Gamecocks increased competition and depth with new QB additions

As 2023 turned into 2024 and South Carolina continued to evaluate its current roster with an eye toward the transfer portal, there was one glaring need that had yet to be addressed — quarterback.

The Gamecocks head into a new season with the task of not only replacing two-year starting quarterback Spencer Rattler but also most of the depth from a room that was left with just redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers and true freshman Dante Reno as the new year began.

“When I look, and we haven’t practiced yet, but just looking at everything from an overhead view right now, I feel like every position on our team, we are better than what we were when we played Clemson in the last game,” head coach Shane Beamer said last week. “When you just look at talent level, the depth, and the experience, you name it. The quarterback position is the one you can maybe say, ‘Okay, that’s not necessarily the case,’ because of inexperience and just not a lot of depth, and that was a major problem when we started in January.”

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In the last three weeks, South Carolina had added Auburn transfer portal quarterback Robby Ashford and Oklahoma transfer Davis Beville, a preferred walk-on and Greenville native, to its roster.

Ashford spent the first two years of his career at Oregon before transferring to Auburn where he started in 2022 and served as a primary backup in 2023. Beville originally signed with Pitt before transferring to Oklahoma and then ultimately coming back to his home state.

“It’s gotten better here in the last couple of weeks, being able to bring in Davis and Robby both as well to increase the competition,” Beamer continued. “I said at the last time I was in here, you got all these quarterbacks, or anybody, that they want to be guaranteed starting jobs, and we weren’t willing to do that because two core values in this program are trust and competition. If I tell somebody something that’s not true, well, I’ve violated one of our core values. And if I tell somebody that they’re guaranteed a starting job, I’ve violated the core value of competition. So that’s what that is. We got two guys in here that were promised the opportunity to come in and compete.”

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In his one year as a college starter, Ashford was 123-of-250 passing for 1,613 yards and seven touchdowns with seven interceptions. He also rushed for 709 yards and seven scores.

A fifth-year player, Ashford has appeared in 22 career games, completing 137-of-277 passes for 1,758 yards with nine touchdowns and nine interceptions while rushing 199 times for 927 yards and 12 TDs.

Davis has played in 16 career games, making one start, and has completed 37-of-62 passes for 339 yards with one touchdown and two picks.

Ashford has two years of eligibility remaining while this will be Beville’s final season of college ball.

“They’re both guys that have started at the quarterback position in Power Five games, two good young men that will make that room better,” Beamer continued. “So we’ve increased the competition, we’ve increased the depth. Every team has a target number that you want to have on scholarship at each position. And if you say Luke Doty’s a receiver primarily right now, we started the month of January with two — LaNorris and Dante Reno — and we knew we’ve got to increase the depth in here because most teams want to have at least four, sometimes five, quarterbacks on scholarship. So those two guys make us better and eager to get going with them.”

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