Shane Beamer discussed the viral video that South Carolina put out on Wednesday as an avenue to explain how he promotes joy in the Gamecocks’ program. He also appeared to take a veiled shot at former coach Will Muschamp.

“We want our guys to have fun,” he said. “I want this program to be where our players wake up each morning, they look forward to coming into our football facility, each day. I don’t know if that was always the case before I got there. They do now.”

Beamer admitted that it’s demanding to be a football player at South Carolina, and it’s not easy.

“There’s also gotta be some joy with what you do, this game’s hard enough,” Beamer said.

Beamer said the Gamecocks take every opportunity to showcase their program, and because of the presence on social media, they have reached into other areas around the country, such as Texas, for example.

Beamer shared that Justin King, who leads the Gamecocks’ creative and social content, picked him up in a car instead of texting or calling him, and that was his first indication that the video was different.

“Knocked it out in 3 takes and had a good time doing it as well,” Beamer said of the Soula Boy song and performance. “I was a little bit take aback because one of our players thought I needed to hear the song, so I would know what the song was and what the words were. I’m not that old, I know who Soulja Boy is, and I know some of the words to that song, so it was an easy ask.”