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Shane Beamer asked about South Carolina’s QB competition: ‘It’s wide open for everybody’
The start of the Shane Beamer era in Columbia starts on Saturday with the beginning of spring practice.
There are a lot of unknowns heading into the new era of Gamecock football but one of the main issues that must be resolved is the starting quarterback position.
Luke Doty is the perceived front-runner for the job after the true freshman started the final two games of the season — he appeared in eight games total, throwing for 405 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions and rushing for 91 yards — but he will have plenty of competition this spring in Columbia.
South Carolina added transfer Jason Brown from FCS program St. Francis (Pa.) this offseason, as well as a former four-star recruit in true freshman Colten Gauthier. Beamer also noted that redshirt sophomore Connor Jordan will be given an opportunity to impress the Gamecock staff this spring.
Here is what Beamer had to say on Thursday when asked if Doty is the team’s starting quarterback entering spring camp.
“I think every position is a clean slate,” Beamer answered. “We weren’t here last year and we have a lot of new faces and I’ll be honest with him, I’ve spent zero time talking with our staff about, ‘Okay, this guy is the returning starter at this position.’ I mean, it’s wide open for everybody.
The way Beamer views it, everything must be earned and nothing will be given under his leadership.
“One of the core values of this program is competition and we are going to be about competition every single day,” Beamer continued. “The fact that Luke Doty is the only quarterback we have in the building that has started a game at Carolina and there are four in that room, with Jason, Colton and Connor, those guys just got here in January.
“Yeah, I would imagine Luke Doty is going to go out there with the first offense on Saturday morning and take the first rep with the first offense, but after that, it’s wide-open competition.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com