ATLANTA — The latest stop of Shane Beamer's Find Some Joy Tour made a stop in Atlanta at the high profile preseason event that is SEC Media Days.
Beamer enters year two at the helm of the South Carolina program and during one of his sessions, he talked of wanting his players to have joy when they arrive at the football complex.
Beamer certainly has that emotion which was on display Tuesday as the Carolina contingent arrived at the College Football Hall of Fame. The school produced a video of Beamer on the morning of the press conference putting on a backwards baseball cap, sunglasses, and lip-synching a rap song as players jumped around him.
He said last year no one was talking about the team, but there is more buzz around the program.
"That's different this year," he said. "People are talking about us nationally which is what we want. We have high expectations at South Carolina."
Among the reasons for that optimism and discussion was the securing for former five-star quarterback Spencer Rattler in the offseason. Rattler was a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate last season at Oklahoma, and that last led many media members across the country to include Rattler toward the top of their list of best quarterbacks in the SEC.
The former South Carolina assistant always considered being the head coach of the Gamecock program his dream job. But he also is not naive enough not to know that dream job or not, he will be judged on his win-loss record. But that pressure is not something he says will take away from his positive energy that he wants to bring to the meeting room, the practice field, the stadium or the next podium where he will be.
"Going from seven [wins] to more is going to take every more work but everything I've seen from our guys since they came back shows me that they understand that," Beamer said.