Junior quarterback looks for breakout year following preseason without competition
At this point last season, the biggest question surrounding the Gamecocks’ passing game was who would be their starting quarterback.
Connor Shaw started USC’s season opener against East Carolina in 2011, struggling to put up 21 yards in the first quarter before being pulled for Stephen Garcia. But he won his next start in commanding fashion, leading USC to a dominating 54-3 victory against Kentucky.
This year, the junior signal caller is not only USC’s undisputed No. 1 quarterback, but a player his teammates expect to step up and lead them. Shaw will continue to take advantage of his running game while looking to improve the Gamecocks’ passing offense.
“Connor is a player. His dad is a head high school coach,” said coach Steve Spurrier at SEC Media Days. “That sort of tells you his upbringing. He’s been around football his whole life, pretty much dedicated to that. He doesn’t have a lot of outside interests other than be the best quarterback he can to help our team win games and be successful, and hopefully win an SEC [championship].”
Shaw struggled with his reads at times last year, and Spurrier acknowledged he is better on the ground than in the air, but the Gamecocks will rely on Shaw to lead both aspects of their offense.
“Connor is a running and passing quarterback. He’s both,” Spurrier said. “I’ve never quite had [a quarterback] that’s been maybe a little bit better runner than he is passer. Hopefully he’ll be a little bit better passer this year, but he’s still going to keep running the ball because that’s what he does very well.”
But unless the passing game is successful, the Gamecocks will not force that aspect of their offense.
“I think the last four games of the season, [Shaw] was the highest-rated passer quarterback in the country,” Spurrier said. “We only threw 18 passes per game. We were pretty much a 40, 45-run, 20-pass type team last year. We may be that way this year. If we can’t throw it very well, we’re not going to try to.”
After last year’s uncertainty at the position, the key thing USC will look for from its quarterback is consistency.
“We’ve struggled with just one quarterback a little bit here and there,” Spurrier said. “At times Stephen Garcia played very well. Sometimes Blake Mitchell, Chris Smelley, all those guys played pretty well at times. But we didn’t have a real consistent game-after-game-after-game type quarterbacking.”
With no quarterback competition to worry about ahead of this year’s opener, Shaw said his focus during training camp was different from 2011.
“I think I can focus more on winning ball games now,” Shaw said. “Nothing is set in stone. I still have to compete to the best of my abilities in fall camp, but it is different than last year ... I expect myself to take my game to the next level.”
Other players have noted the leadership Shaw brings to the Gamecocks.
“Connor is a tremendous leader,” said free safety D.J. Swearinger at SEC Media Days. “He went into the spring knowing he’s the starter, and this is his team this year. We look up to Connor, and Connor’s going to be a great quarterback this year.”
USC averaged 181 passing yards per game last season, and it will look to grow that total behind Shaw.
“[Shaw] showed up ready to roll in August,” said quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus. “We expect him to play well.”