COLUMBIA — South Carolina football defensive coordinator Clayton White is heading into Year 5 with the program and had one question.
Why not hire Geoff Collins?
The program announced July 27 that Collins will join the staff as a senior defensive analyst. He has nearly 30 years of college football coaching experience, and was most recently the defensive coordinator at North Carolina in 2024 after serving as head coach at Temple (2017-18) and Georgia Tech (2019-22).
White said that Collins was the first coach to hire him at this level after he coached high school football for one season. White coached with Collins on the defensive side of things at Western Carolina 20 years ago.
“For me having another DC in the room that’s actually called plays in games I thought that was a good advantage,” White said July 28.
White explained he will be serving as an advanced analyst, and will specifically be in charge of giving White some bullet points and scouting reports after Saturday’s games to get a head start on the next week’s opponent.
After South Carolina opens the season against Virginia Tech on Aug. 31 (3 p.m., ESPN), Collins will give him an idea of what he needs to think about for South Carolina State in the beginning of the week.
Coach Shane Beamer said it’s not just that he’s a great coach or recruiter but there is a familiarity aspect with a lot of South Carolina’s staff.
“You guys know me,” Beamer said. “I am not a guy that just hires people to hire people … if I bring someone into this program there’s a reason we’re bringing them in. Certainly with (Collins) there’s a reason. A really talented coach, you look at his background in coaching, the places he’s been, the people he’s worked with, and the roles he’s had.”
Beamer and Collins were graduate assistants together at Georgia Tech in 2000, and even shared an office…
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Publish date : 2025-07-28 20:26:00
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