Shane Beamer Lets Transfer Target Commit To Different SEC Program After Being Asked To Promise Starting Job

College football programs across the country are going to spend the next few weeks shopping before fall camp gets underway in August and South Carolina is no different. Head coach Shane Beamer and his staff are working to assemble the best roster that it can before the Gamecocks open the 2023 season against North Carolina.

Shane Beamer is portal searching. (Photos by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

However, in doing so, they are not going to make any promises. Even if that is what it takes to get a prospective player in the boat.

The most recent transfer portal window opened on April 15 and closed last Sunday. It marked the last time that non-graduate players could enter the portal before the fall, after the early window at the end of the regular season.

Although there is a lot more that goes into it, the April window allows players that may not have found the right fit, or didn't end up where they wanted on the depth chart during the spring practice period to seek a new opportunity elsewhere. That seems to be the biggest reason for players to leave before the summer.

While non-graduate players can no longer enter at-will, they don't have a set timeframe to decide on their destination. Some may find a new program in a matter of hours, some may find a home after multiple visits throughout the summer, others may not find anywhere to go at all.

On the other side of things, programs are able to add any player in the transfer portal at any time. But Beamer recently told Hale McGranahan of 247 Sports that South Carolina isn't interested in just anyone. He and his staff are taking a very meticulous, targeted approach.

There are some schools out there that just may go grab a player to grab a player and they don't know anything about him. We’re going to do our research
I've seen culture at different places get out of whack, pro and college, for not having the right people in your program, so I want to make sure that we're bringing the right kind of person into our program, making sure they want to work, and they’re coming here for the right reasons and want to compete.

Whether a player is the right fit or not, Beamer is not going to make any promises that he can't keep. Especially when it comes to his depth chart.

One of the Gamecocks' recent transfer portal targets wanted the staff to guarantee him a starting spot. That wasn't going to happen in Columbia, so Beamer let him walk.

we wouldn't, so he's going to another SEC school. We're not promising starting jobs. We're here to compete, that's the first thing.

Beamer did not name the player. He did not indicate where he may have landed after not hearing what he wanted to hear from South Carolina, but could play against him in the coming years!