Shawn Elliott prepares for Williams-Brice return

He served as a Gamecock assistant for seven seasons and was even an interim head coach for South Carolina.

To say Shawn Elliott will be in familiar territory on September 3 is a complete understatement. It’s just a certain sideline that might be new.

Elliott, entering his sixth season as the head coach of Georgia State football, will bring his Panthers into Williams-Brice Stadium for both teams’ 2022 season-opener the first Saturday in September, and he can already feel the emotions starting to creep in.

“Me coming back here is going to be special,” Elliott told ABC Columbia in an exclusive interview on Thursday. “I had a lot of great wins in that stadium (Williams-Brice) and a lot of great years coaching at South Carolina.”

Elliott last stepped foot in Williams-Brice Stadium for a football game back in 2016, his last season at USC, but the Camden native never lost the affection for the Gamecocks.

“To come back to the state of South Carolina where I’m from, it’s going to be a good night.”

Elliott was hired by Steve Spurrier in 2010 and served as an assistant alongside second-year Carolina coach Shane Beamer.

“Shane is a really intelligent mind,” he said. “He always worked hard and never wanted anything given to him because of his name. He wanted to earn his reputation as a good football coach.”

Elliott took over for Spurrier when the Head Ball Coach resigned in 2015 and stayed on South Carolina’s staff under Will Muschamp until 2016, when he was hired by Georgia State as the school’s newest football coach, and he’s had instant success at Georgia State, leading the Panthers to three-straight bowls and a 3-1 bowl record, including a win in the 2021 Camellia Bowl over Ball State.

“Our team a year ago started out 1-4,” he said. “It was my job to make sure our guys knew that we still had a good football team.”

This year, Georgia State is taking a swing at the Power Five schools, scheduling South Carolina and North Carolina in weeks one and two, respectively, a move that was made top priority when Elliott first arrived on campus.

“Here’s where we’re going to recruit: let’s go to the Gamecocks; let’s go to Auburn.” he said. “I said ‘Get the Gamecocks on the schedule and we’ll drive up there the day of and see what we can do.”

South Carolina hosts Georgia State Sept. 3 at 7:30 p.m.