How and why South Carolina added a sixth QB to Gamecocks’ roster
Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks added a surprise extra player to the quarterback room at the start of preseason camp.
But Brandon Cunningham joining the South Carolina football team nearly didn’t happen.
Last summer, ahead of his senior season at T.L. Hanna High School, Cunningham impressed Beamer during a camp. While Cunningham was making plays as a quarterback, Beamer and his staff felt he could make an impact elsewhere on the field.
“Really impressive, playing quarterback for his school, obviously,” Beamer recalled. “...We talked to him about, ‘With your size and the way that you run, not saying that you can’t play quarterback at the next level, but we really think you could potentially be a receiver or defensive back, because you’re tough, you’re athletic, you’re a good football player, you can run.’”
Cunningham was “adamant” he was going to play quarterback in college, Beamer said. He was T.L. Hanna’s starter for his senior season and earned an all-region selection. The USC staff kept an eye on Cunningham, but “he played quarterback and that was kind of it,” Beamer recalled.
“I thought that was going to be what he chased as he went into college,” Beamer said.
Then Beamer got a call one day this summer saying Cunningham had been accepted into the University of South Carolina, planned on enrolling and wouldn’t be playing football.
Immediately, Beamer gave Cunningham a call.
“I called him up and I’m like, ‘Hey, bud. If you’re coming here and you want to play football, we’d love to have you. That conversation that I had with you last summer has not changed. We think that ultimately you’re a receiver or a defensive back. But, we want you to, if you’re interested, do that,’ ” Beamer recalled.
Cunningham jumped right into summer workouts in June, Beamer said. And the Gamecocks are giving him a chance at QB — for now.
“He wasn’t even planning on coming to play football,” Beamer said. “I think he was literally going to [high school] graduation and was probably planning on just having a heck of a summer hanging out in the Upstate, and then a week later, he’s getting his face blown off by Coach [Luke] Day out here in summer workouts as well. I’m proud of him from the standpoint.”
Cunningham is listed at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds on South Carolina’s roster. He’s also the only player on the roster not named Luke Doty whose position is listed as “athlete.”
While he may be wearing a green jersey for now — the color jersey Gamecocks use to designate quarterbacks in practice — Beamer was still adamant he sees Cunningham at a different position somewhere down the line.
“I do think long term, his position is probably receiver, defensive back,” Beamer said. “He’s working as a quarterback for us right now, just to have another arm in that room. Obviously, we’ve got Luke, we got LaNorris (Sellers), we got Cutter (Woods), we got Air (Noland), we got Jimmy Francis. . ... We’d like to have six arms. So he’s working as a quarterback right now.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 7:15 AM.
