Why Shane Beamer was talking about 2026 with two games left in South Carolina's season
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COLUMBIA — With no bowl game, the moment the clock runs out after South Carolina football’s final game, the focus will shift to the future and the 2026 roster.
The Gamecocks (3-7, 1-7 SEC) have two home games left starting with Coastal Carolina on Nov. 22 (4:15 p.m ET, SEC Network.)
One big decision will be for quarterback LaNorris Sellers. He can stay for another season, he can declare for the NFL draft or like any player with eligibility left, he can transfer.
Sellers was asked about his decision after the Gamecocks lost 31-30 to Texas A&M on Nov. 15
“Just finishing the season,” Sellers said. “When the time comes to make those decisions, it’s going to be there. Everybody has decisions to make but I plan on being here because I’m here right now.”
Just 12 months ago, coach Shane Beamer spent December advocating for South Carolina to get a College Football Playoff spot then preparing for a bowl game. After the Gamecocks play rival Clemson on Nov. 29, the focus will be on next year’s roster.
“We’ve got to be able to get our current roster in order as we go into 2026,” Beamer said Nov. 18 at his weekly press conference. “Some guys have NFL decisions to make, some guys have other decisions to make. We’ve got to be able to retain that and my conversations have been good with guys.”
This will be the first year of having one transfer portal window Jan. 2-16, instead of one portal window in the winter and one in the spring. It’s a month after early signing day on Dec. 3, and Beamer is hoping all 15 of his commits turn into signees.
“Frankly there’ll be some guys I’m sure that don’t want to be a part of this going forward and that’s OK, too,” Beamer said. “We will cross that bridge if somebody decides to move on.”
Beamer said good conversations now might not hold with still two games to play and a month between the last game and the portal opening. But the body of work, despite a losing season, has him confident retention will be strong.
“Nobody’s patting ourselves on the back because of where we are right now but I do believe, like there’s a reality of we’re not that far away,” Beamer said. “I know that our players know that, and that’s why the conversations that I’ve had with the players on our team in regards to their futures, and guys that have decisions on whether or not they want to come back next season have been overwhelmingly positive.”
After Sellers threw for 2,534 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and rushed for 674 in 2024, he was reportedly offered large sums of money to leave South Carolina. Even after his offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains took another job, Sellers stayed.
Mike Shula was promoted to replace Loggains, a decision Beamer said that Sellers gave input on. But Shula was fired after nine games on Nov. 2. Beamer said his goal is to hire a new offensive coordinator as soon as possible after the Clemson game.
Beamer’s new offensive coordinator, if hired before the portal closes, may influence Sellers’ decision.
“I think every situation is is different,” Beamer said regarding the process of hiring new coaches. “There’s input that you want to get from players … I’ll involve certain players to a certain degree.”
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: Why Shane Beamer was talking about South Carolina’s 2026 roster already
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