South Carolina football quarterback room takes shape as fall camp arrives
If South Carolina offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield has to, he’ll trot a water bottle out at quarterback when USC opens the season Sept. 4 against Eastern Illinois.
No, seriously.
“I tell everybody, ‘If that water bottle is the best quarterback, that water bottle is going to play,’ ” Satterfield said Thursday, motioning toward the cold bottle on the table in front of him during South Carolina’s in-house media day.
Hyperbole aside, the past six months have given Satterfield and his staff a chance to rebuild a quarterback room that was reeling upon his arrival.
After Ryan Hilinski announced his intention to transfer in December and Collin Hill decided in January not to return, South Carolina was left with Luke Doty as its only scholarship quarterback on the roster.
The Gamecocks signed freshman Colten Gauthier as an early enrollee. In the weeks that followed, St. Francis (Pennsylvania) transfer Jason Brown was added to the mix.
“It was a little scary at times, but that’s part of it,” Satterfield said of taking over a depleted quarterback room. “It’s exciting as well, because you get to start from (scratch). You get to start fresh.”
Following the Garnet and Black spring game in April, head coach Shane Beamer declared Doty the starter moving forward. Nothing’s happened to change that.
After starting two games a season ago, but bouncing between receiver and quarterback for the first half of the season, there’s a level of unknown with Doty. The tools are there. It’s part of what made him a top-100 recruit in the 2020 class.
This fall, though, is a reset of sorts. Doty spent the entire offseason repping at quarterback. He ran away with the competition so much that Beamer challenged his backups to actually make things competitive.
In media settings, Doty is calm, cool and collected. He’s easygoing and charismatic. He’s funny, but equally analytical. He oozes confidence in his own exciting yet goofy way.
“(Last year) was a pretty tough situation, but it was something that I knew I was ready for,” he said Thursday. “I knew that I could handle it, because, like I said, I was able to do that in fall camp — bouncing back and forth between positions. I just I knew that whenever my name was called, whenever my number was called, that I’d be ready.”
For what intrigue Doty possesses under center, the Gamecocks have also found increasing depth at a position that was on the precipice of disaster seven months ago.
After missing the beginning of spring practices due to an undisclosed illness, Brown has found a semblance of consistency since arriving in Columbia. He’s dropped 20 pounds, in part due to his embracing of healthier foods.
Brown said salmon is at the top of his preferred list of healthy options. Dropping fried food here and there has been another piece. It’s all part of a plan he hopes will land him on the field and, eventually, in the NFL.
“There’s good healthy food out there,” he said through a grin. “I found that out when I got here.”
Behind Brown, Gauthier has impressed in his short time on campus. Big-armed and sturdy at 6-foot-5 and 217 pounds, he looks the part. But for what projectability he possesses, his high school numbers in 2020 weren’t quite there — finishing his senior season at Hebron Christian Academy (Georgia) 156 of 300 for 2,052 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Satterfield, though, gushed over Gauthier’s potential Thursday.
“I think Colten is a poster child for, if you can enroll early, especially at the quarterback position, (you should).” Satterfield said. “He should just be getting here, but it seems like he’s been here for a year already.
“Colten is executing things at the line of scrimmage right now that NFL quarterbacks are doing now,” Satterfield added later. “We’re not we’re not executing like NFL quarterbacks yet, but from the mental standpoint of actually knowing the ‘why,’ I think that’s pretty cool that he’s already to that point.”
Doty took first-team reps when the Gamecocks held their first practice Friday. The season opener is Sept. 4 against Eastern Illinois.
Seven months ago, Beamer and Satterfield inherited an offense that was in dire straits under center. But now four weeks out from the season opener, the quarterback room has taken a closer shape to what they’d envisioned.
Doty remains a question mark, while Brown and Gauthier are unproven at the FBS level. Still, there’s a level of ease around Columbia these days. Satterfield may have a few more options to play with beyond a water bottle.
This story was originally published August 6, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
