Robby Ashford's perspective on South Carolina's QB battle and why it's 'better than any competition' he's been in
Not all quarterback competitions are as good as the one going on at South Carolina right now. Just ask Robby Ashford. He’s seen firsthand what a bad one can do to a team’s chemistry.
“There’s a lot of individualized stuff in the other places I’ve been. Everybody just wanted it for themselves; it wasn’t even about the team,” Ashford said. “It just drew a lot of people apart, had people trying to pick sides at the other places I was at. Like, ‘Oh, these group of people messing with this guy or this quarterback. This group messes with this other quarterback.’ That’s not healthy for a team. I felt a lot of that, definitely at Auburn. I mean, it definitely divided our team and I’ve seen how it can be bad for a team.”
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Coming into his first year at South Carolina, Ashford knew he was going to have to battle for the starting quarterback job. The Gamecocks already had LaNorris Sellers, who sat behind Spencer Rattler last year and had the benefit of already learning the offensive system. The big thing for Ashford was to make sure, however this competition goes down, it doesn’t turn ugly or create any problems.
“It was like, I don’t want that to happen. I hope this is just smooth sailing like everybody knows were here to compete. I hope we all love each other at the end of the day,” he said. “There’s only one that can go out there and play, but we’re all pushing each other to get better. I think that’s the biggest difference.”
So far in fall camp, things have been great between Ashford and Sellers. No divide, no rift. Ashford called it “better than any competition” he’s ever been in before. And a big reason for that is the connection the two share.
“We keep it fun in there,” Ashford said. “I’m the older guy, so I kind of look at LaNorris like a little brother. I’m like, ‘You’re little bro.’ We just come out there and we just try to have fun with the work.
“Me and him, man, we’ve got a great relationship. Really thankful for him, and he’s just a young guy who just wants to be great, and you love to work with guys like that. We can just joke around and have fun. We live in the same apartment complex, so we’re cool.”
While things have been going well, Ashford knows Sellers is the guy right now at the position. Well before fall camp started, Beamer had already named Sellers as the starter coming out of spring practice.
With a few weeks to go until the regular season starts, South Carolina hasn’t named a starter yet and probably won’t until closer to game week. In the meantime, Ashford has been doing what he can to help Sellers get better while also furthering his own game for when he gets his chance.
“He’s QB1 coming into it — I respect that,” Ashford said. “He’s been here, he’s done what he’s needed to do, and it’s just my job to just be able to help him and be ready to play. When my time is called, I know I’ll get it.”
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However, it may be a closer competition than most might think. Sellers seems to be the heavy favorite to start the year under center. But Ashford said he’s also been doing some good work in practice.
“I feel like we’ve both done great things this spring,” he said. “We’ve both done things we want to have back. But I think there’s a lot to work on.”
Even if Ashford isn’t the starter, he did hint at the idea of South Carolina potentially using both quarterbacks in the offense this season. And why not? It would seem wise to utilize Ashford’s tools, which are similar to Sellers’ with size and speed, and put him in some situations he would be suited for.
Ultimately, if the team needs to use him in the offense, Ashford is open to doing it. However that may look, he just wants to play ball.
“At the end of the day, who doesn’t want to play? I always want to be on that field,” Ashford said. “So I’m going to do whatever it takes, LaNorris is going to do whatever it takes. We’re only making each other better.”
