The skinny on new South Carolina QB commit: ‘He works like nobody’s business’
As Hebron Christian Academy football coach Jeff Saturday talked about his quarterback, Colten Gauthier, he described a worker, someone who approached his craft with diligence and focus as he built himself up across the past two years.
In short, he’s the kind of player South Carolina coach Will Muschamp likes in his program.
“He works like nobody’s business,” Saturday said. “He’s always working, whether it’s lifting or whether it’s studying, whether it’s doing extra film, extra workouts by himself, you name it. He loves the game of football, man, and he really works that way in every area of his life.”
Gauthier committed to the Gamecocks on Wednesday, becoming the quarterback for USC’s 2020 class. Muschamp and the South Carolina staff have been after him for a while, having brought him to campus last year when he built a strong bond with then-QB coach Dan Werner.
Saturday, who played 13 years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with Indianapolis, had a long conversation with Gauthier after he committed.
“We’ve actually had a lot of conversations as the recruiting process has gone on,” Saturday said. “When he called me and told me about the commitment, we talked about it for for a good amount of time. ... I know for me, it was one of the more difficult decisions I had made when I was in his position.”
Gauthier joined the Hebron program after his first semester of high school. He’d been in a more run-heavy offense, and there was some appeal in playing somewhere with a background in a pass-heavy offense. (Saturday was Peyton Manning’s longtime center.)
Since then, the coach watched his player follow a plan and a progression in pursuit of a college dream.
At a conservative 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, Gauthier has solid size for the position and has grown each of the past two seasons. Saturday said his accuracy and decision making both improved before last season, and he threw for 2,401 yards, 20 touchdowns and 8 interceptions while connecting on 56.7% of his passes (and also scored 10 times on the ground).
Saturday praised the QB’s leadership, the respect he garners from teammates and how much time he spends studying the game. And he brings a good bit of skill as well.
“When he’s on, man, he has got an arm,” Saturday said. “He can make every throw. There’s not there’s not a throw on the field that his arm can’t get to. He truly has an extremely powerful arm, he moves well out of the pocket, completes the ball.
“The sky is kind of the limit once he gets there.”
Saturday specifically remembered a playoff game this year against Mount de Sales Academy. The Cavaliers had allowed fewer than 12 points per game to that point and were undefeated, but Gauthier led his offense to more than that in the fourth quarter and ran for another touchdown in the second.
He connected on 10 of 15 passes for 193 yards, one score, one interception and crossed the goal line on each of his three carries in a 35-6 win.
As Gauthier comes to Columbia, he’ll follow a similar path as his coach. Saturday came from the Atlanta area to the Carolinas, playing for Mack Brown at UNC in the mid-1990s.
His message ran alongside Gauthier navigating a change in position coach as Werner was let go and Mike Bobo, who years ago played with Saturday in an all-star game, took over both the offense and the quarterbacks.
“We’ve had all kinds of conversations about what the next step looks like and how important it is to be well-rounded and dive into the community you’re going to,” Saturday said. “And that’s such an important facet of the college experience is that immediately when you get there you want to jump in and be a part of that community.
“I know Colten will fall right in, his family will as well. He’ll be a Gamecock through and through.”
