Dowell Loggains shares quarterback rotation outlook for spring

Following the first day of Gamecocks spring football practice, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains shared his outlook on the quarterback position.

Loggains emphasized the importance of players’ winter workout efforts and the leadership intangibles necessary to lead the offense.

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“The winter workouts were a big deal. Because I want to see how people interact with their teammates. I want to see how they lead,” he said. “There’s a lot of different ways to lead, you can lead by example, you can lead by being vocal.”

It can be a balancing act trying to get incumbent starter Spencer Rattler and veteran backup Luke Doty acquainted to the offense while also getting enough of an evaluation tool for the Gamecocks’ young quarterbacks on the roster.

Loggains also shared the internal process of evaluating and establishing a hierarchy in the quarterback room and his staff’s message to the players competing for the starting job.

“It will continue to go every day, it will be fluid and we’ve told them there is no depth chart, there will be interchange, we hope it’s fair, but you also control what’s fair with how you work and how you prepare and how you compete,” Loggains said.

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Those competing include a pair of household names in Columbia as well as a freshman signal caller. All of whom earned praise from their new offensive coordinator.

Ratter is undoubtedly going to be the Gamecocks’ starter this season barring something incredibly unforeseen. But Loggains has been impressed with some younger guys on the roster like four-star freshman LaNorris Sellers.

“There’s no depth chart but you have to set an order of rotation. So LaNorris Sellers had a great offseason so he got some reps that maybe a freshman wouldn’t get all the time because of the way he worked, the way he competed,” Loggains continued.

“He’s a very quiet kid, he leads by example. He’s always here, he’s the first one in the mornings, every morning. And he’s the last one to leave when we do our winter workouts. He’s out there under the lights by himself. I’m sitting in my office watching him throw and that counts to me, that matters.”

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In addition to praising the newcomer, Loggains expressed his appreciation of the longest-tenured Gamecocks quarterback on the roster.

“Luke Doty is a guy I have an extreme amount of respect for,” Loggains said. “I love him as a player, I love him as a coach. He’s a guy you want to coach, he’s a leader, he’s a great sounding board for Spence, he helps, he asks questions.

Loggains continued to compliment Doty while providing a more realistic outlook on his quarterbacks’ roles.

“He is a guy that deserves a lot of credit for being a great teammate and a great leader on this team. He’s not going to be the starter most likely,” Loggains said. “I mean, we say there’s no depth chart but Spencer Rattler’s going to be our quarterback, as you guys know. But he’s also pushing and helping Spence get better.”

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Despite tagging Rattler as South Carolina’s likely first-team quarterback, Loggains made sure to emphasize the work required and abilities necessary for success at the position.

“Everything’s earned. Well you worked your butt off in the offseason, so this is how we’re going to start the rotation,” he said. “

You’ve got to go play and when the ball’s snapped. And we put the ball down and it’s 11-on-11, 7-on-7 you’ve got to make good decisions, play with timing and have accuracy. But that’s where it starts.”

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