He worked for Saban, Bowden, Jimbo, Kirby. So what does James Coley like about Beamer?

James Coley has been coaching college football since 2003. Including his new role as South Carolina’s wide receivers coach, he’s held jobs at seven different programs, eight if you count a short stint with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

Assistant coaches change jobs. That part is normal. What isn’t as typical is spending a career working under the names that Coley has reported to.

He started under Nick Saban at LSU and followed him to the NFL. A few years later, he got a job at his alma mater Florida State and Bobby Bowden’s last tight ends coach. When Bowden left, Coley became Jimbo Fisher’s offensive coordinator. Then, in 2016, Coley started working for first-time head coach Kirby Smart at Georgia.

This will mark Coley’s 20th season working in college football. It will be just the third time he’s worked for a head coach who hasn’t won or gone on to win a national championship.

Coley, who spent the past four seasons working under Fisher at Texas A&M, has spent his career around legends. His former bosses are responsible for a dozen national championships. And if the adage is true that there’s more than one way to skin a cat, Coley has seen it done with a knife, a chainsaw, scissors, teeth and everything in between.

Which makes it so interesting to hear him talk about Shane Beamer.

“It’s an interesting mixture of all the guys you said,” Coley noted of Beamer. “Coach Bowden was really big on family, and you see that with Shane. Some of these other coaches were real big on organization. You see that with Shane.”

Coley has a history with Beamer. They were on the same staff at Georgia under Smart — Coley working with the Bulldogs’ receivers while Beamer ran the special teams and tight end room.

He knew Beamer’s values, his attention to detail and all that. But until this month, Coley had never seen Beamer lead a program, never seen his ability to make a room of 100 feel like a room of one.

“Something that was unique to me was his ability to know every player and know their history,” Coley said of Beamer. “I was sitting in the team meeting and I was really impressed on how he knew his team. He studied his players, even the guys who just got there. He knew their story — and I think that’s huge.”

Coley continued: “When you know someone’s history and what it took to get them to that spot, you can help them that much more.”

The Gamecocks’ new wide receivers coach is a box checker. SEC experience. Coordinator experience. Championship experience.

When Fisher was fired midway through Texas A&M’s 2023 season, Beamer says he “knew right away” that he was going to do whatever he could to get Coley on staff at South Carolina. The problem was that Beamer wasn’t alone. At least one SEC and an ACC school, Beamer noted, were after Coley.

But the veteran offensive coach chose Columbia, and Beamer is hoping all of Coley’s stops make him the right man to elevate South Carolina.

“He’s attractive to me from his experience in so many different areas,” Beamer said. “He’s coached quarterbacks. He’s coached receivers. He’s coached tight ends. He’s coordinated offenses at the college level. He’s been a high school coach in South Florida. He’s coached in the NFL.”

Now Coley will take on a new challenge: Transforming a wide receiver corps that is young and depleted into a bunch that can make life easier on redshirt freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers.

After losing five wide receivers to the transfer portal and another pair to the NFL Draft, the Gamecocks have added three transfers to the roster: Ahmari Huggins-Bruce (Louisville), Jared Brown (Coastal Carolina) and Gage Larvadain (Miami of Ohio).

All contributors at their past school, the trio of newcomers do lack size. None is taller than 6-foot or weighs more than 190 pounds — which concerns fans far more than it does Coley.

“People say that. I’ll say it. But at the end of the day, you want the best players,” Coley said. “I don’t know how towering The Cheetah (Miami Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill, who’s 5-10, 191 pounds) is. He’s not very big, but he’s impactful. He can change the game.

“Everybody has a trait. Everybody has a redeeming quality,” Coley added. “What got them here? You have to find out what that is.”