Beamer excited to add Bailey to talented QB class
After going through a season in which the Gamecocks trotted three different starting quarterbacks into the huddle, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer wasn't going to dare turn down a signal-caller as talented as Tanner Bailey.
The Gamecocks added the Gordo (Ala.) four-star quarterback to their 2022 class on the last day of the early signing period a couple of weeks ago, effectively closing out one of the most intriguing QB classes in school history.
"Tanner is a great athlete," Beamer said Sunday following South Carolina's first Duke's Mayo Bowl practice in Charlotte. "A winner, a great football player. He's a great baseball player, a multiple-sport guy that we're excited about."
South Carolina originally targeted Bailey early this year but his longstanding relationship with then-Oregon offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead led to a pledge to the Ducks. But when Mario Cristobol left Oregon for Miami and Moorhead took the Akron head job, Bailey re-opened his recruitment and rekindled his relationship with the Gamecocks.
That led to a quick and surprising commitment to the Gamecocks two Fridays ago, the last day that prospects could sign during the early signing period.
"In the next few days (after the decommit), me and Coach (Marcus) Satterfield got in contact, I actually got in touch with one of their player personnel guys, Taylor Edwards, and then a few days ago, me and Coach Beamer talked," Bailey told Gamecock Central after he announced his commitment. "Then I got with my family and we decided that this was the best thing for me and that this is what I wanted to do. I was going to sign in February but me and Coach Beamer we just decided I might as well go ahead and make it official, so that's what I did."
Bailey, ranked the No. 12 pro-style quarterback in the country and No. 222 overall prospect in his class, rounds out a quarterback class that features incoming Oklahoma transfer Spencer Rattler, the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in his class out of high school, and three-star QB Braden Davis, who is the Delaware Gatorade Player of the Year.
Last week, Satterfield said that Bailey is meant to play in the Southeastern Conference.
"He's so fired up. We're really excited and he's really excited to get back, he needs to be playing in the SEC. He's a SEC kid," Satterfield said of Bailey, whose father played for Auburn and grandfather played for Alabama.
The trio of signal-callers will join a quarterback room that loses Zeb Noland and Jason Brown from this season's group but will return Luke Doty, who was the team's projected starter prior to his foot injury this past season, and Colten Gauthier, who is redshirting this year.
When the opportunity to add Bailey to that group popped up later, Beamer, who says he didn't talk to Bailey until the day they sent him scholarship papers, saw an opportunity that was too good to turn down.
"I was just looking at it from a depth standpoint, my job is always to increase the depth and the competition at each position," Beamer said. "Being able to bring Spencer in, Luke and Colten coming back, Braden, and then now Tanner. ... Competition makes everyone better and that's what I saw, an opportunity to (create more competition)."
Bailey will enroll at South Carolina in the summer.
Bailey completed 131-of-217 passes for 2,401 yards and 33 touchdowns with nine interceptions as a senior.
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