USC Football: The Wait Is Over

Gamecocks kick off season with new starting QB at the helm

COLUMBIA — COLUMBIA - It would’ve been the easiest the to do. By far.

Packing up and heading for home is probably what most everyone in Tommy Beecher’s shoes would’ve done.

Buried on the depth chart, and his college career at the halfway point, Steve Spurrier’s first quarterback recruit at South Carolina was at the breaking point.

Beecher’s bags were very nearly ready to go. The Concord, N.C., native was on a family trip to Virginia, with every intention of transferring to play at North Carolina.

But something clicked inside him. Beecher realized he had to stick it out, remain patient and perseverant.

His faith was guiding him.

“I didn’t want to come back,” Beecher said this week. “But I felt God had a plan for me here. (My mom) told me to remain faithful, and that’s what I did.”

The fruition of that resolve will be realized tonight, with Beecher’s first start as a fourth-year junior.

South Carolina hosts North Carolina State at 8 p.m. tonight in the teams’ season opener. The game is the national broadcast on ESPN to open the college football year.

The last time Tommy Beecher started a game at quarterback, he led Concord High to a North Carolina state championship.

The start before that, he orchestrated a 20-point comeback in the final 5 1/2 minutes against Asheville.

The start before that, Concord won on a hail mary pass.

Without that magical run, Beecher might not have ever been in Spurrier’s crosshairs or on South Carolina’s campus. There are some prevailing thoughts that Spurrier wouldn’t have offered Beecher a scholarship if he didn’t win the state championship.

As a testament to that, Beecher said the offer came Dec. 11 - soon after his team won the title.

“Maybe. I’ve never thought about it like that,” Beecher said.

The second game especially sticks out. Concord was down 20-0 with about 5 1/2 to go.

A shutout became a victory in a hurry, and Beecher estimates he threw for about 200 yards in those final minutes.

“Someone was watching over us for sure in that game,” he said.

Beecher’s link to Spurrier helped him get to USC, as well.

Beecher’s grandfather knows Spurrier, through Duke. Many of Beecher’s family members attended Duke, Spurrier’s first college head coaching job.

And Spurrier said he first learned about Beecher through Mary Dinkins, Duke’s football secretary.

Dinkins told Spurrier that Beecher was trying to get an evaluation from the Ball Coach, who was out of coaching at the time after his Redskins stint. Beecher wanted to know if he had Division I talent.

Then, Spurrier wound up at South Carolina. And so did Beecher.

“I’m so blessed to be here right now,” Beecher said. “I’m so excited about being out there playing football.”

Beecher received only one other offer, and it was for FCS Richmond. But he says he turned away a lot of phone calls after committing to South Carolina, so that number is a little deceiving.

In fact, Duke wanted Beecher to come and play tight end. Beecher is 6 foot 2 and 227 pounds now, but he didn’t fill out those to those dimensions then.

“I don’t think I’m big enough, or tall enough, to be a big-time college tight end,” he said.

Beecher arrived at USC, and then the wait was on. Blake Mitchell held the job, on and off, through his graduation this past year.

Beecher has said that’s totally understandable. He said guys who’ve been around a program, and learned an offense, should play.

Beecher saw time in two games last year, against Louisiana-Lafayette when Mitchell was suspended and against South Carolina State when Chris Smelley was injured. But Beecher slipped back down the depth chart.

After battling with Smelley in the spring, Spurrier made a bold move to name Beecher the starter. And he’s been talking him up all summer.

Now it’s time for him to take charge of the offense.

“It’s kind of funny,” Beecher said. I knew there was a reason I was here. God just opened a door for me to play. I’m excited. I try not to think about it too much.

“I had to wait for my time to play.”

No more waiting.