South Carolina backup QBs take center stage as Gamecocks roll on in fall camp
Colten Gauthier’s got the look of a rocker.
His hair flows down to his shoulders and creates a silhouette closer to Eddie Van Halen than Tom Brady. Gauthier even spent a couple thousand dollars on an original Gibson Les Paul limited edition 2013 run guitar recently.
Musical inclinations aside, Gauthier (pronounced: Gaw-th-ee-er), FCS transfer Jason Brown and walk-on Connor Jordan are taking center stage in a late camp quarterback battle to replace injured starter Luke Doty.
“We’re only in practice 10,” Gauthier said Tuesday. “We have until Sept. 3 to figure it out, if it comes down to it. Nothing is set until Coach (Shane) Beamer comes up here and is like, ‘This is our starting quarterback going into Sept. 4.’ ”
For a set of backup signal-callers, Gauthier and Brown have been thrust into the limelight in spurts during the offseason.
As the quarterback room dwindled to one scholarship player when Ryan Hilinski departed Columbia in December, head coach Shane Beamer and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield turned to the FCS ranks to reel Brown in as a graduate transfer from St. Francis (Pennsylvania).
By now you know the story. Brown came to campus in the spring, but missed the beginning portion of practice due to an undisclosed illness. He spent the offseason working off the extra weight he added during his down time. Now having lost 20 pounds, he’s got a legitimate shot to trot out under center when South Carolina opens its season against Eastern Illinois on Sept. 4.
“(Brown) came in a little chubby,” sophomore tight end Jaheim Bell said through an ear-to-ear smirk. “But he got himself right thanks to (head strength and conditioning coach) Luke Day.”
Gauthier, too, is a largely known commodity in South Carolina circles. The three-star recruit out of Georgia came to USC as the highest-rated member of a 2021 recruiting class that was pilfered and pillaged amid the coaching change from Will Muschamp to Beamer.
The hard-rocking and equally hard-throwing Gauthier has received rave reviews from Satterfield for his ability to process the offense. Beamer added he might not be in the competition at all had he not enrolled in January.
Gauthier quipped with reporters Tuesday that defensive coordinator Clayton White’s stunts and varying coverages had him all sorts of confused during his earliest days on campus. Things have started to slow down.
“There were times where I was back there and I was like, ‘Are there 12 dudes on the field?’ ” Gauthier said as a chorus of laughs ensued. “You’ve just got to kind of figure it out and have fun with it.”
Perhaps the most unheralded of the options to replace Doty is Jordan — the longest tenured player of the group. The walk-on out of Raleigh hasn’t appeared in a game in his two-plus years at South Carolina, but he ran with the No. 2 offense during short-yardage red-zone drills on Tuesday.
“As far as now, I mean, it’s really up in the air,” Jordan said as to who will take over the starting role. “And we’re all working our butts off every single day and we’ll go from there. Who knows what will happen?”
With Doty still sidelined and riding a scooter this week, Brown ran with the first-team offense during the portion of Tuesday’s practice open to reporters.
On his first play from scrimmage, Brown tripped over himself and fumbled. The next play saw him overshoot tight end Nick Muse — who was interfered with — on a slip route toward the back of the end zone.
Jordan fared better with the second-team defense, successfully handing the ball off and connecting with Keveon Mullins for a touchdown on a roll-out pass.
Gauthier, at least in the portion reporters were privy to, didn’t throw a pass in team drills, but demonstrated a flashy deep ball during positional work.
Former Iowa State and North Dakota State quarterback Zeb Noland — who was previously working as a graduate assistant before being added to the roster this week — even threw a handful of passes on Tuesday.
“He can spin it,” Jordan said. “All of us are ballers and he is as well.”
South Carolina sits a little more than three weeks out from the opener against Eastern Illinois. The hope is Doty can heal quickly enough to start. If not, one of Brown, Jordan, Gauthier or even Noland will step out into the spotlights of Williams-Brice Stadium ready to rock an anticipated 80,000-plus crowd.
“We have 19 days, I believe, until the first game,” Brown said. “So we’re still competing for the next three weeks, and they’re going to put the best guy out there who’s going to help us win games and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
