COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer had one job when his team’s disastrous 2025 season ended: Fix an offense that was demonstrably wretched.
The best way to do that, obviously, was to revive the career of quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who began last fall as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate, but by season’s end looked more like a candidate for a witness protection program.
How bad were the 4-8 Gamecocks on offense?
Consider: out of 135 NCAA Division I teams, USC ranked 104th in scoring (22.7 points a game), 109th in total offense (336.4 yards a game) and a woeful 119th in rushing; not so much Norris’ area, but his passing (225.3 yards a game, 67th nationally) didn’t exactly set up the run for success.
This was the same Sellers who in 2024 led USC to a 9-4 season, just shy of a spot in the College Football Playoff. The same player who, a year after dazzling defenses with his improvisational skills, spent 2025 running for his life and being sacked 42 times for nearly 360 yards in losses.
So: who to blame?
Why, the Gamecocks’ battered offensive line, of course. Sounds simple, right? Too simple, Beamer said at his media golf outing/press conference last week.
“(Sellers) was pressured last year, and a lot of that was on him,” the sixth-year coach said. “And a lot of that was on the running backs, and a lot of that was on tight ends and receivers and coaches and (you knew this was coming) offensive line. But it’s easy to say when the quarterback’s under duress that, well, the offensive line stinks, and that’s not always accurate.”
That might remind you of author Damon Runyon’s 1939 maxim: “The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong … but that’s the way to bet.”
To say the unit coached by third-year line coach Lonnie Teasley (now the former line coach) wasn’t totally responsible for Sellers’ regression, acknowledges “the line stinks” is simplistic. Still, that was a place to start … right after sacking Teasley and offensive coordinator Mike Shula.
Beamer went shopping for a new staff on offense. Kendel Briles, the second-generation offensive wunderkind from TCU, replaced Shula. Stan Drayton, most recently at Penn State and owner of national championship rings from Florida and Ohio State, was hired to handle the running backs, replacing Marquel Blackwell.
And for those complaining about the “odor” up front, Beamer brought in Randy Clements, whose track record with offensive lines – and his previous work with Briles at Baylor and TCU – made him almost as important an acquisition.
For a guy inheriting the Gamecocks’ chief scapegoat, the gruff, bearded Clements comes across as unfazed by the challenge. “I don’t dwell on (2025), honestly,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said I’ve looked at a lot of film from last year. Those guys were coached differently, the schemes were different. And I’m all about a fresh start.
“You can’t do anything about what happened; I’m focused on where we are right now.” That philosophy, Clements says, comes with his job. “In the offensive line world, we live in a rep(etition)-by- rep mentality. Nothing else can matter at that moment. We’ve got to worry about what’s ahead and surely not what’s behind.”
Clements’ track record over 35 years in coaching, 23 of those directing eight NCAA team’s offensive lines, speaks for itself. At Baylor from 2008-16, his linemen earned 13 All-Big 12 honors, four Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year awards and six All-American recognitions, and the Bears won a pair of Big 12 titles.
At Ole Miss in 2020 (after stops at Houston and Florida State), his line led the way for an SEC-record 562.4 yards of offense per game while averaging 39.2 points. In two seasons at North Carolina, he produced five All-ACC linemen, and in 2023 the Tar Heels rolled up 491.2 yards of offense, seventh nationally.
Perhaps most impressive, though, for frustrated USC fans: Clements’ North Texas line in 2022 ranked ninth nationally in sacks allowed, while also averaging 33.9 points and 453.8 yards. As Briles says, Clements has been there, done that.
“You can buy a lot, but you can’t buy experience,” Briles said. “(Clements) has seen it, lived it. He knows how to adjust within games, he knows techniques to teach his players, and he’s really good from a game-plan standpoint, knowing how to attack defenses. I’ve been very fortunate to work with him.”
This fall, Clements will deploy a unit that has undergone a transfer portal-fueled makeover. Of the 11 players on USC’s preseason two-deep, just four return from a year ago. The focal point is N.C. State transfer Jacarrius Peak, one of the top rated tackles in the portal, assuming Peak has fully recovered from an off-season injury.
“He’s back to full speed, looked good in drills (and) has given us a lot of great snaps,” Clements said.
While he acknowledges USC’s need to rebuild its line, “for everybody in America, that’s an area of concern,” Clements said. “It’s very hard to develop a good offensive line and keep a good offensive line. If you look at the portal, the most subbed-out position is the offensive line. So a lot of people are in the same boat.
“We do have guys who’ve played a lot of snaps at whatever level. They know what’s expected, they’re very mature and they’ve worked their tails off” in off-season workouts.
Clements likes the talent he has, starting with Peak and including guard Hank Purvis (“he’s lost 35 pounds, done an unbelievable job”). Center Nolan Hay “has had seven different OL coaches (in his career), so you’re not going to shock him, he’s seen it all.”
The new faces understand the need to rapidly build chemistry, an offensive line tradition that hasn’t changed.
“We want guys who bond together, play hard for each other, lay it out there for the team,” Clements said. “You want a team-oriented group, guys who can function together. We have a saying: If you have five (linemen) wrong the same way, we’re right. If we all do the same thing, we’ve got a chance for success even if we’re not exactly correct.
“We strive to have good communication, all of us on the same page, functioning together. If you have that, you’ve got a chance to be good.”
A year ago, USC’s line fell short in those areas in critical moments. Sacks tell the tale: the Gamecocks allowed four or more in seven games, winning one (Virginia Tech). They were 3-2 in games allowing two or fewer sacks.
But USC also gave up 41 sacks in 2024 en route to the Citrus Bowl (and 41 in 2023, a 5-7 season). As Beamer said, there was more to last year’s fiasco than a porous offensive line. But again, that wasn’t a bad place to start repairs.
As for Sellers, Clements said he doesn’t want his quarterback worrying about blocking; “he’s got enough to worry about. We don’t want to bog him down with what’s going on up front. We want his mind free to make decisions downfield, not worry about what’s going on in front of him.”
The downfield stuff is why Briles is here and Shula – who tried to turn the elusive Sellers into more of a pocket passer, seeming to make him hesitant – is gone. Briles has confidence Clements will take care of the line’s cohesiveness.
“(Offensive linemen) need to trust each other, because things happen fast,” Briles said. “Defenses have changed, (and) there’s a ton of line movements up front where guys have to pass off blocks (to a teammate) in the run and the passing game. There’s got to be a lot of communication, because things happen quickly.
“So the more they play together, the better. Obviously, you’ve got to have depth and rotate guys, but if we get five guys we feel great about, we’ll be in good shape.” Then he believes the “stink” of 2025 will be gone.