Myrtle Beach’s Doty says he plans to compete right away for starting QB job at USC
Luke Doty has signed to play football at the University of South Carolina, and he’s ready to compete for the starting quarterback job immediately.
The Myrtle Beach High senior signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday and will enroll at USC in January, and hopes to battle incumbent freshman Ryan Hilinski and redshirt freshman Dakereon Joyner of North Charleston for the Gamecocks’ starting QB job.
Doty said he has received indication from head coach Will Muschamp that the starting quarterback job is open for competition. Both Muschamp and new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo visited Doty last week.
“When they were at my house last week, they both said it’s definitely going to be a competition, everybody is going to come in on the same page,” Doty said at his signing at Myrtle Beach High. “It’s going to be a competition, so I love a good competition. I’m excited for it. To compete against Ryan and Dakereon is going to be a lot of fun. We’re going to push each other and have a lot of fun doing it.”
Bobo, the former Colorado State head coach and Georgia offensive coordinator, was recently hired by Muschamp to replace Bryan McClendon, who was on staff with Bobo at Georgia.
“I think [Bobo] brings a lot of good things to the table offensively and I’m really just excited to get there in January and start learning from him,” Doty said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to it.”
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound quarterback received the 2019 South Carolina Mr. Football award on Saturday during halftime of the North-South all-star game at Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium. He impressed at the exclusive Elite 11 quarterback competition this summer in Texas and was heavily recruited, but chose to play just a 2 1/2-hour drive from Myrtle Beach in Columbia.
“It was just home. It’s my home state,” Doty said. “I knew that I had a great opportunity there, that coach Muschamp was going to be great, and I’m just so happy putting pen to paper and making it official, it’s just a dream come true.”
Doty led the Seahawks to the 2018 state Class 4A title and in 2019, he completed 129 of 201 passes for 1,817 yards and 25 touchdowns, and added 404 yards and four TDs rushing, to lead the Seahawks to a nine-game undefeated regular season.
His season was cut short when he broke a bone at the base of his right thumb in the first half of the Seahawks’ opening playoff game and had surgery five weeks ago to place a plate and eight screws that will remain in the thumb. “I should be ready to go in probably about another week, so I’ll come in in January ready to go,” Doty said.
The Seahawks won four playoff games to reach the 4A state title game but fell to Wren 35-23 on Dec. 7 at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.
Doty was a two-year starter at Myrtle Beach. As a junior, he completed 72 percent of his passes for 3,037 yards and 36 touchdowns while also amassing 701 rushing yards and another seven scores on the ground.
“I feel like I’ve done a pretty great job at Myrtle Beach. Hopefully I’ll be remembered as one of the best, and I’m so excited to start the next chapter,” Doty said. “. . . I just can’t thank Myrtle Beach enough for everything they’ve done for me.”
Other Grand Strand players took advantage Wednesday of the third year of the early signing period.
Conway defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway also signed with the Gamecocks, and Carolina Forest quarterback Mason Garcia signed with East Carolina. They both took part in a ceremony in Spartanburg, site of the Shrine Bowl high school all-star football game that they are playing in Saturday.
Doty was also selected for the game that pits the best players in South Carolina against those from North Carolina, but will miss the game because of the thumb surgery.
This story was originally published December 18, 2019 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach’s Doty says he plans to compete right away for starting QB job at USC."
