Shane Beamer on Luke Doty, injuries ahead of South Carolina vs. Georgia

The Shane Beamer era is off to a great start in South Carolina. Sitting at 2-0, the Gamecocks are coming off a riveting last-second victory over the East Carolina Pirates last Saturday.

Now, Beamer and his squad have arguably their biggest challenge of the season this weekend. For the head coach’s introduction to SEC play, he gets to travel to Athens, Georgia to take on the No. 2-ranked Bulldogs. 

Prior to the huge matchup, Beamer spoke about the healthiness of his squad.

“Injury wise, we’re in really good shape as it stands here today,” said Beamer. “No major issues coming out of the East Carolina game — few bumps and bruises, but nothing that’ll prevent anyone from playing this Saturday.” 

Additionally, the preseason injury to quarterback Luke Doty caused a stir in Columbia. However, Beamer mentions that he’s looking completely healthy prior to South Carolina’s game against Georgia.

“I know you guys will ask about Luke, he was at practice today,” said Beamer. “Did more today than he did on Sunday. More on this Tuesday than he did last Tuesday. So the biggest thing with him is to get the soreness out where he feels comfortable, and knocking off the rust. He hasn’t been in a lot of 11 on 11 situations against a full defense here for awhile. So, continuing to progress and get better every week.

“Fully expect him and the rest of our guys to be 100% on Saturday night.”

Last week, Beamer was hopeful Doty would be able to return against East Carolina. However, that wasn’t the case — Zeb Noland started his second consecutive game for the Gamecocks.

Luckily, it looks like Doty will return just in time to help South Carolina attempt to pull a gigantic upset on Saturday.

‘When Luke’s ready to play, Luke will go’

The first step was getting healthy for Doty, now the focus shifts to his readiness to play. Continuing, Beamer mentions that he won’t throw Doty into game-action if he feels like he’s not ready.

“I’m not going to put Luke out there before he’s 100 percent,” Beamer said. “Luke has got to be able to get into live team reps and live 7-on-7 reps, feel good, be able to execute and also feel good the next day. We’ll see how practice goes. We were only on the practice field about 45 minutes tonight, so that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday practice will be critical.”

Moreover, Beamer stated he’s not worried that Doty’s first game may come against the vaunted Georgia Bulldogs.

“When Luke’s ready to play, Luke will go,” Beamer said. “He has to go out there and get game action at some point. Whether it’s against Georgia, Eastern Illinois or the Green Bay Packers, whenever we need to put him out there, we’ll put him out there.”

Evidently, if Luke Doty is healthy, South Carolina won’t hold him back. While the Shane Beamer era is off to a hot start, a victory over Georgia would make it scorching.