ATLANTA -- Shane Beamer has answered the question so much that he marked through it on his talking points sheet Monday at SEC media days.
For the umpteenth time, he's adamant there is no ceiling for South Carolina football.
"I literally have it written down right here, but crossed it out because I say it every year, that there is no ceiling," Beamer said as he thumbed through his notes. "But, no, I believe that and say it all the time. I get it. We don't have double-digit national championships like some of these places have and maybe aren't considered to have the tradition of other places.
"But when I look around at our place, I say, 'OK, what do we not have that we need to win at the highest level?'"
In his opinion, there's nothing, and he said the resources and facilities at South Carolina are even better than when he was there as an assistant under Steve Spurrier from 2007-10.
Entering his fifth season with South Carolina, Beamer led the Gamecocks to six straight wins to end the regular season a year ago, including a thrilling comeback 17-14 win at No. 12 Clemson -- South Carolina's second win over its archrival in the past three years. The Gamecocks' 9-4 finish could have been better if not for losses to Alabama and LSU by a combined five points.
For perspective, Beamer and Spurrier are the only two coaches at South Carolina, over the past 40 years, to win at least nine games in the regular season.
"If you look at what South Carolina has done over the years, it's very average in a lot of ways, but I'm not worried so much about what's happened in the past," Beamer said. "I'm looking at what we can do in the future and the resources that we have now. Every time I go in that stadium, I see Steve Spurrier's name for all-time coaching wins ... and I think about the fact that he had three straight seasons of 11 wins. That was not that long ago, and then it slipped a little bit. But we ain't that far off either. We've closed ground, there's no question, since I got hired in 2021."
Redshirt sophomore LaNorris Sellers returns as one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country. He turned down a reported $8 million deal in the offseason to remain at South Carolina. Having grown up in the state, he has also heard talk about the Gamecocks never realistically having a chance to be in the title picture.
His response was short and sweet.
"I mean, we were like five plays off from being in the playoff last year," Sellers said. "There's no telling, with how we finished the season last year, how it would have ended for us in the playoff. So I mean, if we could get those five plays back and do it again, I guarantee you we probably could [win a title], and I think we can make a run with this team. We have the players, the people in the community, coaching, the staff, everything to do it."
Beamer acknowledged that it makes his blood boil any time he hears somebody say South Carolina will never win a championship. The Gamecocks have made the SEC championship game only once (2010) since joining the league in 1992, and that was under Spurrier.
"But we got to the cusp of the playoff a year ago and with a young team," Beamer said. "This isn't a flash in the pan. I mean, we're built to sustain for the future."
And in this new era of revenue sharing and outside NIL available to players, Beamer thinks that schools like South Carolina can benefit -- but with a caveat.
"If everybody has rev share and the number is what it is for everybody in the country, and then anything on top of that is true NIL, then yes, I believe it can help," Beamer said. "If it's still the wild, wild west where anybody can do whatever they want and nothing's enforced, then probably not."
Nick Barrett, a fifth-year senior defensive tackle, said one of the surest signs that South Carolina is built to last and will find its way into the title picture is the way the Gamecocks bounced back from a 5-7 finish in 2023.
"I feel like with an average program, it would just keep going downhill. They wouldn't be able to handle the adversity, and that's one thing you got to be able to handle in life is adversity," Barrett said. "You got to be able to persevere and respond to adversity, and that's what we did last year.
"People talk about a ceiling. There's no ceiling. When people say stuff like that, we just go out there and prove them wrong."