South Carolina took a step back in 2023 under Shane Beamer due to an absurd concentration of injuries to the offensive line unit and a thin defense. He made some internal coaching changes as two coaches from last year’s staff took head coaching positions, and a few others were encouraged to look elsewhere. He’s assembled what some think is his best staff at South Carolina.
Who is on the Gamecocks’ coaching staff in 2024?
South Carolina Gamecocks Coaching Staff
Head Coach, Shane Beamer
Shane Beamer came to South Carolina in 2021 despite having no head coaching experience, bolstered by internal support for the guy who was the recruiting coordinator largely responsible for the team’s best three-year stretch in school history in the early 2010s.
Beamer has coached around the SEC and came to South Carolina from Lincoln Riley’s staff in Oklahoma. The son of legendary Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, Beamer has a 20-18 record at South Carolina despite having his first losing record in 2023.
He made some staff changes internally, and though the schedule is difficult, the staff feels this could be Beamer’s best team in Columbia.
Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks, Dowell Loggains
Loggains is entering his second year at South Carolina after a stint as tight ends coach at Arkansas. Loggains brings a wealth of NFL experience, including seven years as an offensive coordinator.
Loggains struggled to find consistent quarterback play when coordinating in the NFL, but coached Spencer Rattler to a school-record completion percentage and third-best passing yardage mark despite being handicapped by inconsistent offensive line play.
This season, the scheme will be substantially different to account for the different skill set of presumed starter LaNorris Sellers.
Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers, Clayton White
White has been with Beamer at South Carolina since Beamer was hired in 2021 and had great success his first two seasons. Last year’s group struggled to get off the field and create turnovers after leading the conference in takeaways his first two seasons.
There’s more depth in the front seven this season, and internally, the staff thinks the unit will be much improved after some fans declared White on the hot seat last year. White was the defensive coordinator at Western Kentucky and a special teams coordinator at NC State before that.
Special Teams Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach, Joe DeCamillis
Beamer is true to his “Beamer Ball” moniker in that he’s one of the few coaches in the country to have a special teams coach that doesn’t coach another position. After Pete Lembo left to become the head coach at Buffalo, Beamer went to a highly-regarded former NFL coach to fill the position.
DeCamillis spent the 2023 season as a special assistant at Texas but spent 32 of the previous 34 years of his career as an NFL special teams coach, many of them under his father-in-law, Dan Reeves.
Run Game Coordinator/Tight Ends, Shawn Elliott
After losing Jody Wright to the head coaching position at Murray State, the Gamecocks went back to a familiar face to take over at the position. An offensive line coach by trade, Shawn Elliott has spent the last seven years as the head coach at Georgia State.
Elliott never physically left Columbia when he was hired away after an interim head coach stint following Steve Spurrier’s abrupt retirement, keeping his family in the area and commuting to Atlanta. Now, he’s back as tight ends coach and run game coordinator, a title he held in his first stint with the Gamecocks.
Running Backs, Marquel Blackwell
A standout recruiter and a veteran in the Southeastern Conference, Blackwell comes to South Carolina after a year with Texas A&M. Before that, he coached Quinshon Judkins at Ole Miss and recruited Alton McCaskill to Houston.
Never one to stay in one place too long, Blackwell has coached at West Virginia, Western Kentucky, Florida, South Florida, and Toledo, where he coached NFL running back Kareem Hunt.
Wide Receivers, Mike Furrey
Another position coach who comes to South Carolina directly after being a head coach elsewhere, Furrey left Limestone to become the receivers coach under Beamer. He led Limestone to back-to-back 8-4 seasons in 2022 and 2023, his second stint as head coach there.
He’s been a receivers coach in the NFL under Matt Nagy and has coached collegiately at Marshall. He was a rare two-way player in the NFL and holds the NFL record for most receptions (98) in a season after having none the previous year.
Offensive Line, Lonnie Teasley
Teasley had plenty of experience as an offensive line coach at the lower levels of college football and the NFL when he came to South Carolina as an offensive analyst. After serving with the offensive line in 2021 and 2022, he was promoted to offensive line coach in 2023 when Greg Adkins stepped back due to health reasons. Adkins is still on staff, but Teasley is the guy on the offensive line.
Given the circumstances, Teasley has an argument as one of the top recruiters in the entire country, having signed four top 20 offensive linemen in just two recruiting cycles. The unit was bad last year, due to injuries to 11 players who started at least one game.
Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers, Sterling Lucas
Another standout recruiter, Lucas came to South Carolina from the NFL ranks, having coached the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defensive line in 2021 and working with the Baltimore Ravens from 2016-20.
He, too, has excelled on the recruiting trail, landing five-star Dylan Stewart in the 2024 class and putting the Gamecocks in the thick of it with some of the best prospects in the country. He was a strength and conditioning graduate assistant at NC State when White coached there.
Defensive Line, Travian Robertson
A former player under Elliott and Beamer for the Gamecocks and a former coach under Elliott at Georgia State, Robertson came to South Carolina late last offseason. Robertson works primarily with the interior defensive linemen, a senior-laden group with a few potential draft picks.
Robertson has coached at Albany State, Tulane, and Georgia State, and will look to lead a deeper unit in 2024.
Defensive Backs, Torrian Gray
A long-time SEC veteran with NFL experience, Gray has worked with some of the top defensive backs in football at Virginia Tech and Florida.
Gray played for Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech and then worked there for the last 10 years of Beamer’s tenure. Now, he works for the younger Beamer as an integral part of his staff.
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