Though losing QB competition ‘hurt,’ Jason Brown handles news with poise and grace
Before he stepped into Shane Beamer’s office Monday, Jason Brown had an inkling the conversation wasn’t going to go his way.
Over the weekend, Brown noticed how much more Zeb Noland was working at quarterback with South Carolina’s starters. The senior transfer could feel it in his gut that Noland was pulling away from him in USC’s unconventional quarterback competition.
Monday’s meeting with Beamer confirmed his fears. The Gamecocks head coach informed Brown that Noland — a 24-year-old graduate assistant just added to the quarterbacks room — would start USC’s Sept. 4 season opener against Eastern Illinois.
“I kind of had a feeling how it was gonna go, and I prepared myself for it,” Brown said a day later. “But I’m not gonna lie, it hurt.”
All the months of work Brown had invested since arriving to Columbia in February — after transferring from FCS school St. Francis in Pennsylvania — started flashing through his mind.
Were they for nothing?
Brown had felt that pain before. In 2018, after missing his freshman year at St. Francis with a torn ACL, Brown battled with incumbent quarterback Bear Fenimore for the right to start for the Red Flash. When Brown lost out to Fenimore for that job, he found it hard not to be bitter, to complain and dwell in negativity.
“I did those things, and I wasn’t proud of it,” Brown said. “So I kind of learned from that situation. I just self-reflected. I had to look at myself in the mirror and at the person I wanted to be.”
That person — an evolved version of Brown — took the podium Tuesday afternoon and handled Monday’s disappointment with poise and grace. Brown didn’t need to stand in front reporters Tuesday. A conflict with one of Brown’s USC classes gave him an excuse to skip the news conference if he wanted to.
Instead, Brown was the first player to step into the room.
“I’m a really positive person,” Brown said, grinning. “I haven’t really let it affect me in any way. I haven’t let it affect my teammates in any way. I haven’t ... gone over to the other quarterbacks and be like, ‘Man, you see this? Zeb’s starting over me?’ That’s not what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna be positive and as positive as I can be, because I want to see him succeed.”
In the past two weeks, Brown had seemingly gained momentum in the competition, putting together what his coaches called his best weeks of practices. After reporting to spring camp at an elevated weight, Brown took his coaches’ instruction and dropped 20 pounds over the summer and had been showing improved mobility.
Ultimately, Beamer and the Gamecocks settled on Noland due to his comfort and efficiency in running the office.
“No one has worked harder to put himself in the position that he’s in than Jason,” Beamer said. “I told him why we were making the decision that we did, that it wasn’t an indictment on him, it’s just where Zeb is right now and we need to get make sure the guy’s out there that gives us the best chance to win.”
Due to COVID-19 wiping out last season for St. Francis, Brown hasn’t started since his third year with the Red Flash, when he set single-season records with 3,084 passing yards and 28 aerial touchdowns. On Tuesday he said he still viewed the quarterback battle as an open competition, even when presumed starter Luke Doty returns from his foot injury.
But Brown also vowed to be a supportive teammate and to learn from the experiences of his past. The last quarterback he lost a battle to, Bear Fenimore, said that even at a young age, Brown didn’t let whatever negative feelings he had affect him or his teammates.
“He was never really negative, at least on the outside, whatsoever,” Fenimore told The State. “But as a quarterback, I understand, because I’ve been in plenty of quarterback competitions in my life. When you don’t win that quarterback competition, you do feel a little negative at times. But out of all the quarterbacks that I’ve met, Jason handled it the best out of any quarterback I’ve ever met.”
Fenimore, who also played with current Gamecocks receiver E.J. Jenkins at St. Francis, said he still talks with Brown on a regular basis and has kept track of the competition at South Carolina. He watched USC’s spring game and told Brown after the game that the back-corner touchdown he threw to Jenkins was “an elite throw.”
He’s a believer in Brown and isn’t surprised at his positivity in the wake of disappointing news. He also doesn’t think Gamecocks fans should count Brown out yet, praising Brown’s creativity and ability to make tough-angle throws like a Matthew Stafford or Patrick Mahomes.
“I think if he gets his opportunity to play, he’ll play lights out,” Fenimore said. “And I personally believe he wouldn’t give up the job if he has a chance.”
