QB Jason Brown has one big regret from his time at South Carolina
Jason Brown had a long, winding college football career that lasted seven years and saw him make appearances at four schools.
One of those seasons was spent at South Carolina in 2021, where he played an integral part in Shane Beamer’s first year as head coach of the Gamecocks.
Brown made stops at two more colleges after his lone year at USC, and when he looks back on his career there is one decision he regrets making to this day.
Leaving South Carolina.
“I thought about it every day when I left,” Brown told The State.
Brown transferred to South Carolina after spending 2017-20 at FCS school St. Francis in Pennsylvania. By his redshirt sophomore year (2019) he was a bonafide starter and set a new single-season record for passing touchdowns (28) and yards (3,084) at SFU.
He committed to Beamer and the Gamecocks before spring practice in 2021, along with St. Francis teammate EJ Jenkins. Brown played in seven games for South Carolina. It may not seem like a lot of time, but his lone season in Columbia left an impact on him.
“I would say, just the relationships that I made there,” Brown said when asked why he regrets transferring. “... Just the people and everything. Beamer, everything that’s involved with South Carolina football is just great.”
Brown went 2-2 in his four starts for the Gamecocks, all made after he had to replace a then-budding star in Luke Doty and graduate assistant-turned-quarterback in Zeb Noland.
He threw for 721 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions and helped clinch a bowl berth with late-season wins over Florida and Auburn. Both of those games, which Brown combined for a total 332 yards and five touchdowns in, are what he considers the highlights of his time in Columbia.
“Outside of my dad and my family, I don’t think anybody thought we were gonna win,” Brown said. “We were already 20-point underdogs (against Florida), we were struggling throughout the year, (then) the third string quarterback comes in. They didn’t expect us to win. So it was just a great experience.”
Things seemingly were going well for Brown. Even after a two-interception performance in a big loss to Clemson to end the season, he felt like he had some momentum. Then, two weeks before South Carolina was slated to play North Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, Spencer Rattler announced he was planning to transfer and play for the Gamecocks.
Two days later, Brown announced his intentions to leave South Carolina.
“I thought that I would have a chance to be the starter the next year, for my last year,” Brown recalled. “Rattler goes there, who’s a Heisman finalist — really, really, really good at football. Better than me in football. I’m not a dummy. I was a little upset at first, but then again coaches have jobs that they have to do. They have a family they have to feed. They’ve got to do what’s best for the program, ultimately, and that just wasn’t me being the starting quarterback.”
Brown, who is from Fredericksburg, Virginia, ultimately transferred to his “dream school” at Virginia Tech a few weeks later. On the same night Brown announced his commitment, the Hokies also picked up a pledge from former Marshall quarterback Grant Wells.
Brown’s lone season at Virginia Tech was lackluster. Wells ultimately won the starting job and Brown played in just three games, logging 65 passing yards on 13 attempts.
“I was told I was going to be the guy, and it didn’t happen,” Brown said of his time at Virginia Tech. “So it was just like a wasted year of football for me. ... I regretted leaving (South Carolina) heavily. It was a hard decision to leave, that’s for sure. I really do wish that it was this decision that I never made, and I just stayed.”
Armed with one more year of eligibility, Brown hopped in the transfer portal one last time. He ultimately transferred back to the FCS level to play for Jackson State.
He played in eight games with the Tigers and totaled 1,443 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions. Brown credited his time at South Carolina for helping him land at Jackson State.
“(South Carolina) really opened the door for a bunch of other things,” Brown said. “I’ve met so many people because of South Carolina. When I left there I had the opportunity to play at two other schools, and it was based off of that place. Because I didn’t play Virginia Tech. So Jackson State didn’t take me because of that film. They took me based off my time at South Carolina.”
Nowadays, Brown is newly married and living in Arizona while working for State Farm. Despite playing for multiple schools, he considers “we” to be South Carolina and hopes Beamer and the Gamecocks continue to have success. Brown also said he hopes one day to have a spot on staff, in any capacity.
“Reflecting back it’s nice knowing that I was able to have a positive impact on Beamer’s first year, and then potentially the years to come,” Brown said. “...These recruits that we get today — say we never make a bowl game that first year. Then people don’t believe in the program, because they don’t see the vision that Beamer has, or something like that. I really do truly think that us making a bowl game that year really had a good trajectory, and that he’s continuing to do an amazing job.”
