As spring wraps, Beamer says Luke Doty is Gamecocks’ starting QB
Luke Doty started spring practice getting the first-team reps for the South Carolina football team. When Sunday’s Garnet and Black spring game was over, he was still getting them — and coach Shane Beamer made it clear that he’s the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback at the moment.
After the scrimmage ended at Williams-Brice Stadium, Beamer confirmed that the Myrtle Beach High School product didn’t do anything to change his status as the top guy in USC’s quarterbacks room.
And while Beamer was quick to say it’s not as if Doty is guaranteed the starting spot come September and that he would need to continue to work through the summer and preseason camp, he also didn’t shy away from saying Doty was the team’s starting quarterback.
“Unless something changes between now and when we watch the tape, Luke Doty is our starting quarterback,” Beamer said. “Like every other position, there is going to be competition throughout the summer. By no means are we anointing Luke, but I mean, Luke has taken every rep with the first team all spring practice. I didn’t see anything today to make me think otherwise.”
In the first half of Sunday’s scrimmage, Doty completed five of seven passes for 54 yards. In the second half, when the Gamecocks focused on situational work, he converted one of three third-down situations he faced, finding receiver Dakereon Joyner over the middle for a nice gain. He also marshaled the unit well, limiting the team’s pre-snap penalties and guiding them to touchdowns in both goal line and red zone situations in the second half.
INJURY UPDATE
Beamer said during the SEC Network Plus broadcast that a full quarter of the team was unavailable for the spring game due to injury. Afterward, he told reporters that 23 players that would normally play were unavailable. The defense in particular appeared to only have 30 healthy players total to start.
“A lot of those injuries are postseason surgeries, rehab, things that we’ve already had, and some of those things are just some bumps and bruises that have happened throughout spring practice,” Beamer said.
Then, midway through the contest, starting safety R.J. Roderick went to the locker room on crutches. After the game, Beamer didn’t sound too concerned about Roderick’s long-term status, calling it a “little ankle injury.”
Because of injuries, the Gamecocks were forced to switch up the intended format of Sunday’s game. Instead of splitting the roster into two groups and scrimmaging directly, Beamer instead had to adjust.
“With that setup and knowing that, we just couldn’t divide into the two teams, so we broke it up very similar to the way we did our two scrimmages (earlier in the spring) — offense-defense there in the first half, and then the second half, so to speak, was competition.”
The following players were spotted during pregame not warming up:
- RB MarShawn Lloyd
- WR Sam Reynolds
- EDGE Jordan Strachan
- WR Ahmarean Brown
- WR Randrecous Davis
- DB Joey Hunter
- EDGE Aaron Sterling
- WR Xavier Legette
- RB Kevin Harris
- RB Bruce Staley
- RB Rashad Amos
- DB Darius Rush
- LB Mohamed Kaba
- LB Sherrod Greene
- LB Spencer Eason-Riddle
- DB James Bartholomew
- OL Jakai Moore
- EDGE Gilber Edmond
- WR Mike Wyman
- TE Jesse Sanders
Spring practice awards
During halftime of Sunday’s game, Beamer handed out a number of awards for players’ performances during the 2021 spring season. Here’s who won what.
Offensive Player of the Spring — senior tight end Nick Muse, redshirt junior wide receiver Dakereon Joyner
Defensive Player of the Spring — senior edge Kingsley Enagbare
Special Teams Player of the Spring — redshirt junior wide receiver Dakereon Joyner
The President’s Outstanding Student-Athlete Award — senior offensive lineman Dylan Wonnum
Harold White GPA Award, offense — redshirt senior running back ZaQuandre White
Harold White GPA Award, defense — junior defensive lineman Zacch Pickens
Harold White GPA Award, special teams — senior wide receiver Josh Vann, redshirt senior linebacker Brad Johnson
Gamecock Toughness Award — redshirt junior offensive lineman Jovaughn Gwyn, sophomore edge Tonka Hemingway
South Carolina Spirit Award — senior wide receiver Jalen Brooks
Plan for the summer
The Gamecocks will meet one more time on Monday, Beamer said, to officially wrap up spring practice. After that, exams for the spring semester will start, and once those wrap up, he expects many players to return home for a couple much-needed weeks off.
“I want these guys to be able to get away a little bit in May,” Beamer said. “It’s been a long year with everything that was going on — coaching change, last season, COVID. I mean, it’s been a long year, so I want these guys to be able to get away a little bit in May and be with their families and come back refreshed in June ready to work.”
After that, they’ll return to campus for offseason workouts, and strength coach Luke Day has already started planning for that, Beamer said. Preseason camp will likely start in August, and the 2021 season will kick off Sept. 4 against Eastern Illinois.
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 4:43 PM with the headline "As spring wraps, Beamer says Luke Doty is Gamecocks’ starting QB."
