Shane Beamer details plan to utilize Luke Doty in multiple areas

Luke Doty has developed into a Swiss Army knife of sorts for South Carolina and that’s not changing as the graduate quarterback enters his sixth and final season in Columbia.

Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer confirmed Doty, who is listed as an “athlete” on the South Carolina roster, will continue to serve as the team’s veteran backup quarterback to uber-talented starter LaNorris Sellers. He’ll also appear on offense as a receiver and on special teams this upcoming season.

“He’s a really good football player, so yes, he’s still the No. 2 quarterback right now, and yes, he’s continuing to work in a lot of areas,” Beamer said following Wednesday preseason practice. “He’s working on all of our special teams, meaning our four core – punt, punt pressure, kickoff, kickoff return.

“He’s working on all those. He’s working in the return game. He’s just really smart, he’s a talented guy and he’s improved as a quarterback. So yes to all that.”

That is in direct opposition to what Beamer said a few weeks ago, when the Gamecocks coach emphatically declared “Luke is strickly a quarterback.”

“Luke is smart enough where if we needed him to go take some reps at receiver — I shouldn’t say strictly — he’s still working in the return game. He’s doing all that, but in regard to offensive positions, he’s not doing anything with wide receivers right now,” Beamer said in early August. “We could put him out there and certainly do some things with him from a receiver standpoint, but he’s working at quarterback right now. Obviously, LaNorris (Sellers) is the starter going in the preseason camp, and those guys are all fighting to be the backup at this point, and Luke’s got the most experience.”

The 23-year-old Doty has already appeared in 41 games over his first five seasons in Columbia, making nine starts — six at quarterback, where he’s 2-4 as QB1, and three at receiver. And while he struggled through an injury-plagued sophomore campaign in his first foray as South Carolina’s starting quaterback, going 2-2 across four starts in 2021, Doty has developed into a jack-of-all-trades for the Gamecocks over the last several years. That included becoming an integral figure on special teams and in the return game.

Doty hasn’t thrown a pass as a quarterback since 2023 and is a combined 141-of-232 (60.7-percent) passing for 1,543 yards and nine touchdown to eight interceptions between 2020-23. The past two seasons, Doty has mostly appeared as a receiver, combining on 16 receptions for 140 yards with one receiving score in 2023. He also added a pair of rushing touchdowns, one apiece in 2022-23.

Doty signed with the Gamecocks as a four-star quarterback in the 2020 cycle out of Myrtle Beach High, where he was the nation’s No. 7 quarterback and ranked No. 90 overall in the class, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings, a weighted average of all three major recruiting media services.

— On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.