When was the last time South Carolina won the conference title? Well, most Gamecocks fans will have to turn the pages of history, shedding the dust off their memory. It was in 1969. More than five decades have passed by. However, Shane Beamer is confident about ending the drought. On Monday, July 14, the Gamecocks’ head coach took the podium at the 2025 SEC Media Days.

And as usual, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum had to stir the pot. Here he dished out a provocative question in Beamer’s way, “Is it realistic to believe South Carolina can win the SEC?” But Beamer sounded hopeful. After all, they were two points away last season from being in the College Football Playoff. Plus, they are part of the toughest conference in America, where every Saturday is no less than a “war.” But does that mean if given a chance, Beamer would run away?

No way. His message was filled with gratitude. “I say it every year and I’ll never stop. I’m grateful for the position I’m in as a head football coach in the Southeastern Conference. This league is the standard across all of college athletics, and I’m so blessed to be a part of it as well.” Entering his fifth season with South Carolina, Beamer led the Gamecocks to six straight wins. There’s no question Beamer overachieved in his first two years, elevating South Carolina from 2-8 under Will Muschamp in 2020 to a 6-6 regular season in 2021. Plus, when it comes to recruiting, under him, South Carolina reached the highest ranking at No.16 with the 2023 class since 2012. Turns out that the upcoming journey is going to be more special. 

As Beamer assured, “You guys will learn more about our players, if you haven’t already, but the three that are here with me today, LaNorris Sellers, DQ Smith, and Nick Barrett, embody everything that we want our program to be about. They embody everything that college athletics is about in my mind in 2025.” The South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers has already caught the buzz.

The quarterback grabbed a No.5 spot on On3’s ‘All 16 SEC Starting Quarterbacks’ list. On the other hand, the redshirt senior Nick Barrett has served as a veteran leader in the trenches. The Hampshire Honor Society has recently inducted him. During the event, Beamer kept himself open to questions. And obviously, the topic of CFP contention would come up. 

Turns out Beamer is in favor of further expanding the playoffs beyond their current 12-team format. “I’m all for more teams getting opportunities. I want to make sure we have the greatest regular season in any sport in college athletics, in my opinion, because every regular season game means something. So you want to make sure that the regular season doesn’t lose meaning and confident that it won’t if we expand.”

Beamer’s Gamecocks went 9-4 in 2024, wrapping it up with a victory over eventual ACC champion Clemson during the last weekend of the regular season. But poor South Carolina. With the final CFP rankings coming out in December, they were left out at No.15. While their CFP luck is yet to favor, South Carolina remains in limbo. 

Shane Beamer is running high on hope about the Rahsul Faison waiting game

Although the calendar says it’s mid-July, Beamer’s is yet to get clarity about Rahsul Faison. They are yet at the crossroads on whether or not Faison will be eligible for the 2025 season. But the Gamecocks have won half of the battle as Beamer remains optimistic. There has been a longstanding policy of the NCAA that junior college counts toward the five-year to play four seasons model. We have seen Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia fight for another year of eligibility. While a federal judge granted him an extra year, that’s when Faison, too, jumped into the portal.

Beamer did not wait for the Fasion to get clearance and landed him. On May 5, TheBigSpur.com tweeted, “SUMMERVILLE, S.C. — Shane Beamer is still waiting on an answer from the NCAA on Rahsul Faison.” After that, Beamer too had expressed his frustration that even after providing the NCAA with all the necessary information since January, they had not heard back from them. But the head coach is still living by some hope. 

“I’m optimistic that it would be potentially this week. Jeremiah Donati [director of athletics, Vandy] has worked really, really hard on this. Our compliance people, the NCAA, they’ve been very forthcoming in their communication regarding what they need, what they’re looking for and the issues they see.” If this isn’t enough motivation here comes some more. 

After the Gamecocks’ defense finished in the top 20 last season, they had major success in the 2025 NFL draft with five players from the defense drafted. While doubts prevailed with the Gamecocks running without the key contributors, Shane Beamer ensured to turn the doubts into motivation. “I think those guys probably have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. Because they’ve been listening to, ‘You lost all this on defense. How are you guys going to be as good?’ and we’ve got some talented guys that I think are eager to take the next step,” he said. They were left watching from the sidelines in 2024—can the Gamecocks make up for it and crash the CFP in 2025?