South Carolina was dealt an interesting hand this week with the departure of Karon Prunty from the team officially Thursday afternoon.

Beamer said Prunty, a freshman All-American at Kansas in 2020 who entered the transfer portal late this week, left for personal reasons and Beamer has since talked with Prunty’s family.

Saturday afer the Gamecocks’ first scrimmage of the preseason was Beamer’s first chance to discuss Prunty leaving the program and, while not delving too deep into the situation, offered as many well-wishes as he could for the defensive back.

"Karon is just dealing with some personal issues that he felt like being somewhere lese was the best thing he needed at this time,” Beamer said.

“We spent a lot of time with him as he made that decision. We talked to some of his family members last night. I spent a lot of time with him, Derrick Moore spent a lot of time with him. A lot of us did. At the end of the day we want him to be happy and where he feels like he can be successful."

Prunty leaving the program is just another hit to a position group that is already hurting; Joey Hunter and Jahmar Brown were both banged up today during the scrimmage to add on to the position groups injury woes.

"Obviously I'm not going to sit up here and tell you its great," Beamer said, "we're down Cam Smith right now and we're down a guy that we expected to play at corner but I'm excited about that group."

A likely starting spot at the defensive back position is open now with Prunty's exit, leaving Marcellus Dial—who was one of the starters this week in open practice—without a set partner on the opposite side of the field.

Beamer praised Dial saying the junior college transfer "may be the most impressive guy that we've had on our defense this entire preseason camp."

Dial, a redshirt sophomore, has made a great progress during the spring and summer, Beamer said he's been "really really, really, really good” through the first week of camp.

For now, that second spot is defensive back by committee, with a rotation of defensive backs getting reps until a starter is named.

“There's a lot of DBs out there that are playing multiple positions," Beamer said, "It's a pretty good rotation and trying to figure out the guys that give us the best chance to be successful on Saturdays."

Beamer said that defensive backs like RJ Roderick, Dominick Hill, Jaylin Foster, Darius Rush, David Spaulding and Carlins Platel had all been playing and contributing to the groups success in creating turnovers during camp

Beamer went on to praise Roderick's leadership skills during the summer and also harped on Hill's consistency he's shown.

Both Spaulding and Platel are newcomers, and the Gamecocks also added transfer Tyrese Ross to the mix this offseason as well.

“It’s not like Karon Prunty was the only defensive back we brought in and that’s about all we’ve done from the transfer portal and recruiting.”

The defensive back group is relatively young and losing talent like Prunty will sting for a while, but Beamer has confidence in the product that the position group will be able to show on the field going forward.

"It's a good group back there," Beamer said, "It's deep, we just got to keep these guys healthy but we'll be OK."

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