USC QB Watch: Starting battle down to three

The four-man race to be South Carolina’s starting quarterback now is a three-man race at most.

“We are getting an idea of who is ready to play, but there will be a spot for Lorenzo Nunez,” Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said Monday after his team’s 13th practice of the preseason.

Nunez is a four-star recruit out of Kennesaw, Ga., who was rated the 15th-best dual-purpose quarterback in the country last year by 247Sports.com

“Obviously, as a freshman, all the offense we are doing, he is not quite ready for all that. But he can take off and he can make some stuff happen, so he’s going to play this year we feel confident, certainly,” Spurrier said.

Nunez could play the Wildcat quarterback role handled by Pharoh Cooper last year or be in the offensive backfield on plays where Cooper is lined up at quarterback.

The three quarterbacks who shared most of the snaps during Monday’s practice were sophomore Connor Mitch, junior Perry Orth and redshirt freshman Michael Scarnecchia. Spurrier indicated those reps were not split equally but declined to say how they were divided.

“They are all doing pretty well,” he said.

The Gamecocks’ 11th-year coach was not pleased with any of his quarterbacks following a scrimmage Saturday, but Spurrier was less frustrated after watching tape of the scrimmage, he said.

“The quarterbacks weren’t as bad as we thought at the time,” he said. “We are just emphasizing getting the ball out of their hands, and they did a little bit better today. That’s why we practice. They have to get rid of it. Connor Mitch finally threw a good one today. We finally hit a deep ball because he threw it on time instead of waiting and throwing. It’s all timing the passing game and so forth. The guys are getting better, they’ve just never played much. We have to practice, practice, practice.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2015 at 9:49 PM with the headline "USC QB Watch: Starting battle down to three."