What Beamer said about Luke Doty status, Zeb Noland’s performance after close ECU win
South Carolina graduate assistant-turned-quarterback Zeb Noland started for the second time in Saturday’s 20-17 win over East Carolina.
Luke Doty, the Gamecocks’ presumptive starter heading into 2021, didn’t play in Greenville as he continues to recover from a left foot injury suffered during fall camp. Head coach Shane Beamer said he didn’t feel confident putting Doty out there against East Carolina.
“Percentage-wise, I think he’s good, it’s just the soreness is the issue with him right now,” Beamer told reporters after the game. “He’d be good for a few plays. After that, some of the soreness would kick in, and with some of the stuff that was going on with East Carolina defensively, we just didn’t feel great putting them out there.”
Noland’s day was anything but even. He finished his East Carolina campaign going 13-of-21 passing for 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
He appeared to be working through communication errors with receivers, but he also landed some key throws — most notably to wide receivers Josh Vann and Dakereon Joyner, who emerged as Noland’s favorite targets.
Joyner was the only other Gamecock to snaps at QB on Saturday, but he threw no passes.
“Zeb will be the first to tell you he missed some wide-open receivers today,” Beamer said. “There were some protection issues that we’ve got to be better at handling. We were turning some guys free.”
Beamer said he feels “fully confident” that Doty will be at 100% for next week’s SEC opener at Georgia, which leaves the state of the quarterback position in a competition once again heading into Week 3.
This story was originally published September 11, 2021 at 4:29 PM with the headline "What Beamer said about Luke Doty status, Zeb Noland’s performance after close ECU win."
