It's rude to point this out.. But that didn't stop Shane Beamer on Tuesday. Antwain “Juice” Wells Jr. will also not appear on Thursday.
Beamer, the South Carolina head coach, received serious criticism for his violent behavior after he was stopped for pointing a finger at Illinois coach Bret Bielema during Tuesday's Citrus Bowl.
And as if Shamox's loss in that bowl game wasn't infuriating enough, during his touchdown celebration in the Gator Bowl on Thursday, former receiver and now Ole Miss Rebels' Wells trolled him. When it came around, Beamer remembered his rude rant.
Wells' pointed salute while being restrained by teammates After scoring a 32-yard touchdown. That comment, made in the first quarter of a 52-20 win over Duke, was an obvious reaction to the angry finger raised by his former coach two days earlier.
In the second half of the 21-17 loss to the Fighting Illini, the Shamcocks' head coach was seen pointing at Bielema and shouting on the game.
As Beamer explained after the game, during a break in the game, Beamer thought Bielema was teasing him and his team by sticking his arm out to signal a fair catch. It was the same signal one of the Gamecocks' kick returners gave earlier in the game to start the game. False fair catch.
Beamer wasn't happy with Bielema's behavior and had to be stopped from running onto the field by a number of assistant coaches.
Thursday's relentless imitation of Wells wasn't all that sudden considering the wide receiver and his former coach share a somewhat unpleasant past.
In November 2024, Beamer criticized former players for transferring from the program at the end of the 2023 season. The former Shamcock's name was not revealed by the head coach, but it doesn't take much detective work to determine who he is referring to.
“We have a player who left our program after last season, and one of the reasons he told me he was leaving was: [because he didn’t think] We're going to be very good and we don't have a quarterback,'' Beamer told reporters on Nov. 19.
“Well, he’s somewhere else now, but there are a lot of players who are happy to be here.”
Wells was one of the Gamecocks' best receivers before transferring to Ole Miss to play for a softer-tempered coach in Lane Kiffin.
In 2022, he paced the receiving corps in receptions (69), yards (928) and touchdowns (6).
He appeared in just three games in 2023 due to a foot injury before being transferred to Oxford, Mississippi.
But there, amidst a more talented wide receiver room, Wells struggled to regain both his target share and the production he gained as a Gamecock.
He finished 2024 with 27 receptions, 521 yards and five touchdowns.
Thursday's 32-yard score was the only catch of the game, despite Ole Miss collapsing Duke's defense.
