What Shane Beamer said about South Carolina's small 2026 class, QB unknowns

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COLUMBIA — South Carolina football‘s Class of 2026 has only 12 signees so far, but that doesn’t worry coach Shane Beamer.

“Everybody looks at signing classes and the number of guys that you sign, this is not a huge class but if you talk about quality over quantity, we absolutely hit the mark on that,” Beamer said Dec. 3 on early signing day.

In the five seasons Beamer has been with the program, his recruiting classes have ranged from 26 to 13 signees. There are two commits who haven’t signed – four-star quarterback Landon Duckworth and three-star safety Triston Lewis.

He confirmed that they are not expecting any more high school recruits other than commits left to sign and any potential flips.

“The rest of the roster will be supplemented with with portal additions,” Beamer said.

Heading into early signing day, this class ranked No. 22 nationally according to the 247Sports Composite, and 10th in the SEC, trailing Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Texas A&M, LSU, Florida, Oklahoma and Ole Miss.

Last year, South Carolina went 9-3 and signed 27 high school recruits for a class that ranked No. 18 nationally. The Gamecocks went 4-8 this year, winning just one conference game all season.

With two players left to sign, the class moved down to No. 23 nationally but increased to No. 9 in the SEC.

Shane Beamer’s 2026 recruiting class for South Carolina

The transfer portal’s popularity means it’s hard to navigate what a roster will look like and need on signing day but with the amount of young talent South Carolina brought in last season, there wasn’t a desperate need for a huge class.

Beamer said they need to increase depth at running back, offensive line, and defensive tackle specifically. Right now there are only three scholarship running backs, which Beamer says isn’t sustainable so it will be a portal target since he didn’t sign a running back in the 2026 class.

“I wouldn’t close the door on any position because I feel like there’s areas where we can always get better and increase the competition at,” Beamer said. “Somebody may decide to leave that I’m not planning on.”

Will Shane Beamer sign a QB? Update on Landon Duckworth, LaNorris Sellers

Beamer does not yet know if LaNorris Sellers will return as starting quarterback or decide to either transfer or declare for the NFL draft. It will heavily impact the offense and potentially coaching hires because Beamer has to hire a new offensive coordinator.

“I don’t want to rush them, but certainly I’ve told those guys that they make a decision, the better it is for all of us,” Beamer said.

Beamer can’t name players until they signed and one of the two who still hasn’t is Landon Duckworth, a four-star quarterback from Alabama. Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong predicted that Duckworth might flip to LSU, which just hired Lane Kiffin on Nov. 30.

“I can’t analyze guys that I can’t talk about. All I can tell you is, we’ve had conversations with their families last night, this morning … I feel optimistic and feel good about the guys that haven’t signed,” Beamer said.

If Beamer loses both Sellers and Duckworth, it will leave the room with only two scholarship players in Air Noland and Cutter Woods, neither of whom have played a full college game yet. The idea of adding a quarterback via the portal is something Beamer says he’s thought about since the spring.

“I would be all for a guy you could potentially add to that room,” Beamer said. “I don’t think at the quarterback position, you can ever have enough … Let’s say we only have five scholarships available, there’s other positions that are certainly a higher priority than going to get another scholarship quarterback in my opinion.”

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 on small 2026 class, what South Carolina will do at QB

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