— Gamecock Football (@GamecockFB) August 11, 2022
Beamer continues, praising both the Gamecocks’ fans and also noting those upper upper-deck bleachers “damn-near touch the sun.”
“They’re going to come out here, you know how our fans are, they’re the best in the country, they’re going to be out here when we play Georgia State, it’s at night,” Beamer says, “and then they’re also going to do that same walk and that same climb when we play Georgia in the second home game at 12 noon when it’s a hundred degrees out here and sit out in the sun, where up here, you’re damn-near touching the sun.
“For three-and-a-half hours. For you! I want to make sure we don’t lose sight of what we’re doing and who we’re doing it for.”