USC has a new-look QB room. Where LaNorris Sellers, Robby Ashford fit in
On Tuesday, 43 days after the transfer portal officially opened, South Carolina not only landed a scholarship quarterback, the Gamecocks landed their date to prom.
Finally.
Auburn transfer quarterback Robby Ashford made it happen. He was the one to accept the rose from Shane Beamer and Co. after the Gamecocks had spent weeks either unwilling to extend a rose or rejected when they did.
They were the ones sitting by as their classmates scooped up dates. The ones looking around at a market running dry.
Vanderbilt transfer A.J. Swann chose LSU over South Carolina. Texas transfer Maalik Murphy chose Duke over South Carolina. Louisiana transfer Zeon Chriss chose Houston over South Carolina. Southern Cal transfer Malachi Nelson chose Boise State over South Carolina. Florida State transfer Tate Rodemaker picked Southern Mississippi. TCU transfer Chandler Morris chose North Texas.
And on and on and on.
Based on the timing, Ashford was not South Carolina’s first choice. He might not have been their fifth.
Beamer’s reasoning for the delay in landing a quarterback was simplistic at its core, but layered with intricacies and questions.
Basically, Beamer said, quarterbacks who enter the transfer portal are often seeking a guarantee that they will become the starter. And Beamer admitted he wasn’t willing to give that assurance to anyone.
“We talk about competition in this building at all times. It’s on the walls in this building,” Beamer said in his December signing day press conference. “I’ve never told a player, ‘I’m guaranteeing you a starting job.’ Never will. Because the minute I do, I’m a complete fricken’ fraud as a head coach in that.”
The first question that comes to mind: Is it that bad to guarantee a proven portal quarterback the starting job — even secretly? Would it be so bad to tell (hypothetically) a graduate with one year of eligibility left its their job in 2024? Wouldn’t people be fine if Beamer told Arkansas transfer KJ Jefferson (now committed to UCF) that he would be the Week One starter if he joined the Gamecocks?
Then there’s the next thought: How many quarterbacks were actually looking for a verbal agreement that they would start? How many didn’t choose the Gamecocks because there wasn’t a guarantee? How many guys actually turned down South Carolina and how many did South Carolina let walk away?
And, finally, what might be the most important: What does all of this say about LaNorris Sellers, the redshirt freshman quarterback who might be the big winner in all of this? How much of Beamer’s stand is grounded in his trust in Sellers?
If there were odds on such things, Sellers would be the betting favorite to start for the Gamecocks next season. He’s been in the program. He’s developed under offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains. He’s spent a year immersed in USC’s offense.
And, well, Ashford does not have the pedigree of a Jefferson or Murphy or one of those big-name talents who does not need any verbal guarantee to know he’s starting.
Ashford will compete for the starting job. Perhaps he’ll even win it. But his commitment — and the date of it — is perhaps the biggest affirmation Sellers could receive.
If South Carolina was not sold — or, at least, trusting — of Sellers, one would think there would have been more of an effort to find a portal quarterback quicker. To snatch up a prom date early rather than late.
Perhaps there would have been guarantees. Or, better yet, someone so good that the starting job is a given. Sort of like when Spencer Rattler arrived in Columbia ahead of the 2022 season and joined a Gamecocks team without a clear QB1. That USC team opened the 2021 season with a graduate assistant at quarterback and ended with a wide receiver starting under center.
In other words: Rattler didn’t need a guarantee to know he was starting.
Sellers likely does not have that assurance because he does not have that experience. He has played in three collegiate games and thrown just four passes. He is still an unknown. Still raw. Still new to the SEC.
But Sellers blows up his own hype balloon with every moonshot touchdown and broken-tackle score. He is a homegrown youngster with the athleticism and poise to think he could start in the SEC next season, a year of learning from Rattler and Loggains already under his belt.
Ashford, though, has actually started games in the SEC. The similarly-built 6-foot-3, 218-pound quarterback spent his first two collegiate seasons on the sidelines at Oregon before transferring to Auburn.
He started nine games for the Tigers in 2022, throwing for 1,613 yards and running for 709 yards while throwing as many touchdowns (7) as interceptions (7). This past season, Ashford backed up up Payton Thorne and threw just 27 passes.
His commitment to South Carolina bolsters the Gamecocks’ quarterback room to four — maybe five. The “maybe” is Luke Doty, who is still listed as a quarterback but will primarily focus on playing wide receiver in 2024.
That leaves Sellers, Ashford, freshman Dante Reno and Oklahoma transfer Davis Beville (a walk-on), which is probably where the Gamecocks wanted to be numbers-wise. Last year, South Carolina rostered just five quarterbacks, if you include Doty.
Regardless, there will be more intrigue around the quarterback position these next few months. Rattler is gone. A quarterback competition is here.
LaNorris Sellers vs. Robby Ashford. Ding. Ding. Ding.
This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 8:00 AM.
