The first touchdown of the Shane Beamer era at South Carolina is in the books
The first touchdown of the Shane Beamer era has been scored — and it was a pass to a tight end.
Tight end Nick Muse caught South Carolina’s first touchdown of 2021, a 4-yard pass up the middle from quarterback Zeb Noland. Muse rushed back into the end zone for a two-point conversion after the touchdown stood upon review, putting the Gamecocks up 8-0 against Eastern Illinois with 10:23 to go in the first quarter.
The Gamecocks’ offense was set up at the Panthers’ 27-yard line thanks to a Jaylan Foster interception. Foster picked off the first pass attempt from Eastern Illinois quarterback Otto Kuhns.
South Carolina continued to find success with throwing to its tight ends. The second Gamecock touchdown was a 3-yard Noland pass to tight end Jaheim Bell. The extra point brought South Carolina to a 15-0 lead over Eastern Illinois with 3:25 left in the first quarter.
South Carolina went three-and-out in its first series. Noland’s 10-yard rush in the Gamecocks’ second possession was responsible for the South Carolina’s inaugural first down of the Beamer era.
Beamer had been adamant about throwing to the tight end throughout the preseason.
“Every donor or booster club event that I go to, I get asked are we going to throw to the tight end? We are going to throw to the tight end,” Beamer said at SEC Media Day in July.
Noland started at quarterback for South Carolina after Luke Doty fell injured with a foot sprain in fall camp. Beamer was optimistic Doty would be back to 100% as soon as next week. Doty was in full uniform during warm-up for the Gamecocks’ first game.
South Carolina was favored by 40.5 points over FCS Eastern Illinois ahead of kickoff.
This story was originally published September 4, 2021 at 7:31 PM with the headline "The first touchdown of the Shane Beamer era at South Carolina is in the books."
