Other Gamecocks QBs ‘got to make it a competition’ with Luke Doty, Beamer says
Quarterback Jason Brown is back at practices for South Carolina football. Whether or not he’ll be able to challenge Luke Doty for the starting job remains to be seen.
Brown, a redshirt senior transfer from FCS program Saint Francis, missed the team’s first spring practice of 2021 last week, with a spokesman later announcing he was out with an illness. On Thursday, new head coach Shane Beamer confirmed Brown has returned to the field.
Beamer also indicated that the QB competition for the Gamecocks under new offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield isn’t over. At the same time, he continued to acknowledge what he said last week — Doty is the only quarterback of the four on the roster who has thrown a pass in the SEC. And after taking over the starting role late last season, he remains the primary option, ahead of Brown, freshman Colten Gauthier and redshirt sophomore walk-on Connor Jordan.
“We’re competing every day, and Luke started out the first day with the first group. He’s a returning quarterback. He’s the only one who’s really got experience here and that’s kind of where we started,” Beamer said. “But every single position, we’re creating competition. I don’t mean to say that Luke has taken every single rep with the first group. We got four guys that are in there competing with Connor, Colton, Jason and Luke.
“So all those guys are in there working and getting reps and coach (Satterfield) is handling that rotation and who’s going when with which group and things like that, as well. So all those guys will get opportunities, if they earn that opportunity. Somebody has got to come and be better than Luke. And if nobody does, then Luke will continue to get the reps with the first team. It’s certainly a competition, but those other guys, they got to make it a competition as well, too.”
All four QBs’ “heads are swimming” as they try to take in the new offensive scheme Beamer and Satterfield are installing, Beamer said. But while Gauthier is just getting settled in on the college level and Jordan doesn’t seem likely to challenge for many snaps, Brown and Doty remain the favorites to get serious consideration. Yet beyond just missing the first of three practices the team has had, Brown also has to contend with having not played a competitive game since 2019 after the FCS level canceled its 2020 fall season.
“I mean, he’s up here all the time it seems. I’ve seen in the meeting rooms just working and studying on his own, and I think he’s done a nice job of getting in there and learning,” Beamer said. “He and (fellow transfer EJ Jenkins) have pushed each other coming in here together. Obviously, they’re extremely close and working with each other and pushing each other. And he’s done a good job. I think the biggest thing with him is the fact that they didn’t have a season last season and then their season this spring at St. Francis, they’re not going to play. So the biggest thing with him was just getting in shape physically and attacking the weight room after being off for that long. It’s probably more of a physical adjustment for him.”
Doty, meanwhile, impressed his teammates and coaches last season with his enthusiasm and energy in the huddle, and he’s continued that into this spring. And as the player with the most SEC experience at the position, his leadership has been all the more important.
“He’s trying to lead, and he’s doing a great job every time he takes the field of being a leader and the mentality and understanding the guys on offense are looking to him right now, because he’s the quarterback that’s with that first group on offense,” Beamer said. “And he’s doing a great job of that, and you forget he’s a freshman and is not an older guy, because the way he carries himself and the respect he has on the team, it’s like he’s a senior.”
