Gamecock assistant leaving program to coach high school football

Shane Beamer is losing his tight ends coach.

Erik Kimrey, the former Gamecock quarterback who’s served as the TE’s coach for South Carolina the last year, is leaving USC to return to high school football.

According to a source, Kimrey accepted the head coaching job at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn. He was hired former Hammond headmaster Chris Angel, who now heads the school.

Kimrey graduated from Dutch Fork High School in Columbia where he played quarterback for his father, Bill Kimrey, who was a head high school coach in South Carolina for 34 years. He set five state passing records as a senior and was the state’s Offensive Player of the Year.

He was a backup quarterback and three-time letterwinner at South Carolina from 1998-2002. He is best remembered for coming off the bench to replace an injured Phil Petty and completing a fourth-down fade route pass to Jermale Kelly to lift the Gamecocks to an upset win over Mississippi State during the 2000 season.