South Carolina Football Set to Star in SEC Network Special After Skipping Spring Game Broadcast
Instead of airing their annual Garnet and Black spring football game on April 18, the South Carolina Gamecocks have chosen a different route to showcase their program. The team will be featured in a 30-minute SEC Network special titled “South Carolina Football: The Program”, airing Tuesday, June 17 at 7 p.m.
This decision came after the SEC gave all 16 member schools a choice this year: either televise their spring game live on SEC Network or SEC Network Plus, or produce a half-hour original show that would run across ESPN’s platforms. Only Texas A&M chose to go the traditional route with a televised spring game; the rest, including South Carolina, opted for the alternative.
Head coach Shane Beamer explained the reasoning behind the move, noting its potential benefits for recruiting.
“If all of you guys are recruits for us, we can let you know when this show is coming on, and you can watch this and learn a lot about our football program,” Beamer said back in April. “It would probably be more impactful from a recruiting standpoint than watching a two-hour spring game on television.”
One growing concern across college football is how spring game performances are increasingly being used as scouting tools by rival programs. With looser transfer portal regulations and the influence of NIL deals, standout players in these games may find themselves targeted with promises of bigger roles or more lucrative opportunities elsewhere.
Beamer acknowledged this issue and emphasized the strategic thinking behind the decision.
“From a competitive standpoint, if there’s a spring game on television, we tape it and we watch it, and that’s how we can watch personnel,” he said. “We could watch their spring game and just kind of get an idea about personnel and who’s lined up where, and things like that as well.”
While some fans expressed disappointment at not being able to watch the spring game, Beamer said he understood their frustration. But ultimately, the decision was made with both strategic and long-term goals in mind.
