How former NFL All-Pro guided Gamecock QB recruit through position coach change
One could see the level of closeness between quarterback recruit Colten Gauthier and the Gamecocks football coach.
Gauthier and his family were all clad in garnet last June, standing near the entrance of South Carolina’s indoor facility at a camp. They were greeted by Dan Werner, who watched Gauthier run through specific passing drills on the side.
But at the start of December, Werner was let go by head coach Will Muschamp. The man Gauthier built that bond with was gone, and a new face, Mike Bobo, was in charge of the offense, the QBs and the QB recruiting.
That meant a reset of sorts in Gauthier’s process. He had to meet a new coach and a new coach had to meet him. And he had another voice, his high school coach Jeff Saturday, giving him some guiding advice.
“I kept telling him through the process, man, coaches leave, right?” Saturday said. “I mean, situations happen whether it’s really good or really bad. Coaches’ shelf life isn’t really one of the things that you need to base your decision on, as much as you like these guys, as long as you are building good relationship with them. But somebody’s gonna leave whether it’s to take another job somewhere else or something is better for their family.”
Saturday had plenty of reasons to know that well. He spent time with three NFL teams, most of it with the Colts under three head coaches. He was one of the lucky few to have the same head coach for most of his college career (Mack Brown at UNC), and even there his final game was under an interim coach.
Gauthier is no stranger to transition as well, as he left one high school halfway through his sophomore year to join Saturday at Hebron Christian Academy.
Saturday said the process with Bobo went well, as Gauthier took to the Georgia native and longtime football presence in that state. Gauthier found the fit was still there, and the link was still strong with the school and Will Muschamp.
Gauthier said his bond with the head coach and the feel when he got on campus were big pluses in an interview with SportsTalk this week.
“You can’t make a decision based on one coach,” Saturday said. “It has to be a number of different factors all have to go in there and that’s what he did. I think it was a very mature decision.”
It also didn’t hurt that Saturday knew Bobo from way back when, as the center and quarterback played in an all-star game together as high school players.
Gauthier is considered a four-star prospect by Rivals, three in the 247 Sports composite. He threw for more than 2,400 yards last season, leading his team to an 8-5 record. He will have a new head coach next season as Saturday stepped down this offseason to spend more time focused on his son Jeffery, a sophomore at UNC, and work as an NFL analyst.
His coach also made the transition from outer Atlanta and made a point to say a coach matters less than accepting the entirety of a place like South Carolina.
“You really have to fall in love with the school,” Saturday said. “With the academics, with the athletics with, all the different things that come in with the school in totality.”
