Shane Beamer evaluates quarterback play in South Carolina spring game

South Carolina held its spring football scrimmage over the weekend, where fans got a first look at the new and upcoming 2023 squad in the Garnet and Black game. This time around, Gamecock nation knew what to expect at the quarterback position, since 2022 starter and senior Spencer Rattler’s name is written in permanent marker at the QB1 spot on the depth chart.

However, head coach Shane Beamer still had plenty say about the quarterback room and the development of every player in it — because this was not just the Rattler show and a number of quarterbacks were able to take snaps.

Of course, Rattler only has one more year, so throughout this season South Carolina will have a close eye on the backup QB competition to see who emerges as a potential starter down the road.

As for this past weekend, Spencer Rattler performed as expected, while the rest rotated in and showed a thing or two when given the opportunity.

“I thought, overall, they did some good things,” said Beamer. “Spencer came in and did some stuff. Thought he played well. I thought Tanner (Bailey) came in and did some good things, really all of them. LaNorris (Sellers) came in as a true freshman, really poised, did some good things out there as a quarterback, same thing with Braden (Davis) and Colten (Gauthier).”

Beamer added that veteran backup Luke Doty also played well, even though the quarterback position as a whole dealt with some poor play surrounding them at times.

“I know Luke did some good things at quarterback and had some drops that hit some people right in the hands, can’t have that. There was a lot of guys on that offensive line that hadn’t necessarily been playing alongside each other, so the protection wasn’t great at times.”

Doty is the likely option as Rattler’s primary backup and has appeared in five games or more in each of the three seasons he’s been in Columbia. Whether it’s injuries, blowouts or other outstanding circumstances, most college football teams resort to their backup quarterback at some point in the season. Clearly the Gamecocks have recently as well. So you have to plan to pivot to another guy if the starter misses games. With a battle-tested veteran like Doty on the sidelines, Beamer has to feel as good as a coach can about his backup quarterback situation.