Beamer Ball bonding: How special teams became centerpiece of South Carolina football

Glitz, glamour and Heisman Trophy nominations do not a college football specialist make.

Punters, kickers and long snappers receive little fanfare for their heroics short of spectacular, awe-inspiring plays or ill-timed mistakes. The rest of the time it might seem like these athletes don’t exist.

And that’s exactly what South Carolina’s All-American punter Kai Kroeger loves about it.

“You’re not always in the spotlight, like the starting quarterback,” said Kroeger, who has experience launching the football with his hands as well. “... It’s not like you get celebrated for doing your job. But I think that makes it interesting, and that’s kind of taken off the pressure for me.”

Kroeger, long snapper Hunter Rogers and placekicker Mitch Jeter make up one of the most prolific special teams trios in the country. Their positions demand a different kind of mental toughness and a down-to-the-inch kind of perfection. But their bond coupled with the support of special teams aficionados Pete Lembo and Shane Beamer make those aspects more manageable.

‘We all know what makes this person tick’

Kroeger was the only Gamecock named to the preseason All-SEC first-team this year after averaging the fifth-most yards per punt in FBS last season. Jeter connected on all 11 of his field-goal attempts last year, including two 50-yarders. This year, they and Rogers were named to preseason watch lists for honors awarded to the top player at their respective positions.

Before all of that, though, they came to South Carolina just days apart as wide-eyed freshmen.

Jeter and Kroeger arrived in July of 2020, while Rogers came a month later. They’ve spent years building a connection that’s been integral to their on-field success.

“We all know what makes this person tick,” Rogers said. “Like some of what makes it better for me is a joke about a bad snap or something like that in order for me to see the bright side. If Mitch misses a kick, I know not to go up to him and be like, ‘Yo, it’s OK, it’s OK’ right away. Instead you’ve got to sit back a little and just let him do his own thing.”

When they aren’t practicing, Kroeger, Jeter and Rogers golf together, usually at Par Tee Golf Center in West Columbia. They typically shoot around mid-80s, though both Rogers and Kroeger conceded Jeter has the best score of the group. During the summer they go out about twice a week.

For Rogers, golf is an opportunity to “get away from the real world” and have fun regardless of the outcome on the scorecard. But the irony of swapping one mentally taxing sporting endeavor for another is not lost on Kroeger.

“It directly relates,” he said through a smile, “which I think has helped me a lot, because I can relate it if I’m punting. Like, ‘Oh, (this is) just like a wedge here.’ It keeps it fun.”

How Beamer brings respect to special teams

Asked during SEC Media Days in July what kind of challenges he faced as a head coach “without an extensive coordinating background,” Beamer was quick to retort.

“Certainly respect the question,” Beamer said. “But also people talk about, ‘Well, you have not been a coordinator.’ Being a special teams coordinator is being a coordinator. …

“Being a special teams coordinator prepared me better to be a head football coach than if I had been on the offensive side of the ball or the defensive side of the ball.”

Such is the life of a special teams ace in college football.

Beamer has experience coaching in all three phases of the game, but his special teams experience is extensive. He played long snapper and wide receiver at Virginia Tech in the 1990s and then worked with special teams as a graduate assistant at Tennessee (2001-03). Beamer served as special teams coordinator at South Carolina (2007-10) and Georgia (2016-17) before returning to Columbia as head coach in December 2020.

His father, Frank Beamer — College Football Hall of Fame member and longtime Virginia Tech coach — made the concept “Beamer Ball” famous. Shane has brought the strategy to South Carolina with great success.

“To me,” Shane said when “SEC Nation” came to Columbia last year — purposefully caveating the following definition as his own interpretation, “it’s the ability that whatever unit is on the field has the opportunity to score. So, it’s your offense, it’s your defense and it’s your special teams. You want to constantly be attacking. We don’t sit back and try to wait for something to happen on defense or special teams. We want to make it happen and be the aggressor and constantly attack and give those spaces the ability to score points also just like an offense will as well.”

“Beamer Ball” is responsible for one of Kroeger’s favorite memories of his career. During the Gator Bowl last year, he lined up for a field goal only to catch the snap and stutter step with the ball in his hands. He then launched a 23-yard pass rightward to Rogers, who caught it and took one step before winding up in the end zone.

The score was one of many instances over the course of the trio’s friendship that brought them closer together.

“I think over time things just kind of add up,” Kroeger said. “There wasn’t maybe one moment where, ‘Oh, that made us instantly closer.’ But memories in games that we’ve shared, whether it’s been the Clemson game or like Notre Dame throwing the touchdown to Hunter, things like that, just kind of add up.”

Benefits of the Beamer-Lembo tandem

Despite Beamer’s special teams background, he viewed bringing in Lembo as special teams coordinator at South Carolina as a must-do.

“You mix him and Coach Lembo and get the two best minds in college football pretty much,” Kroeger said. “And it’s just a recipe for success.”

Lembo played on Georgetown’s offensive line from 1988-91. After three head coaching jobs, he served as special teams coordinator at Maryland (2016-17), Rice (2018) and Memphis (2019-20). In 2022, he led South Carolina’s special teams unit to a No. 1 efficiency ranking as determined by ESPN.

The key to preparing guys like Kroeger, Rogers and Jeter for success on Saturdays is making practices extremely hard, Lembo said. Then when nerves hit or something unexpected happens on game day, they’ll fall back on fundamentals.

“The bottom line is, on offense and defense you’ve got to second and third down to make it right,” Lembo said. “We (special teams) only get one shot. So there’s definitely a heightened sense of urgency we want to take to the field, and in practice they feel that from me.”

The Beamer-Lembo tandem has been crucial to South Carolina’s success. The Gamecocks’ specialists recognize how rare it is to have a special teams coordinator on Lembo’s level and a head coach like Beamer for support.

“I think it makes a big difference,” Rogers said. “He supports us a ton. He understands what we go through. And the work that we do does not go unnoticed.

“I feel like some programs, maybe their specialists aren’t viewed like we are. And I’m very thankful for it.”