Shane Beamer hires Stan Drayton as South Carolina running backs coach
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COLUMBIA — South Carolina’s board of trustees approved the hiring of Stan Drayton as running backs coach for Shane Beamer on Dec. 11.
Drayton’s new contract is for 3-years, worth $775,000 per year. This move comes a week after Beamer fired Marquel Blackwell after two seasons at the position.
The board also approved the hiring of Kendal Briles as the new offensive coordinator and Randy Clements as offensive line coach, filling all three open positions for Beamer.
Shane Beamer hires Stan Drayton as new RB coach at South Carolina
Drayton was with Penn State for one season after three years at Temple.
Since 1993, he’s worked at different schools as either the running back or wide receiver coach. He spent one season in the NFL from 2015-16 with the Chicago Bears before coming back to college to work at Texas in 2017.
The Nittany Lions fired coach James Franklin midway through the season and are 6-6. They’ll face Clemson in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 27.
Drayton’s group rushed for 2,130 yards, led by Kaytron Allen who had 1,303 yards on the ground. He scored 15 rushing touchdowns, Nicholas Singleton had 13. Penn State averaged 177.5 rushing yards per game, fourth in the Big Ten.
To compare, Blackwell’s group at South Carolina finished last 15th in the SEC with 111.1 rushing yards per game and had a total of 1,333 rushing yards.
Throughout his career, he’s recruited star running backs like Bijan Robinson and Ezekiel Elliott, in addition to quarterback Cam Newton.
Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at LKesin@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X@Lulukesin and Bluesky@bylulukesin.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Shane Beamer hires Stan Drayton of Penn State as South Carolina RB coach
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