What’s next at QB for Gamecocks in 2023 class? There are a few options

South Carolina’s wild June-July recruiting run cooled off considerably Monday when 2023 four-star quarterback Dylan Lonergan spurned USC in favor of Alabama.

The Georgia native’s commitment to the Crimson Tide is far from a death knell for the Gamecocks, but it certainly hurts.

South Carolina had been the perceived front-runners for Lonergan’s services for weeks. He’d visited campus numerous times. He built tight relationships with the staff. And then he sided with Alabama, which already had a top-100 quarterback in Eli Holstein committed for the 2023 class.

“I think definitely, at times, South Carolina was the leader at times,” Lonergan said during his announcement on CBS Sports HQ on Monday. “Stanford was probably the leader up until June. Then Bama came up on top.”

So where does that leave the Gamecocks in their hunt for a 2023 quarterback? There are a few options South Carolina can turn to.

The prospects with South Carolina offers

Beamer’s staff has been judicious with handing out quarterback offers in the 2023 class.

Only three players — Lonergan, Holstein and Memphis commit Carson Black — have landed scholarships from the Gamecocks during this recruiting cycle.

Lonergan and Holstein are about as solid in their commitments as one is going to get, so it’s probably fair to take both players off the board.

It’s conceivable the Gamecocks go after Black again. The Nation Ford product camped at South Carolina during the summer of 2021 and even took an unofficial visit last June. He looked the part at the time, though his recruiting ranking — No. 1,117 nationally, No. 60 QB, per 247Sports Composite — is far lower than that of national prospects like Holstein and Lonergan.

Black’s numbers took a bit of a hit in an expanded role last year. His completion percentage dipped from 65.8% on 199 passes as a sophomore to 57.7% on 324 attempts this past fall, while throwing 27 touchdowns to 14 interceptions. That said, he did boost his average yards per completion by almost two yards this year.

Interest has cooled between the Gamecocks and Black over the last year, but South Carolina could theoretically make a push here.

The in-state options

It’s not exactly a world-beater year for prospects overall in the state of South Carolina, but the quarterback class is deeper than usual and has a few options that could make sense.

Black is one. So too, are three-star passers LaNorris Sellers (Syracuse), Grayson Loftis (Duke), and Raheim Jeter (West Virginia).

Sellers had interest from South Carolina earlier this cycle after his decommitment from Virginia. He’s a dual-threat guy who’d offer a different skillset than the 2022 signees South Carolina landed in four-star Tanner Bailey and three-star Braden Davis.

Loftis was impressive when he camped in Columbia during a June 7-on-7 tournament, guiding Gaffney to a championship during its appearance. He’s a legit 6-foot-2, though he looked a bit skinnier in person than the 205 pounds he’s listed at might suggest. He held SEC offers from Kentucky and Georgia prior to his Duke pledge.

Jeter attended a 7-on-7 tournament at South Carolina last summer and was previously offered by Will Muschamp’s staff, though that hasn’t been reciprocated by Beamer’s. He is a bit of a wild card if for no other reason than he was shot during a road rage incident in February — he has since recovered.

Rated the No. 938 player and No 46 QB in the 2023 class in the 247Sports Composite, Jeter is big-bodied (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) and can absolutely sling it. He committed to West Virginia in December and took his official visit to Morgantown in late June.

The outside-the-box fillers

There’s been rumblings since his commitment earlier this month 2024 four-star quarterback Dante Reno could re-classify if the Gamecocks missed out on Lonergan. That’s still up in the air, and there might not be a resolution on that for a while.

If Reno doesn’t move up a class, it’s possible the Gamecocks turn in-house for what would functionally become their 2023 quarterback signee.

Arizona native Jalen Daniels committed to South Carolina earlier this summer as a walk-on, but the staff will likely put him on scholarship assuming his play matches his potential.

Daniels played with fellow FBS signal-callers Mikey Keene (UCF), Jacob Conover (BYU) and Evan Svoboda (Wyoming) at three different high schools and worked out with the same private quarterback coach as Spencer Rattler for years.

South Carolina’s staff feels they got an absolute steal with the under-recruited quarterback. If Daniels does get put on scholarship, that essentially becomes the spot that could’ve been reserved for a 2023 product.