Shane Beamer talks quarterback battle with a starter yet to be announced
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer has yet to declare his starting quarterback for the 2024 season. However, Beamer has built a quarterback room to where he feels, whoever he goes with, they can win games.
As of right now, LaNorris Sellers, Robby Ashford and Davis Beville are all in the mix for the starting job. One thing that Ashford and Beville have over a young arm like Sellers is experience. Between Pittsburgh and Oklahoma, Beville has played in 16 career games. Ashford has appeared in 22 contests between his two former schools, with 10 starts at Auburn.
“When I said I feel like we have two quarterback we got multiple quarterbacks that I feel like we can win games with, I mean that,” Beamer said. “I mean, when you talk about Davis and Robby, you’re talking about two guys that have started games. I guess, with Texas or with Oklahoma now being in the SEC, they’ve started SEC games.”
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Despite his lack of starting experience, Sellers continues to make a name for himself through his skill and mobility. In three games played last season, Sellers completed 100 percent of his passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns. While a small sample size, he looks to be the leading candidate for the job since he’s already spent a year in Dowell Loggains’ offensive system.
Additionally, Sellers has great size, much like the other two quarterbacks, which could be a big deal in the run game this year. Standing at 6-foot-3, 242 pounds, Sellers has a physical advantage on the field.
“You know, when you’re 240 pounds and run close to 22 miles an hour, you got a pretty good idea of when he gets rolling, he’ll be hard to break down,” Beamer said. “And the thing for him is all those guys just continue to develop, throwing the ball and everything else that goes into the run game as well.”
Overall, though, Beamer feels good about where Sellers and the others are at. He said he’ll start to have conversations this upcoming week with the quarterbacks, and just the players in general, about what their roles will look like heading into the season.
“I feel confident in all those guys, and we’ll sit back and kind of look at everything. And that’s not to say that LaNorris hasn’t continued to improve. He has,” Beamer said. “I mean, LaNorris has had a great preseason.”
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Under the guidance of Loggains, all three players have continued to make strides towards a starting role. However with everyone making big plays, the competition continues to grow.
“I feel like Robby and Davis continue to get better, without a doubt, at the quarterback position,” Beamer said. “All those guys would like to have plays that they could have back over the last, whatever it is, 14 practices that we’ve had.”
Despite a starter not being named, pros of having a good quarterback room is the competition. With the spot up for grabs, every player has continued to compete throughout the summer into fall camp.
“Certainly like the group, and we are all about competition. Love to compete,” Beamer said. “Those guys have done a great job of competing and pushing each other, and they will continue to no matter what, no matter who goes out there for the first play against Old Dominion in two weeks.”
