Gamecocks aren’t punting on Beamer Ball focus any time soon

Times have changed since Shane Beamer’s playing days.

A long-snapper and receiver under legendary father Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech, Shane quipped that specialists were often used more as grounds crew workers than functioning members of the team when not kicking back then — carrying buckets of sod and filling in divots left on the practice fields in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“He would probably get fired nowadays,” Beamer, laughing, said of his father.

Beamer’s specialists and their leader, special teams coordinator Pete Lembo, are far from grounds keepers in Columbia. The Gamecocks have adopted a re-branding of the Hokies’ “Beamer Ball” ideology and the special teams cunning that comes along with such a moniker.

South Carolina is one of just four teams in the Southeastern Conference with a full-time special teams coordinator who doesn’t handle other positional responsibilities. But hiring Lembo, according to Beamer, was one of the first orders of business when chatting with South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner and senior deputy athletic director Chance Miller about the head coaching job in December 2020.

It’s also why special teams has become so ingrained in the fabric of Beamer’s fledgling program.

“Coach Tanner asked me, ‘You’re a special teams guy. Why do you need a special teams coordinator?’ “ Beamer recounted. “... And I told him I wouldn’t do it unless I felt like I had the ability or the opportunity to hire the very best special teams coach in the country. And that’s the way I felt about Pete.”

That hire has paid off tenfold, on paper, as South Carolina’s special teams units have been among the nation’s best in Beamer’s two years as head coach.

Punter Kai Kroeger finished as a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award in 2022, though his head coach made clear he felt Kroeger should’ve won the honor outright. The Chicago-area native dazzled with his powerful leg (44.2-yards per punt in his career) and an ability to extend drives (completing all four pass attempts for 107 yards and two touchdowns on fake kicks).

Kickers Parker White and Mitch Jeter, too, have offered their own levels of dynamism since Lembo and Beamer landed at South Carolina. White concluded his career in 2021 as the program’s all-time leader in points, connecting on 16 of 17 field goals and all 30 of his extra-point attempts.

Jeter, who out-dueled Alex Hererra to replace White this past fall, quickly put his own admirable spin on the mantle vacated by his predecessor. He became just the second kicker in school history to connect on every single one of his kicks (minimum of 10) in a season in 2022, cashing all 11 of his field goals and 42 of 44 extra points. Jeter also notched field goals of 53 and 51 yards in the season-opening win over Georgia State.

That’s not to mention South Carolina finished with the most blocked kicks in the country (6) at the end of the 2022 regular season, tied with Gator Bowl opponent Notre Dame.

“I say this with all humility, but I feel like special teams has become a big part of our culture,” Lembo said. “It reflects our culture. It’s become kind of part of our brand for this coaching staff at this university at this point in time.”

Heading into 2023, the focus on special teams remains constant in Columbia. The Gamecocks return Jeter and Kroeger, who also handles the holding duties. Long-snapper William Joyce is back. As is Lembo, who’s had his name floated around for vacant head coaching jobs here and there.

South Carolina rewarded Lembo’s work over the past few seasons with a new contract in December that pays him $725,000 annually in base salary, making him the highest-paid special teams coach in the country who doesn’t handle a second position group.

Lembo, an avid 1970s and ’80s rock fan and history buff, quipped during his first press conference of the spring that the 2021 season reminded him of Paul Simon’s record, “Negotiations and Love Songs,” as the Gamecocks staff was forced to bring back a sense of love and belief inside the program. The 2022 campaign was another step in its steadily climbing trajectory under Beamer.

What 2023 will bring? We’ll see. But you can bet no specialists around Columbia will be filling divots on the fields behind the Long Family Football Operations Center.