There’s a growing belief that Shane Beamer won’t finish the season as South Carolina’s head coach.

The Gamecocks blew a 17-0 lead to Kentucky on Saturday and lost 35-34 in overtime at home.

Beamer was booed as he left the field.

On3’s Pete Nakos reported on Sunday that the Kentucky game was one that Beamer needed to win to cool the hot seat talk.

Nakos also reported that Beamer getting fired as early as Sunday is “unlikely,” but it’s clear that things are trending in the wrong direction.

South Carolina is set to play at Florida next weekend before its bye week.

If the Gators blow out the Gamecocks — which I think is likely as Florida will be looking to bounce back from a tough loss to Missouri — then it seems very possible that Beamer could be fired ahead of the bye. That would give the interim head coach two weeks to get South Carolina ready for a big game in Columbia against Tennessee on October 24.

And if that scenario plays out, I think a former Vols assistant coach could be the Gamecocks’ interim head coach.

South Carolina running backs coach Stan Drayton is listed as the program’s associate head coach. He was previously the head coach at Temple from 2022 to 2024.

Drayton, who served as Tennessee’s running backs coach in 2008, makes the most sense to serve as the Gamecocks’ interim head coach if Beamer is fired (most programs like to elevate a position coach to the interim head coach, that way coordinators can solely focus on calling the offense/defense).

Interestingly, Drayton served as Penn State’s running backs coach last season. Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was the Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator last season, so there’s some familiarity there between the two coaches.