Three takeaways: Joe D takes reins of highly regarded South Carolina special teams

From the Beamer Ball moniker to the reputation Pete Lembo built as one of the best special teams minds in the game, few hires Shane Beamer could have made to replace Lembo could stand up to the high standard that now goes along with running South Carolina special teams.

Enter Joe DeCamillis. The 34-year NFL coaching veteran who Beamer calls “one of the greatest special teams coaches in the history of the game of football.”

Below are three takeaways from DeCamillis’ intro press conference last week.

More impact in college

Recent new NFL rules on kickoffs have heavily decreased the number of actual returns, simultaneously reducing the number of returns for touchdowns and the need to spend much practice time working on covering them.

Blocked punts and field goals happen, but are far more rare than in the college game.

The goal on special teams in the NFL, where Joe D spent over 30 years before entering the college game last season, seems to be one thing: don’t screw it up.

” I think in the kicking game, just talking about special teams overall, I think you can affect the college game a lot more than you can in the NFL,” DeCamillis said. “Example, against Texas Tech the last game, we covered seven kickoffs. You don’t cover seven kickoffs in a year in the NFL. So that is intriguing. I think you can affect the game a lot more in college than you can in the NFL right now, in my opinion, in the kicking game. That’s the first thing.”

Those numbers are only slightly exaggerated. While some teams covered as many as 40 kicks in the NFL in 2023, one team covered just five kicks during the entire year, with another covering six and three more covering eight each.

The “just don’t screw it up” mindset goes completely against what Beamer and Lembo instilled during the last three years at South Carolina as they fielded some of the most aggressive special teams units in the country.

Sounds like Joe D wants in on the action.

The recruiting question

Joe DeCamillis has zero experience recruiting but that shouldn’t concern fans at all.

While every college coach in the country, including DeCamillis, has to pull their weight in recruiting, it won’t be his first priority — much like it’s considered a bonus if an offensive or defensive coordinator is a strong recruiter, DeCamillis’ top objective will be to make sure Carolina’s special teams are among the best in the country.

The impact of DeCamillis’ inexperience is also eased by the fact he won’t necessarily have a position group to take care of on the recruiting trail. Sure, he’ll have to recruit punters, kickers, and long-snappers but that’s not even comparable to the recruiting wars his co-workers will go through in working to maintain and upgrade their position groups on offense and defense.

DeCamillis will certainly also have a recruiting territory that he’ll have to work to build relationships. But I’d argue, that his main role in recruiting will be to bring the energy and eagerness when meeting with prospects who are on campus and in leveraging his many years in the NFL if any of those pre-existing contacts can help Carolina get in the door with specific recruits.

Ultimately, recruiting is about want-to and relationship-building — two qualities he has in spades.

Beamer Ball

Beamer has said multiple times that if he couldn’t hire a special teams coordinator with the chops of Lembo or DeCamillis, that he’d just do it himself.

But as much sense as that would make in theory, the fact he was able to land DeCamillis and not have to is a huge win for both him and the program.

Between managing the transfer portal and NIL combined with the 1,000s of other issues that may come across a coach’s desk on a day-to-day basis, there’s more for a coach to deal with than ever, and that’s why coaches across the country — even some who have called plays their entire career — are giving up playcalling responsibilities.

Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz gave up offensive playcalling this past season while Ohio State’s Ryan Day announced after the season that he’s handing over the reins as well.

Not to say Beamer couldn’t handle it, but adding special teams responsibilities to an already full plate would have been a tough ask, especially as much as the Gamecocks have credited Lembo being able to solely focus on ‘teams as a reason for their success.

Beamer will always be involved in special teams to an extent but having someone like DeCamillis in charge opens him up to focus on all other aspects of coaching which is invaluable.

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