Shane Beamer’s backup QB declaration sets up intriguing competition
Luke Doty has all the makings of your ideal backup quarterback, which is to say he can get thrown into any game and competently run the offense. That his ethos solely revolves around what’s best for the team. That he brings leadership and experience and a calming voice.
And well, yes, that he is old.
“Every time Luke starts talking, it’s like, ‘OK, here we go, grandpa’s talking again,’ ” said USC starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers. “He just laughs at it.”
This is college football’s version of watching games on an NFL Sunday — the starter comes in and out trots that guy. Some dude who might be 50 years old and played on a dozen teams. You couldn’t pick him out of a lineup of three people but you know the name — guys like Brian Hoyer, Josh McCown, Chase Daniel, Jacoby Brissett, on and on and on.
OK, Doty’s not that old. But he is 23 (and turns 24 in late October), graduated high school in December 2019, graduated USC with a master’s degree in May and is about to enter his sixth season at South Carolina.
On Thursday, a day before the Gamecocks began preseason camp, Shane Beamer made a bit of news by saying that if Carolina played Virginia Tech tomorrow and Sellers left the game, it would be Doty running in to take the snap.
In other words: Doty heads into preseason camp as the Gamecocks’ backup over Ohio State transfer Air Noland and true freshman Cutter Woods.
That is also not to say Doty is the guaranteed backup quarterback. It may take the entire preseason camp before Beamer and his coaching staff settle on not only QB2, but the third-stringer as well.
“That second quarterback and third quarterback battle is something,” Beamer said. “All of those guys have had really good summers and I’m looking forward to seeing how those guys evolve over the next month.”
Still, Beamer’s proclamation caught some off-guard. Not for any real reason, but perhaps because most people cannot fathom that Doty is still playing college football, let alone back playing quarterback.
Heck, Doty has been in quarterback battles at South Carolina since 2020. He started a few games that season, was going to be the starter in 2021 but got hurt. Then USC brought in Spencer Rattler. Doty redshirted one season before moving to wide receiver, where he caught 13 passes in 2023 and just three last year.
He returned to South Carolina for a sixth year, a move that initially felt about as newsworthy as Beamer brushing his teeth. Sure, Doty was a great teammate, played on special teams and knew the playbook, but he hardly saw the field in 2024. Why was that going to change in 2025?
Who knew all it would take was a full-time move back to quarterback?
Doty was working with the quarterbacks this spring, which didn’t seem like a big deal because he did the same thing last spring and didn’t throw a pass during the season. It felt almost like a token designation that would quickly fade.
Then came the spring game. Doty was not just at quarterback, but starting for the garnet team over redshirt freshman Dante Reno, who has since transferred to Yale. And he wasn’t just at quarterback — he played really well. Dissecting defenses. Making quick decisions. Setting up his receivers. Just before halftime, Doty fired an out route to Malik Clark for a touchdown that ended up as the winning score.
Doty’s performance unexpectedly crowded South Carolina’s QB room. Reno left, but Noland and Woods stayed.
On one hand, it’ll be a bit surprising if Doty beats both of them out for the backup job. On the other, it won’t really matter. Doty is gone at the end of the year. Sellers — if the draft projections are accurate — might be gone, too.
Which means that Woods, Noland and true freshman Landon Duckworth would be competing for the 2026 starting job. Knowing that, the QB3 competition — if Doty is the backup — becomes a lot more fascinating.
But that’s all a long way away. The 2025 backup job still needs to be settled. But for now, Doty is the favorite.
This story was originally published August 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Shane Beamer’s backup QB declaration sets up intriguing competition."
