South Carolina prepping backups as Zeb Noland gets back to full health for Gamecocks
Zeb Noland isn’t quite running stadium steps, but he’s at least clambering up them.
One day removed from a surgery that addressed a torn meniscus in his right knee, head coach Shane Beamer quipped he saw Noland climbing up the bleachers at Williams-Brice Stadium to find his place in the team’s annual photo.
He might not be fully ready to take the field, but it’s certainly progress.
“You would think that after a surgery he would he would be having a hard time moving around,” Beamer said on Wednesday’s Southeastern Conference coaches teleconference. “And we just took our team picture in the football stadium and watched him with my own eyes climb a couple rows of bleachers on his own just to get in position to take the picture.”
Optimism remains that Noland will play against Florida on Saturday, Nov. 6 — South Carolina’s next game. Beamer doubled down on this train of thought on Wednesday.
Should Noland not be able to go, though, Jason Brown and Colten Gauthier have seen their reps climb in recent days.
Brown came to South Carolina from FCS St. Francis, where he connected on 253-of-411 passes for 3,124 yards, 28 touchdowns and six interceptions. Past numbers aside, he has been largely relegated to mop-up duty amid USC’s wayward quarterback equation this fall.
Around the time starter Luke Doty went down with a foot injury in fall camp, Noland was added to the roster despite to bolster depth at quarterback despite initially landing in Columbia as a graduate assistant. Roughly two weeks later he started South Carolina’s season opener against Eastern Illinois, beating out Brown and Gauthier in the process.
Brown’s opportunities have been limited. He completed 4-of-5 passes for 45 yards against the Panthers. He added one more pass attempt against then-No. 2 Georgia when Noland was hurt and Doty was forced to sit out a play when his helmet came off.
His most extensive action came on Saturday against then-No. 17 Texas A&M in the Aggies’ 44-14 rout. Brown connected on 8-of-12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, but also tossed a pair of interceptions in the process.
“He performed in front of the crowd the first time he was in our stadium (against Eastern Illinois) and played well the other night in College Station when he got in at the end of the game,” Beamer said on Wednesday. “For the most part, and today in practice, when he’s been working with the first group, he’s been good.”
Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield raved about Gauthier in the preseason, lauding his ability to understand the playbook and process information. So far, that hasn’t amounted to any real chances on the field.
Gauthier’s action has been even more limited than Brown’s. The former three-star recruit completed his lone pass attempt of the year against Eastern Illinois for a 19-yard gain, but he hasn’t seen any game action since.
“Colten is executing things at the line of scrimmage right now that NFL quarterbacks are doing now,” Satterfield said at USC’s in-house media day in August. “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.”
South Carolina’s daily practices almost always involve some variation of a simulated two-minute offense. Such is standard practice around college football.
The quarterbacks running those drills included Noland and Doty for the bulk of the season. More recently, Brown and Gauthier — who hasn’t been much more than a scout teamer in his first season in Columbia — have taken the reins of the Gamecocks’ practice sessions.
“We won’t really change much from a schematic standpoint,” Beamer said if Brown or Gauthier are called upon. “We do what we do, and it’s what those guys have been doing all season anyway. From a practice standpoint, they’re just getting a little bit more work.”
Beamer is remaining cautiously optimistic about Noland and rightfully so. He didn’t get into specifics on the injury or procedure, but there are still 10 days until South Carolina takes the field against a Florida team that has struggled of late.
The Gamecocks will need to see more progression from Noland beyond climbing up and down the bleachers just off the field at Williams-Brice Stadium before they set a game plan around him for next week.
If he is relegated to the bench, though, Brown and/or Gauthier may finally get their first real shot.
Next USC football game
Who: South Carolina vs Florida
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6
Where: Williams-Brice Stadium, Columbia
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
