Zeb Noland signs off on playing days as his future at South Carolina comes into focus
Zeb Noland’s career as a college football player has finally reached its end.
Noland — who began the season as a graduate assistant before being moved to South Carolina’s active roster — won two games for the Gamecocks this year as a starter and carried USC to a last-minute win over Vanderbilt.
The former Iowa State and North Dakota State signal-caller penned a brief farewell to South Carolina fans on Friday morning on Twitter.
“What a career, with so many memories at every stop!” Noland wrote. “To my final ride with Gamecock Nation I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Most importantly to every teammate at every school you know I love you guys, thank you!”
Noland finished the 2021 campaign by completing 3 of 6 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown in Thursday’s win over North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
He concludes his one year at South Carolina having connected on 53 of 95 passes for 690 yards, seven touchdowns and just one interception over parts of seven games.
Before the bowl, Noland declared himself a “Gamecock for life” and said he hoped to return to assist the USC coaches.
“There’s no other place I’d like to be,” Noland said in a pre-bowl press conference. “I’m a Gamecock for life now, and I take that to heart. ... My goal is to come back and whatever they ask me to do, I’ll do.”
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer said Friday on the “Pat McAfee Show” that the plan is for Noland to be a graduate assistant again in 2021.
“We told Zeb that depending on how he played yesterday in the bowl game — cause he’s going to be a graduate assistant again for us next season — we told him, ‘If you play well you get to play with the quarterbacks. If you don’t, you’re going to be the offensive line graduate assistant,’ ” Beamer said in jest. “I think we’re going to let him go with the quarterbacks.”
