Gameco*cks' Beamer grabs homegrown talent on rebound through portal (2024)

COLUMBIA— Shane Beamer has made a point of trying to keep the top high-school talent of South Carolina in South Carolina, emphasizing the home in “Welcome home.” The Gameco*cks are welcoming 12 Palmetto State natives (including walk-ons) as freshmen next season.

But he doesn’t mind catching other homegrown talent on the rebound.

“I grew up watching the Gameco*cks and I grew up a physical player, so I’m a Gameco*ck fan,” said Buddy Mack, a defensive back who’s back home after four years at Pitt. “I’m from Byrnes High School. I wanted to be closer to home, and it’s a dream come true.”

Beamer and the Gameco*cks are active participants in the transfer portal and of course the first criteria is talent. Can the player being considered help USC in a spot where it needs help?

But if there’s a South Carolina connection too, that plays a role. Beamer figures those candidates know about the Gameco*cks and how they do business, and if they’re interested in finding out more, USC’s arms are open.

“We certainly want to be able to have the bulk of our class come from the high-school ranks and be able to supplement it from the portal,” Beamer said at a recent Gameco*ck Club function. “It’s when those guys fit what we’re about on and off the field and they’re looking for what we’re offering from an opportunity standpoint.”

Former Louisville receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce hails from Dillon. Mack is from Greer, a half-hour from Greenville, where quarterback Davis Beville (Oklahoma) played.

Then there were the transfers from other nearby colleges, such as Torricelli Simpkins (N.C. Central) of Charlotte, and Demetrius Knight, who played at Charlotte. Jared Brown was at Coastal Carolina while Jawarn Howell was at S.C. State, and Gilber Edmond came back to Columbia after three college seasons at USC and a fourth at Florida State.

Huggins-Bruce and projected starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers are from the same Pee Dee area in South Carolina, Sellers a few years behind Huggins-Bruce as South Florence’s quarterback while Huggins-Bruce was finishing a strong career with legendary coach Jackie Hayes’ Dillon Wildcats. They’ve known each other a long time and as such, kept in touch as Huggins-Bruce was catching 80 balls over three seasons with the Cardinals.

“We’d talk about whatever was going on back home, that Dillon-Florence connection,” Huggins-Bruce said. “When I got in the portal, he hit me up, saying, ‘Come home.’”

The Gameco*cks needed a receiver after Xavier Legette graduated and became the Carolina Panthers’ first-round draft pick, and Huggins-Bruce fit the mold as an experienced, prolific wideout. He played in 38 games and averaged 14 yards a catch at Louisville, scoring 10 touchdowns.

But home was calling, and the chance to catch passes thrown by a friend. Once he sampled Doc’s Barbeque, located a mile from Williams-Brice Stadium, he was in.

“Much better food down here,” he grinned.

Mack took an interesting route back home. A safety and special-teamer at Pitt (he also played one year at linebacker), Mack was a scholarship Panther. Yet he pledged to USC as a walk-on.

He’s earned his degree in criminal justice and will get his master’s in coaching education in Columbia, and is finishing his collegiate playing career where he always wanted to play. Now, if he can just get on the field and emulate his hero.

“D.J. Swearinger is my guy. I remember all his best plays,” Mack said. “That’s my biggest memory, of the (2012) South Carolina-Clemson game.”

That one, specifically the savage hit Swearinger laid on Clemson running back Andre Ellington, is immortalized in several places, including the Williams-Brice pressbox. Mack is hoping for his shot to mimic Swearinger, against Clemson or anyone else.

As for voluntarily choosing to give up his scholarship, he’s fine with it. He figures it will just burnish his practice reps.

“People really don’t see the luxury of being a scholarship player until you’re a walk-on,” he said. “You have to be great at everything, and you have to go 100 percent.”

Beamer has pulled in some sizable talent from the state and portal in each of his three seasons, a trend that he will try to continue. The balancing act is delicate.

“I always want to start with high-school recruiting. I’d love to be able to sign 25 guys a year, and keep them for four years, and you develop your roster that way,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s as sustainable here as maybe it is at other schools because frankly, the size of the state. I don’t ever want to say, ‘OK, we’re going to sign 20 portal guys a year and that’s how we’re going to build our roster.’”

The Gameco*cks added 23 transfers this year, including a junior-college find. It matches the 23 freshmen, JUCO defensive lineman Jerome Simmons (from Bamberg) and walk-ons.

All had a reason to come home.