Who will be South Carolina football starting quarterback and what will spring game tell us?

COLUMBIA — No more Spencer Rattler. Now what?

The South Carolina football quarterback is headed to the NFL and his departure has created an open competition for the starter in 2024. With the Garnet & Black spring game Saturday (7 p.m., SEC Network+) at Williams-Brice Stadium, coach Shane Beamer made it clear Tuesday all of the candidates will get reps.

Rattler spent two years at South Carolina after three seasons with Oklahoma. For the Gamecocks, Rattler logged 6,212 yards, 37 touchdowns, rushed for 150 yards and seven touchdowns. He finished fifth all-time in passing yards and ranked first in Gamecocks history in career completion percentage (.675).

“Obviously we’ve been evaluating everything every single day since we started practice in March,” said Beamer. “As far as naming one and where we are, whatever we do our players know competition is a core value so we will continue to compete at every single position through the summer.”

There are differing philosophies and approaches to a quarterback battle and Beamer noted he’s been a part of coaching staffs who all handled it differently. One approach, battle through August and name a quarterback nearing the first game, giving maximum time for competition. Another, have a starter named so you can have the rest of the team rally around him early in the preparation for the season opener.

“(Quarterback coach Dowell Loggains) and I haven’t talked about it as far as our time frame and wanting to do anything but even if there was an announcement after spring practice, like all positions, that position would have to continue to prove it, earn it and compete,” said Beamer.

With all that said, here is a breakdown of potential starting quarterbacks for the 2024 season going in the spring game.

LaNorris Sellers played against Furman, Vanderbilt

LaNorris Sellers is a redshirt freshman who made three appearances last season. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Sellers, is from Florence, South Carolina. In his debut against Furman, Sellers went a perfect 4-for-4, throwing for 86 yards and two touchdowns, one of which went for 50 yards. Against Vanderbilt, he ran for a 36-yard touchdown and against Kentucky, he logged nine rushing yards.

Sellers committed to Syracuse out of high school but flipped his commitment to South Carolina. In high school, according to 247Sports Composite, Sellers completed 150 of 258 passes for 2,949 yards, 45 TDs, and only two interceptions.

Robby Ashford is transfer from Auburn

In January, the Gamecocks picked up Robby Ashford, a transfer from Auburn with two years of eligibility remaining. The 6-foot-3, 218-pound Ashford began his college career at Oregon, playing both football and basketball. He didn’t get minutes for the football team but played 20 games for the baseball team in 2021 before transferring. He spent the last two seasons at Auburn.

In his first year for the Tigers, he threw for 1,613 yards, seven touchdowns and rushed for 710 yards, including seven touchdowns and started nine of 12 games in 2022. Last season, as the backup, he completed 14 of 27 passes for 145 yards, threw two touchdowns and two interceptions. He rushed for 217 yards and five touchdowns.

BEAMER’S PORTAL What positions South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer is targeting in transfer portal

Freshman Dante Reno is a 2024 signee

Another potential option could be Dante Reno, the lone quarterback in the 2024 signing class. The 6-2 Reno is from Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and played at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. As a senior at Cheshire, completed 64.1 % of his passes for 2,358 yards, threw 20 touchdowns, seven interceptions and recorded 232 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

Lulu Kesin covers South Carolina athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email her at lkesin@gannett.com and follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @Lulukesin.