The recruitment started with a conversation on Austin Stogner’s official visit and ended with Shane Beamer having to go outside his house and let out a scream.
The Gamecocks made national headlines this week with the transfer portal additions of former Oklahoma players Stogner and Spencer Rattler, two pieces expected to help immediately when the Gamecocks begin their 2022 season.
“I told our players it’s an opportunity to make our team better and that’s my job ultimately as a head coach,” Beamer said Wednesday. “To bring in quality people in the program as well. I know what Spence and Stog are about and I’m excited about them going forward.”
Things started off innocuously enough with Stogner’s dad asking Beamer during his son’s official visit if South Carolina and Rattler talked any.
Beamer hadn’t at the time, thinking the preseason Heisman favorite had his pick of the litter when it came to schools, but Stogner’s father simply told Beamer, “you ought to talk to him.”
The Gamecocks’ head coach did—jumping on a virtual visit and a few phone calls—and Rattler committed soon after, moving his planned commitment date up from sometime around Christmas to Monday night.
“I talked to Spencer about visiting and he said he didn’t need to. He said, ‘I don’t need to. I know you and everything Stog told me about the place I don’t need to come see it.’ Stog’s that impressed with it. We continued to talk and talk,” Beamer said.
“It was pretty cool Monday night. I got a call from Stog’s dad and spencer and Spencer’s dad and Stog and Stog’s dad were all on the call and they told me they were coming. I had to step outside and scream so I didn’t scare anybody in my house.”
For the Gamecocks, it’s two big pickups for two main reasons.
First, South Carolina adds the preseason Heisman favorite and national freshman of the year in 2020 to the roster in Rattler and pairs him with a former teammate at Oklahoma and all-league selection in 2020.
Both guys were on the Oklahoma team that went to a College Football Playoff and were key contributors on the 2020 Sooner team that won the Big 12.
Now, they’ll come in and compete for starter snaps this spring.
“I know Austin and Spencer are eager to get in here and compete—nothing’s going to be handed to them—to get in there and compete with the rest of the team. Any success we had this season was a because of the way we came together as a group and the way we came together as a team,” Beamer said. “The only way we’re going to have success with Spencer or Austin or anybody else we may add to the program through the transfer portal the success will be coming in here and coming together as a team.”
Secondly, the value of having both guys on campus for national perception and recruiting is big with Beamer saying multiple 2023 recruits reached out to him about the news and were excited by it.
“It’s a great statement nationally about this program and the way young men view it. Spencer and Austin could have gone anywhere in the country,” Beamer said.
“They chose to come to South Carolina. You better have more than just a relationship with the head coach to choose a school. They want to win and have to believe you can win at the highest level here and they do. To me, regardless of their names and where they’re coming from, it’s a great statement to how they view our program.”
----
• Not a subscriber? Learn more about Gamecock Central here!
• Watch our live show and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• Sign up for Gamecock Central's FREE news alerts and daily newsletter.
• Subscribe to our podcast on whatever podcast platform you prefer!
• Follow us on Twitter: @GamecockCentral, @GCChrisClark, @WesMitchellGC, @CollynTaylor and @Mike_Uva.
• Follow Gamecock Central on Instagram @GamecockCentral.
