South Carolina football recruiting former Auburn quarterback in transfer portal

The South Carolina football team’s ongoing search for a quarterback in the transfer portal has extended to another SEC school.

Multiple reports last week linked the Gamecocks to former Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford, who entered the portal Dec. 15 after two seasons with the Tigers.

Ashford, who started his college career at Oregon, told TheBigSpur last week that he’d been in touch with USC offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains “a few times” since entering the portal and has reportedly set up a visit Columbia in January.

South Carolina and other college football teams are currently in an NCAA-mandated dead period that runs through Jan. 11, 2024, but there’s a four-day window (Jan. 3-7) for transfer portal players in which they can make campus visits.

“Haven’t set up dates, but (Loggains) mentioned me coming up there for a visit,” Ashford told TheBigSpur last week.

A later report from the account College Football Edits on X (formerly Twitter) said Ashford had set up visits to South Carolina, Utah and Tulane.

Coach Shane Beamer said during his early signing day news conference last week that, while USC remained confident in redshirt freshman LaNorris Sellers and true freshman Dante Reno, they were seeking a portal addition at quarterback to add depth to the room.

Sellers — an in-state recruit and late addition to USC’s 2023 signing class — flashed in limited action this season behind Spencer Rattler, who had one of the most productive quarterback seasons in USC history in 2023 and has since declared for the 2024 NFL Draft.

“We need to get some depth in that room and some competition in that room,” Beamer said last week. “LaNorris knows that and Dante knows that, without a doubt.”

South Carolina had previously been linked to Vanderbilt quarterback AJ Swann, who chose LSU, and Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy, who chose Duke. Former Southern Cal quarterback Malachi Nelson has also expressed his interest in USC.

GamecockCentral and SportsTalkSC have also reported South Carolina’s interest in Ashford, who started nine games for Auburn in 2022 but split time throughout the 2023 season with Payton Thorne, a transfer from Michigan State.

Ashford finished his Auburn career with 1,758 passing yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions in 22 games. A former four-star 2020 recruit from Alabama, he also had 927 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns and averaged 4.7 yards per carry.

Ashford had 362 combined passing and rushing yards in 10 games in 2023. He only started one game and was primarily used as a runner and change-of-pace option after Thorne seized control of Auburn’s starting quarterback job during a 6-6 season.

He previously spent two seasons as a dual-sport athlete at Oregon but didn’t see any game action with the football team. Ashford did play in 20 games and started 10 for Oregon’s baseball team as an outfielder in spring 2021.

Since he took a redshirt year and also has a “COVID year” from the 2021 season, Ashford should have two years of eligibility remaining at his next school.

South Carolina’s been actively seeking out a transfer portal quarterback after three departures this offseason: Rattler to the NFL Draft after two memorable seasons and backups Tanner Bailey and Colten Gauthier to the portal.

That leaves Sellers, a redshirt freshman, and Reno, a four-star 2024 signee, as the only scholarship quarterbacks returning, though Luke Doty (a former QB who mostly played wide receiver this year) will also be involved with that group.

Beamer said last week that playing time has affected USC’s portal quarterback search—– namely, recruits asking the coach for something he can’t give them.

“Just to be completely and totally honest, a lot of those quarterbacks (in the transfer portal) call and said, ‘Will you guarantee me the starting quarterback job?’ ” Beamer said last week. “And I said, ‘Absolutely not. I will guarantee you the opportunity to come in here and compete.’

“We talk about competition in this building at all times. It’s on the walls in this building. I’ve never told a player, ‘I’m guaranteeing you a starting job.’ Never will. Because the minute I do, I’m a complete frickin’ fraud as a head coach.”