Luke Doty said it first, Shane Beamer said it right after him and Wednesday offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield echoed it.
With Doty back at practice entering East Carolina week, there is a chance he’s back to full-go Saturday with him progressing every day he’s on the field and in pads.
It’s not a forgone conclusion Doty will start, or even play, Saturday but Satterfield thinks there’s a chance he’s 100 percent come kickoff.
“I think it’s definitely going to be close,” Satterfield said. “He was moving around well today and throwing the ball well. This week, we’ve really pushed him towards a more 100 percent reps to see what he can do and make sure his foot is where it needs to be.”
Doty didn’t practice much, if at all for about three weeks entering the season after being stepped on Aug. 13 and suffering a foot sprain.
He’s maintained his throwing program as best he could while motoring around on a scooter, but this week of game planning for ECU is really his first chance at knocking off some of the built up rust over the last month.
Satterfield and Beamer said Doty looked good in practice, and now the biggest thing will be to see if he’s able to run and move around on his injured foot during an actual game.
“I’m anxious to see once we get to game time if he’ll be ready to go or not,” Satterfield said. “He looked good today.”
If Doty isn’t able to go, it’ll be Zeb Noland again taking the reigns of the offense after starting the season opener, a 46-0 win over Eastern Illinois.
Noland had a solid first game, completing 59.1 percent of his passes (13-for-21) for 121 yards and four touchdowns. He averaged 5.5 yards per attempt with an adjusted yards per attempt of 9.1 with a NFL passer rating of 117.26.
“He played like I thought he would. He took care of the football, called the plays, organized guys at the line of scrimmage, got the ball where it needed to be. The stage wasn’t too big for him, wasn’t too fast for him,” Satterfield said. “It was good to see him go out there, execute and take care of the football. It didn’t shock me. That was what I was expecting him to do.”
Noland, like everyone on the Gamecocks’ roster who played, have things to work on and that’s the goal this week if he does start Saturday’s game (noon, ESPN2).
“He keeps getting better,” Satterfield said. “There’s stuff he’s working on daily, a checklist of things to get better. There are things each week he needs to improve on; he’s still only played football for four weeks. We’re looking forward to watching him develop each week.”
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