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Shane Beamer recalls ‘phone call I’ll never forget’ about Alshon Jeffery jersey retirement
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Legendary South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffery is set to have his jersey retired on Saturday.
Ahead of the retirement, Shane Beamer expressed how rewarding it was being able to inform Jeffery that his jersey was going to be retired.
“Just thinking about when he was 17-years old and I was recruiting him out of Saint Matthews, South Carolina,” Beamer said in a press conference on Tuesday. “And then fast forward to 2023 and here I am telling this young man that his jersey’s going to be retired was a really cool moment for me. Just hearing how grateful he was on that call, it was a phone call that I’ll never forget without a doubt.”
Now head coach of the Gamecocks, Beamer was an assistant at South Carolina from 2007 to 2010. During that time as an assistant, he helped recruit Jeffery, who played at South Carolina from 2009 to 2011.
But Jeffery almost went to a different USC.
“I remember being on my back porch at my old house in Columbia when they gave me the news that he was committing to the other USC — the wrong USC,” Beamer said. “And thinking to myself how crushed I was to hear that, but then thinking ‘I’m not going to let that happen.’ Just the amount of time I spent, not trying to pressure him to change his mind, but just continuing to sell South Carolina and let it just kind of happen.”
Jeffery went on to have a historic career at South Carolina, racking up 3,042 yards and 23 touchdowns in his 3 seasons with the Gamecocks. He was drafted in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft and has since racked up 6,786 yards and 46 touchdowns, playing for the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.
