South Carolina has a QB battle going on, just not at the starter or backup spots
South Carolina’s revolving door at quarterback in 2021 has Marcus Satterfield thinking differently about his signal-callers these days. It’s not so much a change in philosophy. Rather, it’s thinking in surplus.
“I‘m gonna keep recruiting quarterbacks until (Beamer) tells me to stop,” Satterfield told The State this summer. “I’m never gonna put myself in that situation again where we don’t have a guy ready.”
South Carolina’s reloaded quarterback room is well-documented. Oklahoma import Spencer Rattler is the headliner and, assuming all goes to plan, will be the starter throughout the 2022 campaign. Last year’s projected starter, Luke Doty, has also earned as much praise as anyone throughout the offseason.
But take glance a little further down the roster. That’s where things get interesting.
Second-year signal-caller Colten Gauthier, walk-on Jalen Daniels and freshmen Tanner Bailey and Braden Davis are duking it out — albeit in limited opportunities — to back up the more solidified players atop the Gamecocks’ quarterback depth chart.
“We’re trying to figure out who is going to be that third guy going into the season,” Beamer said. “There’s a lot of them.”
Bailey has, at least in theory, felt like a logical choice to inherit the No. 3 slot in South Carolina’s quarterback room.
The one-time Oregon commit and former four-star prospect landed in USC’s lap after Ducks offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead took the head coaching job at Akron. Bailey didn’t arrive on campus in time for spring ball, but he’s earned praise from Beamer, Satterfield and others in and around the program for his poise and ability.
Bailey isn’t the biggest-bodied passer of the group at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, but the ex-baseball standout can rip it. He’s also more mobile than he gets credit for. After all, there’s a reason he listed offers from Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Michigan, Miami and Florida State during the recruiting process.
“I love the realness of Coach Satterfield — obviously, he is an NFL guy — and the expectations he has for his players,” Bailey said at South Carolina’s in-house media day earlier this month. “He is a perfectionist and I can relate to him on that level. ... My recruiting process was so different. After I decommitted, I knew I wanted to come here.”
Davis and Daniels each has his own intriguing skillsets that haven’t quite had enough time to marinate in public view.
Davis, a three-star prospect in the 2022 class, showed flashes in the spring game after arriving on campus early. He completed all three of his throws in the scrimmage for 34 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Traevon Kenion.
The Delaware native also has an NFL pedigree — his father, Antone Davis, was a first-round pick out of Tennessee in 1991 — and he’s got ideal size at 6-foot-5 and 195-pound frame that can add weight. If anything, Davis’ motion can be hitchy at times, but there’s enough to work with that the Gamecocks felt comfortable rolling with one quarterback in the 2022 class before a perfect confluence of events led to Bailey’s addition.
Daniels, too, is intriguing given his strong-arm and bulkier size at 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds. The Arizona product landed at South Carolina, at least in part, through a relationship with Rattler via their shared private quarterback coach. Daniels is technically on the roster as a walk-on, but the expectation is he’ll be put on scholarship sooner than later.
“That room has completely changed,” Beamer said at his media golf outing last month. “It’s still very unproven and very young, in a lot of ways.”
Gauthier’s role remains a bit of a mystery given the influx of additional quarterback talent in Columbia.
He was the highest-rated prospect in South Carolina’s transitional 2021 class that signed on the heels of Will Muschamp’s firing and Beamer’s hiring. The long-haired gunslinger has arm talent for days, while Satterfield raved about his ability to process information last spring.
That said, Gauthier’s accuracy is a work in progress. He finished his spring game completing 8 of 15 passes for 36 yards and tossing a pair of interceptions.
“They’ve all had their ups and downs,” Satterfield said Wednesday. “They’ve all had their days where you walk off the field thinking that that guy is going to take take a jump, and then the next day somebody else does.”
South Carolina’s season opener against Georgia State is less than 10 days away. Beamer and Satterfield will be forced to have uncomfortable conversations with their quarterbacks in the coming days regarding who falls where in the pecking order.
This, though, is the reality of major college football.
Beamer has said throughout his tenure he won’t apologize for adding productive players via the transfer portal or otherwise. That’s part of how the quarterback room has ended up where it is now.
South Carolina, in a perfect world, won’t have to worry about who its third-, fourth- and fifth-string quarterbacks are if Rattler remains healthy and effective. But if last year taught Satterfield and the Gamecocks anything, he’s not taking any chances.
———————————————————
Send us your Gamecock questions
Got questions you want answered about the team? Email Ben Portnoy at bportnoy@thestate.com and your question could appear in an upcoming mailbag Q&A.
———————————————————
