This week, for the first time since the pandemic started, Shane Beamer was in a high school and recruiting players.

Beamer—who was a little more restricted to when he can get on the road recruiting as a head coach—is taking the bye week as a chance to focus on recruiting, going out Monday and hitting the road again Thursday and Friday.

He said, based on the conversations he’s had with players, recruiting is going well.

“A lot of recruits we’ve spoke with are very excited about the direction and the opportunity to play here and where this program is going. I went out recruiting Monday and that was the first time I’d been on the road recruiting since I became the head coach at South Carolina,” Beamer said.

“It was awesome being on the road Monday. I’m going to be out first thing tomorrow morning, out Thursday and out Friday. I’ll be in four different states over the next couple days. I’m looking forward to getting out to a high school football game Friday night and a high school practice Thursday afternoon.”

Beamer, along with the rest of the on-field coaching staff will use the luxury of not having a game this weekend to get on the road and see some of their committed players and then key pieces over the next few classes: 2022, 2023 and 2024.

So far, he said, the response “has been great” with good feedback from the 17 players already committed in the class and then some of the remaining undecided targets on the board.

“The guys committed to us before the season, they’ve maintained that and have been great," Beamer said. "Then we’ve had a lot of people reach back out since the season started that are excited about the way our guys are playing and excited about the future of our program.

South Carolina’s class was on a tear this summer, jumping up into the top 15 after a flurry of commitments in June and July.

As it stands right now the Gamecocks’ class is ranked No. 20 nationally, seventh in the SEC, with three Rivals250 players in the boat: offensive lineman Ryan Brubaker (163), cornerback Keenan Nelson Jr. (235) and safety Emory Floyd (241).

The next stretch for South Carolina is huge with coaches on the road this week followed by a stretch in November with three home games, giving the Gamecocks three more chances to host prospects for games before the early signing period.

“The response has been awesome. We’ve had a lot of really good players at home games, and a lot of really good players here multiple times for home games. We have a great stretch with three home games in our last four games. That’s going to be an amazing opportunity for recruits to get in and see the environment in our stadium and what our crowd is like. There’s a lot of excitement about the month of November coming up."

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