Shane Beamer Forced to Turn to 2230-Yd Answer for NCAA’s Brutal Roadblock

There’s a lot happening in college football on the field, coaches are busy with recruiting, and practices heat up in the run-up to the 2025 season. South Carolina, meanwhile, is languishing in court. Shane Beamer will look to carry forward the successes of the RB room in 2025. But a legal snag is preventing that from happening. The NCAA is holding back on a key element for this room. Beamer has options, but the longer the NCAA defers the matter, the more troubling things get for the Gamecocks. LaNorris Sellers needs help on the field, and the man who looked like a great fit for that job can probably miss out on the season.

The Gamecocks’ RB room was led by Raheim “Rocket” Sanders. He ran for 881 yards and scored 11 TDs. The number might seem dim, but he made a difference in the group. Sanders transferred to South Carolina after battling an injury-heavy season in 2023 and ended up being named the SEC’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2024. He’s now in the NFL, signed as a UDFA with the Chargers. That led to Shane Beamer seeking a good replacement for him in the transfer portal, and he also got one: Rahsul Faison. However, the NCAA is preventing him from playing this year, claiming that the RB has exhausted all his years of eligibility.

Faison spent only 3 years in Div–I football. Those were the 2023 and 2024 seasons in Utah State. Last year, he racked up 1845 yards, 316 carries, and 13 TDs. Before that, Faison spent 2021-22 in Utah’s Snow College, enrolled online in Lackawanna in 2020, and redshirted in Marshall in 2019. He is now challenging the NCAA to allow him one more year of eligibility, an area that Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia saw success in. But as the matter continues to be delved upon, Beamer’s hopes for the RB’s arrival look dim. 247Sports‘s Brad Crawford said in a June 9 episode of the Ultimate College Football Show, “I’ve been told by several people close to that program that the longer this extends into June, and then into SEC media days in July, and fall camp in August, it might not happen for Rahsul Fasison.”

Beamer has options to lean on in the case of this event. “That said, they’ve got Oscar Adaway III, who transferred from North Texas last cycle. He played a good bit last season. They’ve got Jawarn Howell, who looks a lot like Derrick Henry. He doesn’t have the numbers yet, but he’s a huge guy. 6’3”, 225 lbs or so from South Carolina State. Transferred last cycle, too. They feel real good about him.” Adaway was the No. 1 option to replace Sanders until Faison came into the mix. He comes with more than 2000 yards from his time in North Texas. He also took over from Sanders in the Akron game last year. In the Citrus Bowl, Adaway pitched in 106 all-purpose yards and also a touchdown. Physique-wise too, he is similar to Sanders.

Howell, on the other hand, only played 4 games with the Gamecocks last year. He has 92 rushing yards and 1 TD on the board. Experience-wise, Adaway trumps him, given that this will be his 7 season in college football. “Outside of Adaway and Howell, you’re looking at scholarship guys that haven’t seen the field yet,” Crawford said. When Faison announced his decision to transfer, the strategy for the RB room changed. “South Carolina sort of transfigured this signing class in the transfer portal around Faison in the gym. So, if he’s not declared eligible by the NCAA, I think that’s bad news for this offense.”

Shane Beamer ‘frustrated’ by NCAA’s silence on Rahsul Faison

Shane Beamer is being tested by the NCAA thoroughly with Rahsul Faison’s case. “The fact (the NCAA) has had everything they needed from us since January, and we don’t have an answer is, frankly, disappointing. We’ve given them everything they needed back in January. They asked for more, we gave them what they needed. They asked for more, we gave them what they needed. We’ve been in contact with other schools that he played for to get stuff from them that they needed and again I know they have a lot on their plate but the fact that we are now in the middle of May and we still don’t have an answer.” he told the press last month.

Faison did not play in any games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. That means that cumulatively, the RB only has 3 years of proper college football experience. The frustration is more so because the NCAA has ruled in favor of athletes who petitioned for another year. Faison is seeking the help of top NIL lawyer Darren Heitner to help him get his due from the NCAA. Just recently, Heitner successfully won a year of eligibility for South Carolina basketball wing Myles Stute. He missed out on a major chunk of the previous season because of a medical issue, and the NCAA paid heed to Heitner’s argument.

The House settlement ratification has entangled college football in considerable operational activity. Shane Beamer’s hopes for a better season in 2025 reside in the success of LaNorris Sellers. But for his star QB to thrive, he also needs to be able to provide the necessary support for him on the field. If Faison does see an end to his college career, will Beamer go back to Oscar Adaway to replace the RB?