Doty focusing at QB, going to be a 'Swiss Army Knife' this season
It was inevitable for Luke Doty.
The Gamecock freshman playing three different positions in training camp hit a wall a few weeks ago, according to his offensive coordinator, and because of it the Gamecocks spent the last few days focusing on him at quarterback.
“We felt like he had a really good base at receiver and wanted to get him a lot more reps at quarterback,” Mike Bobo said. “Going back to the situation this year where anything can happen, I think he’s got to be a Swiss Army Knife. He’s one of those guys who can play a lot of positions for you.”
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Doty, the four-star quarterback and No. 99 player in the 2020 class, impressed his teammates and coaches so much this summer they decided to split some time at receiver during training camp, preparing one of their best athletes to see the field as a freshman.
While Bobo and Will Muschamp were emphatic he’s a quarterback and his future at South Carolina is under center, but the goal is to play the No. 2 dual threat quarterback in the class who runs a 4.5-second 40 yard dash.
As kickoff gets closer, though, his turns at receiver will go down and the Gamecocks will make sure he’s ready to play quarterback in case both Collin Hill and Ryan Hilinski are both out with either injuries, a positive COVID test or contact tracing protocols.
“In order to have Luke ready, he needed to have more snaps. Mike came to me and said he needed to get him more ready to play than he is at this point. That was, as much as anything, about depth. We’ve done that at multiple positions,” Muschamp said. “We’re getting the guys the turns and reps they need in case we get into a situation where we lose somebody.”
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Now, that doesn’t mean Doty won’t play receiver this season. Bobo listed him as one of the team’s top guys in the two-deep this season and the Gamecocks want him to get on the field.
Even while the Gamecocks were trying to get him more turns at quarterback, Doty hopped over under his own volition and played some receiver last week.
“He saw we were short and saw some of the other receivers getting gassed and said, ‘I’m not playing quarterback this team period. I’m playing receiver,”’ Bobo said. “I can’t say enough about him.”
The Gamecocks are full planning on playing him early and often this season, which starts in six days against Tennessee.
The goal for Bobo now is to figure out what the freshman is good at in the new offense and put him in those positions when he’s on the field.
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“He was thinking about so much,” Bobo said. “I thought we needed to hone some of this done for Luke and focus on this is what’s being called for you in the game and this is what you feel comfortable with.”
