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Shane Beamer discusses role of former South Carolina DB Jaylan Foster with Gamecocks staff
By Sydney Hunte
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Jaylan Foster turned in a terrific career at South Carolina during his time in Columbia. After he began at Gardner-Webb in 2016, he ended up transferring to South Carolina and walking on to the football program in 2017. He played sparingly in 2018 and 2019 before ending up as the team’s starting safety in 2020, ultimately putting together an All-American season in 2021 while being named 1st-team All-SEC.
While Foster’s NFL dream may still be up in the air — he worked out for several teams during the summer but went undrafted — he’s back, but this time on the sideline as a support role working with the current Gamecocks roster.
“I think, technically — well not technically, but legally — the role he is, he’s not necessarily coaching. But he’s involved with us and around the program, and is an asset, for sure, for all the obvious reasons,” head coach Shane Beamer said on Tuesday, according to On3. “He’s great with those young defensive backs and all the guys.”
Beamer pointed to Foster’s path from walk-on to one of the top defenders in the SEC as encouragement for the current crop of freshmen who may need to wait their turn to see the field on a sustained basis.
“[There are] freshmen that may not play next Saturday night as what they wanted to, and may end up redshirting. Well, Jaylan Foster redshirted a year,” he said. “If you’re not quite ready to play right now, that’s OK.”
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
