The Greenville News openly campaigning against ex-Auburn football QB1 starting for new team

The Greenville News made a clear statement on what Shane Beamer and his South Carolina staff should be doing under center: going all in on LaNorris Sellers and keeping former Auburn football QB1 Robby Ashford on the bench.

"Why South Carolina football, Shane Beamer need LaNorris Sellers and not a two-QB plan" is as obvious as a headline as it gets, I'd say. The article is behind a paywall but the included snippet on search engines is flat-out disrespectful to Ashford.

"...South Carolina football needs to stop acting like it has two starting quarterbacks, and invest in LaNorris Sellers as the No. 1 option," it read.

Ashford had a successful fill-in start for Sellers against Akron on September 21, going for 376 all-purpose yards and three touchdowns but he's been limited in 2024 otherwise. South Carolina is coming off its first loss, a 27-3 whooping with Ole Miss in town, but could soon have a QB controversy if Sellers can't have better performances against SEC competition than his 162-passing yard, one-interception, touchdown-less outing against the Rebels.

Robby Ashford never got a chance after leading Auburn football in the post-Bryan Harsin era

The ending to the 2022 season saved many a Tiger fans' hopes about Auburn. Ashford and interim head coach Cadillac Williams made magic together in a four-game stretch that emphasized the RPO. Minus the Alabama game and OT against Mississippi State, the Tigers were a live threat.

Unfortunately, Ashford never had a chance to start on the Plains once Hugh Freeze came around. Freeze has been loyal to Payton Thorne to a fault, perhaps not even being the one to pull the trigger on Hank Brown replacing him against New Mexico and Arkansas. Ashford was loyal to Cadillac and Williams wasn't overjoyed that AU went in a different direction in their 2022 coaching search.

There was even a rumor Freeze wanted the shadow of associate head coach Cadillac from his program last year.

Drama has always surrounded Auburn, but in the darkest depths of it two tears ago, Ashford stepped up. But since he steered the Tigers out of the Harsin era and into a new hope under Freeze, he has not been given a legitimate chance.

And it's possible he won't in South Carolina this season behind Sellers either.