QB Braden Davis was big get for South Carolina 2022 class. Now he’s fighting for role
Braden Davis is a year older — and looks it.
He’s added 10 pounds since he arrived on campus as a mid-year enrollee in South Carolina’s Class of 2022. He hit 22.5 mph in sprinting during the offseason. He’s also bumped his squat up 100 pounds and his bench press numbers 80 pounds.
Now comes carving a role inside a crowded South Carolina quarterback room.
“It’s Coach (Luke) Day,” Davis said of how he’s made such marked improvements in the weight room. “His program, he’s really just getting guys right. I can speak to that myself.”
Davis was the first quarterback recruited and signed by Shane Beamer’s staff after they took over in December 2020. The three-star Delaware product picked South Carolina over a top seven that included West Virginia, Duke, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Cincinnati and Stanford.
Rated a four-star recruit at the time — though his ranking slipped some over the course of his senior season — he figured to help build out a quarterback room that included Jason Brown and Luke Doty, as well as 2021 signee Colten Gauthier, who stuck with his pledge after the coaching change.
Fast forward a year, and the Gamecocks suddenly have a quarterback room teeming with passers.
Rattler and Doty headline things at the top, while freshman LaNorris Sellers has received wide acclaim for his work as a mid-year enrollee this spring. Davis and Gauthier remain in the mix down the depth chart, along with former four-star passer Tanner Bailey, who signed with the Gamecocks late in the 2022 process alongside Davis.
“It’s great competition,” Davis said. “Everybody in the room is competing always. Everything we do — throwing at buckets, whatever it is — we’re always competing. It’s great to have that competition. Somebody is always right there, right behind trying to become the guy.”
Rattler, Doty and Davis have all lauded the tight-knit nature of this year’s quarterback room. Doty quipped last fall the group often spent late nights at the Long Family Football Operations Center watching film and trading off who picked what they’d order for dinner that night.
There’s also noticeable changes in Rattler’s approach at the head of the quarterback snake. Beamer and Loggains have noted this spring how much more ownership the one-time five-star recruit has taken over the position and team.
This time a year ago, Rattler was getting his feet wet. He was working more in silence, earning trust and respect throughout the locker room. With one season under his belt in Columbia — and a pair of upset wins over Tennessee and Clemson — that leadership role has come more naturally.
“He wasn’t really trying to impose his will and force his leadership on anyone (last year),” Beamer said last month. “He was trying to earn their respect and earn a role and go from there. Now, everybody knows what he can do and what he’s done here at Carolina. It’s very clearly his team, very clearly his offense.”
Where Davis actually falls in the South Carolina quarterback room remains to be seen. Rattler and Doty are firmly penciled in at No. 1 and No. 2 on the depth chart. Sellers and Bailey are the most likely fits at No. 3, particularly Bailey. The Alabama native made the travel roster for each of South Carolina’s final two away games as the third-string signal-caller ahead of Gauthier and Davis in 2022.
Davis, though, isn’t without upside. His gains in the weight room are significant. He’s got a dual-threat ability and ideal size at 6-foot-4 and a shade over 200 pounds. He’s also got an NFL pedigree as the son of former first-round draft pick and Tennessee All-American Antone Davis.
It may not show on the field in 2023, but Davis has made strides. After the four-quarterback carousel during the 2021 season, South Carolina certainly won’t fret at its plethora of options under center.
