Former South Carolina quarterback seeks redemption at Liberty

The last time Liberty’s Tommy Beecher started a college football game, he was, well, a little shaky.

OK, so that’s an understatement. Beecher earned the starting job at South Carolina coming out of camp last season, then threw four interceptions in the Gamecocks’ season opener against North Carolina State. Coach Steve Spurrier promptly yanked him, and Beecher’s season was essentially done. He made one more appearance, throwing four passes against UAB on Sept. 27.

What’s worse was the perception that emerged of Beecher, mostly thanks to public comments Spurrier made questioning Beecher’s motivation, toughness and heart.

“It was disheartening,” Beecher said.

A little more than a year later, Beecher is once again a Division I starting quarterback, this time for Liberty. Spurrier essentially ran a number of fifth-year Gamecock seniors who weren’t going to play out of town, and Beecher — along with another former Gamecock, Freddie Brown — landed at LU.

As the Flames prepare to open their season at West Virginia on Saturday, Beecher once again is reliving the nightmare of that evening in Columbia, mostly because it’s the subject of many a media query. Beecher said he has watched the game film from that night just once, in the Monday film session following the game. As the season went along, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to get back on the field, he began exploring transferring somewhere to use his final season of eligibility.

“I didn’t want my career to end that way,” Beecher said.

Beecher earned a chance to extend his career by winning the starting quarterback job during camp. Liberty coach Danny Rocco said Beecher has been taking about 75 percent of the first-team snaps in practice, while Mike Brown has taken the other 25 percent. And while most will view the N.C. State experience in a negative way, Rocco looks at it in another fashion.

“Sometimes these experiences tend to take away some of your confidence, some of your swagger,” Rocco said. “It certainly happens in my profession as a coach. You get into some situations where you start to question yourself, you start to doubt a little bit. But you have to be able to rely on your strengths and pull yourself back out of this position and to find your confidence.

“I think that’s what Tommy has been able to do. He’s been able to come here, basically looking at a fresh start, knowing that anything that happened in his past really will have no negative affect on his future. They can only have a positive effect on your future. I mean that in a couple of ways. He learned a lot playing for Steve Spurrier at South Carolina. … Any of the setbacks are only opportunities to learn and grow.”

Since Beecher earned the No. 1 QB job a week ago, he’s grown into a leadership role, and his performance in practice has reflected increased confidence. Rocco said the coaching staff charts every pass made during practice, and that Beecher’s pass completion percentage was near 80 percent last week.

“This fall camp has been a great experience for me,” Beecher said. “I think I’ve gotten a sense of timing down with the offense. I’m excited to see how effective we are on Saturday.”