Beamer has 'a lot of confidence' in South Carolina quarterbacks behind Sellers
Shane Beamer doesn’t have a quarterback controversy on his hands, but instead he has a good problem at quarterback many teams would like to have.
When South Carolina returns from its bye week to prepare to face Ole Miss on Oct. 5, it should be getting back its starting quarterback. After not playing on Saturday, LaNorris Sellers, who is dealing with a sprained ankle, has been feeling good and could be ready to go for the team’s next game.
“We’ll be smart with him this week. I mean we don’t have to get him ready for a game this Saturday,” Beamer said. “Practices this week will be similar to previous off weeks, we’re not going to be out there two-plus hours every day. But we’ll get a lot of really good work in in the time we’re on the field. So, we’ll be smart with how we use him and get him back in there slowly so he can be at his best next week when we get to game week.”
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Even with Sellers missing a start, he’s still “QB1.” He has been from the start of the season and will continue to be as long as he’s healthy. He’s the current and future of the program at the quarterback position.
If for some reason, though, Sellers were to ever go down with an injury again, Beamer now has real options at quarterback. In South Carolina’s 50-7 win over Akron, Robby Ashford made his first start of the year and Davis Beville later came in when the game was in hand in the fourth quarter.
Saturday proved to be a much better outing for Ashford as he looked more poised and comfortable under center. After all, he did have a week to prepare for this start compared to when he was thrown into the fire against LSU after Sellers got hurt.
Ashford completed 15 of his 21 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 133 yards and capped his night off with a 36-yard touchdown run on his final play in the fourth quarter.
“I’ve said all along I felt like we had multiple quarterbacks that we could win with. When we named LaNorris the starter, it wasn’t like Robby lost the job. We felt confident in Robby and that’s why we’ve tried to get him into games in regular situations,” Beamer said.
“… Robby did a great job (Saturday) and took a step, for sure. Nothing against the way that he practiced, but I thought he played a lot better than he even practiced this week as well. Looked very poised and calm.”
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Ashford ended up finishing as the highest-graded quarterback, according to Pro Football Focus, with a 93.8 rating in Week 4. Beamer was impressed with some of the longer throws Ashford was able to make, completing five passes for 27 or more yards. His longest pass of the night was a 44-yard throw on a crossing route to Gage Larvadain in the third quarter.
“I mean, he made some big-time throws,” Beamer said. “I mean, that throw to Gage over there on Akron’s sideline, that was a big-time throw. He released that ball before Gage even came out of his break. Some big-time throws and then you saw what he could do with his feet.”
In the 16 snaps Beville played on Saturday, he made the most of his limited opportunity. He completed 4-of-6 passes for 33 yards and threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Connor Cox. It was his first touchdown since Dec. 30, 2021, when he was playing with Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl against Michigan State.
“He’s been on quite the journey in his college football career and for him to get in there, he’s an awesome teammate, he’s so supportive and a great confidant, whatever you want to call it to LaNorris and Robby both,” Beamer said. “For him to be able to get in there and make some throws and throw his first touchdown pass since 2021, I was told in the locker room, it’s pretty cool for him.”
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And (I’m) really proud of Davis too. He’s been on quite the journey in his college football career and for him to get in there, he’s an awesome teammate, he’s so supportive and a great confidant, whatever you want to call it to LaNorris and Robby both. For him to be able to get in there and make some throws and throw his first touchdown pass since 2021, I was told in the locker room, it’s pretty cool for him.”
So, while things will return to normal once Sellers is back, Beamer and South Carolina now have a much better idea of who can play well behind him if needed. Luckily for him, he now has two quarterbacks in the waiting who can step up at any given moment.
“(I’ve) got a lot of confidence in that quarterback position,” Beamer said. “… We’ve got multiple quarterbacks that can help us win football games and proud of all three of those guys in the way they continue to help each other and how they continue to get better.”
