On Thursday, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer joined On3’s Andy and Ari podcast to discuss his team. Hosts Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman spent nearly 30 minutes with the Gamecock headman and spoke well of USC’s efforts to bounce back from a disappointing 2025 season.
One of the topics of conversation during the show was aliens. Yes, you read that correctly. Specifically, Staples and Wasserman said tongue-in-cheek that South Carolina EDGE Dylan Stewart must be an alien with his combination of size, speed, and bend as a pass rusher. That creative introduction was a way for the hosts to ask Beamer, “Who is the most athletic player on your team, and why?”
The sixth-year head coach dodged the question a bit but gave some thoughts.
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“That’s a great question,” Beamer said. “I’m going to get in trouble by who I name or who I don’t name,” he joked. “People know about Dylan (Stewart), and they see what he’s been able to do on the field. You talk about LaNorris (Sellers) and what he’s able to do at his size and speed; LaNorris has a background in soccer. … Nyck Harbor and what he’s able to do at his size and his speed, those are some freakish guys.”
Stewart, Sellers, and Harbor are the players who always come up in these types of conversations. However, Beamer made sure to show some love to a few other Gamecocks, too.
“(Jacarrius) Peak, yeah … you [should] see him in the weight room and the way he works out,” he added.
Beamer shared that South Carolina will hold its annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament next week. Because of that, he said that he could soon have additional answers.
After he quipped about the basketball tournament, Beamer seemed to have sparked something in his brain. He then gave several more names that he felt belonged in the “most athletic” conversation.
“Fred ‘JayR’ Johnson, one of our linebackers, was an all-state receiver in high school. Vicari Swain, our punt returner and defensive back, could be a great receiver for us. There’s just a lot of guys like that,” Beamer explained.
He also gave a shoutout to the offensive line group as a whole, arguing that there are more good athletes in that room than many expect. Beamer then singled out an additional lineman, four-star Darius Gray, who will enroll this summer.
Even after the conversation with Beamer ended, Staples and Wasserman continued raving about the athletic upside of the 2026 Gamecocks.
“Their alien quotient is very high at South Carolina,” Staples said. “How high do you think Nyck Harbor can jump?” Wasserman continued the thought, “That would be a sight to behold to watch Nyck Harbor do anything; I would watch Nyck Harbor brush his teetch,” he joked.
The 2025 on-field product didn’t always mirror the Gamecocks’ overall athletic ability. Because of that, Staples concluded, “Now you’ve got to turn it into a really good football team.”
Perhaps providing South Carolina football fans with a bit of optimism, Wasserman said, “But I don’t think it takes much of an imagination to see that thing come together and the thing get turned around in 2026.”