When Shane Beamer and his inaugural staff came to Columbia in the 2020 offseason, the quarterback position was one that had potentially the most question marks out of any on the offensive side of the ball. Collin Hill had just exhausted all of his eligibility, Luke Doty played the final four games of the season as a true freshman, highly touted quarterback Ryan Hilinski threw just six passes and he, along with Connor Jordan wound up transferring out, and Jay Urich decided that he was done playing football.
The following season, the Gamecocks had Doty, who possessed loads of potential. Still, they got injured in fall camp, true freshman gunslinger Colten Gauthier, division three transfer Jason Brown, walk-on Jake Helfrich and graduate assistant turned starter Zeb Noland. Despite having what could be best described as a make-shift bunch of quarterbacks, head coach Shane Beamer and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield were able to squeeze seven wins out of the group assembled in year one.
Shane Beamer would achieve arguably his biggest recruiting win on December 14th, 2021, as he would land a polarizing transfer quarterback by the name of Spencer Rattler, who would lead the Gamecocks’ offense the following season. What gets lost in the shuffle, however, is that South Carolina also landed two high school prospects in Tanner Bailey and Braden Davis, both whom possessed multiple offers from major college football programs.
Add in a healthier Luke Doty, and South Carolina’s quarterback room went through this past season in a much better spot compared to what they had the year prior. In the past six months, the Gamecocks secured the pledge of 2024 blue chip quarterback Dante Reno, and also signed in-state prospect LaNorris Sellers, who’s become one of the biggest risers in the recruiting service world in the final months of the 2023 recruiting cycle.
In just the span of two calendar years, Shane Beamer and the program have gone from having few SEC quality quarterbacks, to multiple who could wait their turn behind signal callers that are just as capable as the the player in front of them. For teams who wish to contend for championships, they’ve got to have their quarterback room sorted out, or else their chances of making any noise on the national stage is slim to none.
The good news for Gamecock fans is that Shane Beamer understands this, and has transformed the quarterback room into one of best and deepest rooms in the entire SEC.
You Might Also Like:
Join the community:
You can follow us for future coverage by clicking “Follow” on the top right-hand corner of the page. Also, be sure to like us on Facebook @GamecocksDigest & follow us on Twitter at @GamecocksDigest.
Bayern Munich are known to have a mentality that is unmatched by most. This was especially true during the tenure of present-day Germany coach Hansi Flick. T
Fernandinho interrupts my flow — something he was always pretty always special at for Manchester City. I’m trying to prise out details about working under P
LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne is one of the most successful college athletes in the name, image and likeness space. Dunne, who has an On3 NIL Valuation of $3.4 mill
Saturday night will mark Dyl
