What Shane Beamer said on Taylor Edwards’ sudden departure from USC football program

It’s been just over a week since South Carolina let go of director of player personnel Taylor Edwards, the man in charge of the football recruiting operation since head coach Shane Beamer took over as head coach in December 2020.

The Gamecocks have already filled Edwards’ position, announcing the hire last week of USC alum and former Auburn and Oregon staffer Darren Uscher. The school, however, never publicly acknowledged what happened with Edwards.

At SEC Media Days on Monday, Beamer was asked what led to Edwards’ departure.

“I’m not going to get into what brought it about,” Beamer told reporters. “I wish Taylor Edwards well.”

Beamer did acknowledge that he “reached out to some people I trust in the profession” and did so “a couple weeks before everything went down” to check on potential names that USC could consider. Uscher’s name kept coming up.

“To find out that he was a South Carolina graduate, that really increases your interest in him,” Beamer said. “I talked to him a few times on the phone a few times and was blown away just with his passion for South Carolina, his passion for Gamecock athletics.”

Edwards, who worked at Maryland before taking the job in Columbia, was an integral part of Beamer’s staff for the past three years. For one, his ties up north helped South Carolina land such prospects from Washington, D.C., and Virginia such as wide receiver Nyck Harbor, edge rusher Dylan Stewart and offensive lineman Tree Babalade.

He was also the liaison between the football program and South Carolina’s NIL collective, The Garnet Trust, an especially important position when the transfer portal opened in December.

Yet in the short time that South Carolina has been without Edwards, it has already proved it can still have recruiting success under Uscher.

Last week, the Gamecocks earned their biggest commitment thus far of the 2025 class when four star wide receiver Lex Cyrus unexpectedly chose the Gamecocks over Penn State.

“He’s passionate about recruiting and passionate about Gamecock athletics,” Beamer said of Uscher.

Beamer added four new on-field assistant coaches this offseason: Marquel Blackwell (running backs); Joe DeCamillis (special teams); Shawn Elliott (tight ends); and Mike Furrey (wide receivers). The recruiting job now held by Uscher is an off-field role but an important one.