Shane Beamer always has his South Carolina Gamecocks at the forefront of his mind, because that’s his job.

But Beamer attended and played at Virginia Tech under his father, Frank, so the Hokies are never far from Beamer’s mind, either.

Combining those 2 worlds this week is Tennessee star quarterback Hendon Hooker, who will be leading the 5th-ranked Volunteers into Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night to take on Beamer’s current team.

And because Hooker transferred to Tennessee from his beloved Virginia Tech, Beamer had a refreshingly honest thought about how we all got here — and how Hooker got to Knoxville just in time to be a big problem for his Gamecocks this weekend.

“As an alumnus of Virginia Tech, I’m still trying to figure out how he got out of Blacksburg,” Beamer said on Tuesday, 4 days before his Gamecocks defense will try to stop or at least contain the Volunteers’ high-octane, Hooker-led offense.

Hooker transferred from Virginia Tech to Tennessee before the 2021 season. Hooker played minimally for the Hokies in 2018 before throwing for 1,555 yards and 13 touchdowns for Virginia Tech in 2019 and adding 1,339 yards and 9 touchdowns in 2020. Hooker also ran for 620 yards and 9 touchdowns for the Hokies in 2020.

On Saturday night, he’ll be doing a little running (and throwing) against a fellow former Hokie.