After South Carolina took down Clemson for the first time in the post-Steve Spurrier era, I crowned the Gamecocks “The Ultimate Good Vibes Team” heading into the postseason. Again. You see, I gave that title to the post-Year 1 Shane Beamer squad after the Mayo Bowl and the Spencer Rattler transfer. It made sense. A young, on-the-rise coach exceeded expectations and looked like someone ready for that next step.

By all accounts, the Gamecocks did take that next step by beating Tennessee and Clemson in consecutive weeks, ending both teams’ Playoff hopes. Taking down a pair of top-10 teams in consecutive weeks was something that not even Shane Beamer’s dad, Frank, did in his 3 decades at Virginia Tech.

Good vibes? Absolutely.

But those vibes faded when news came out that dynamic offensive weapons Jaheim Bell and MarShawn Lloyd were both entering the transfer portal. And instead of replacing offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield with a household name, Beamer hired Arkansas tight ends coach Dowell Loggains to run the offense.

Vibes have been better in Columbia. Plenty of South Carolina fans took to social media to share their frustration over those developments.

Rare is it to see a coach who stormed into the Top 25 on the heels of a couple top-10 wins come to the podium with this kind of “us against the world” energy:

Beamer is clearly frustrated. He was the one who coined the phrase “find some joy” earlier in the season.

Gamecock fans would be wise to trust Beamer’s process.

It’s Beamer’s process that led to a pair of memorable Novembers in his first 2 seasons on the job. If you had told 2020 South Carolina fans that in those 2 first Novembers alone Beamer would take down Florida, Auburn, a top-5 Tennessee team and a top-10 Clemson team in Death Valley, they would’ve been ecstatic. Who knows? Maybe like Beamer himself, those 2020 South Carolina fans would’ve blasted some Soulja Boy, thrown on some shades and had themselves some fun.

Whatever bar there was for Beamer in his first 2 years, he cleared it. That’s not to say he’ll keep clearing it, but he’s done more than enough to earn the trust of the fanbase with his staff and personnel moves. I mean, South Carolina is 4 solid quarters away from finishing as a top-15 team for just the 8th time in school history.

I’d say there’s joy in that.

I understand it’s all about building for the future. Beamer understands that, too. That’s why he stood at that podium and made it clear to the entire college football world that South Carolina is a program that’s moving forward, not backward.

Would the vibes have been higher if the Gamecocks swung for the fences with the OC hire by landing someone like Dan Mullen or Joe Brady? Sure. And we would’ve praised Beamer for that. But Loggains isn’t destined to fail just because he struggled as a play-caller once Jay Cutler got hurt with the Chicago Bears in 2016. Actually, let’s get Cutler’s take on Loggains:

Cutler giving Loggains his stamp of approval doesn’t guarantee that South Carolina is about to boast a top-20 offense. But it is at least a sign that a guy who has had no shortage of play-callers — and Cutler hasn’t afraid to be blunt in his assessment of them — was on board with that move.

There are certainly some similarities between Cutler and Rattler. Potentially, that could be of great benefit for Loggains. I say “potentially” because obviously at this moment, we don’t know if Rattler is staying or going to the NFL.

By the way, Beamer’s process got the former 5-star recruit to Columbia. Beamer’s process also kept Rattler on the field for the entire 2022 season instead of benching him after the Florida game, which plenty of other Power 5 head coaches would’ve done with a bowl game already clinched and 2 games left on the regular season slate. Shoot, Rattler’s previous school, Oklahoma, would’ve benched him 6 weeks before that.

Ultimately, Beamer’s faith in Rattler was rewarded. Regardless of Rattler’s next decision, you can’t take away what those 2 wins did to put South Carolina back on the map.

But what about the Bell and Lloyd transfers? Isn’t that a sign that Beamer has some foundational issues?

They’re big losses. There’s no doubt about that, and they felt like surprises because their frustrating usage seemed connected to Satterfield, who left for Nebraska.

In this first week-plus of the portal opening up, plenty of programs had to feel like they got kicked in the teeth. A&M had 21 players hit the portal. Florida had 19. Shoot, NC State lost Devin Leary, who might be 1 of the top 10 quarterbacks returning in college football in 2023.

Also remember that Beamer isn’t about to just sit on his hands and let the portal be a 1-way street like Dabo Swinney. This is still early in the process. Just like last year when Beamer got the likes of Rattler, Juice Wells and Austin Stogner, South Carolina fans need to remain patient knowing that help is on the way. Nobody is currently bringing in more portal talent than they have leaving.

Maybe South Carolina won’t find a portal weapon as versatile as Bell, and there’s no guarantee a back as talented as a healthy Lloyd will be on the Gamecocks’ roster next September. It’s possible that Loggains gets off to a slow start and some will already declare it a bad hire.

But ask yourself this, South Carolina fans. Hasn’t the whole been greater than the sum of the parts? Can’t we trust that Beamer, who has worked under the likes of Kirby Smart, Lincoln Riley and Spurrier, is going to do everything in his power to keep South Carolina progressing?

You can question the upside of a hire or whether the Gamecocks are going to have enough depth at a certain position group. But don’t question Beamer’s direction.

The vibes will take care of themselves.