COLUMBIA, S.C. — Earlier this week, Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney told the story of how Shane Beamer’s son wanted to carve a path to Pickens County.
When Beamer was at Oklahoma, his son Hunter was fan of the Tigers and Swinney even told the story of how Hunter wanted his Dad to use his connection to Dabo to get some Clemson gear. Shane’s son also had expressed a dream of one day playing quarterback for the Tigers, even asking his dad to send video of one of Hunter’s flag football games to Swinney.
Of course, that interest in Clemson from the youngster was when Beamer was working as an Oklahoma assistant.
Saturday night, when the two head coaches met near midfield during warmups, Hunter was right there decked out in his Gamecock gear. Swinney reconnected with the youngster, giving him a hug and also no doubt reminding him in front of his Dad of the time when he wanted to wear orange.
The two men are longtime friends and will remain so as each has publicly expressed respect and admiration for each other in the way the two programs are run.