South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer spoke publicly on Thursday night during his call-in show one final time before this Saturday’s game at second-ranked Georgia. A big piece of the conversation, obviously, is the health of starting quarterback Luke Doty.
The Gamecocks (2-0) have started Zeb Noland each of the first two weeks of the season as Doty recovers from a foot sprain suffered during the first scrimmage of the preseason. The sophomore has practiced this week, and Beamer remains optimistic that Doty will able to play this Saturday against the Bulldogs (2-0).
Here’s the entirety of what Beamer had to say on the call-in show about Doty and the quarterback situation.
“Other than Rick Sandidge, everyone will be available to play on Saturday. I don’t come up here each and every week and make up stuff about Luke and tell people what they want to hear and stuff like that. I’m being truthful when I sit up here every week. Luke was sore last week.
“If Luke had to have gone into that game, we could have thrown him in there. Would he have been 100 percent? No. Would he have been able to run and show the athleticism that he has last week? No. Luke is not sore today. Does that mean he wakes up tomorrow and is sore? I don’t know. Luke practiced today, Luke practice yesterday, Luke practiced Tuesday. He hasn’t been sore all week.
“He practiced all 11, meaning when the offense was on the field against a defense, he was out there and got some reps today. Again, I’m not going to put Luke out there before he can be effective doing what Luke needs to do. Having said that, I know Luke is as close to 100 percent as he’s been since he got hurt.
“He has practiced this week and looked good. There is no soreness and we anticipate him being able to play on Saturday night if the situation dictates that he needs to be in there.”
So unless his girlfriend breaks his heart on Friday night, Luke Doty could be available if you want to call his number? – Todd Ellis
“Absolutely. Having said that, I’m proud of Zeb Noland and some of the throws he made down the stretch. He made some really great throws down the stretch on Saturday. The one to Vann, the one to Joyner, the other one to Vann; he managed the game better as the game went on. Zeb is going to have to play really well for us on Saturday night as will the entire football team as well.”
South Carolina and Georgia will kickoff at 7 p.m. on Saturday night from Sanford Stadium with television coverage provided by ESPN.
