When South Carolina’s spring practice starts Saturday morning it will likely be Luke Doty who lines up at quarterback with the first team offense, but Shane Beamer cautions fans to read too much into that this early.

Doty is the only quarterback on the roster who’s started a game at South Carolina before and common sense dictates he at least takes the first team rep under center.

But after that, it’s open season in the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback competition.

"Coach (Marcus) Satterfield and I have spent a lot of time talking about reps and how we’re rotating guys and we’re going to practice at a pace Saturday where we’re going to get a lot of reps in practice from start to finish,” Beamer said Thursday. “Those guys are going to have opportunities to show what they can do not just at the quarterback position but at every single position on the team.”

Also see: Full updates from Beamer's pre-spring press conference

The Gamecocks begin their first of 15 spring practices Saturday morning a little after 9 a.m. and will begin their first real evaluations of the roster to try and figure out which players are going to be able to help once the season starts in August.

Quarterback will be by far the most scrutinized of any position with three scholarship players vying for that starting job.

Doty is the incumbent, starting two games last season and completing 60.6 percent of his passes for 405 yards (5.7 yards per attempt) for two touchdowns and three interceptions.

He’ll battle with freshman four-star Colten Gauthier and transfer quarterback Jason Brown, who enrolled this semester coming from FCS St. Francis.

Brown completed 62.3 percent of his passes last season for 3,084 yards (7.7 yards per attempt) with 28 touchdowns to six interceptions.

Beamer didn’t hint at when he would like to have an idea of when a starter will be named, but mentioned he’s been in situations at Georgia and Oklahoma that varied.

Also see: PFF breakdown of the Gamecocks' defensive back room

There were seasons where the quarterback was decided early, like Grayson Lambert’s year at Georgia, and years at Oklahoma where the competition when until almost to the season opener.

Beamer would like to have roles situated heading out of spring practice, which ends April 24, but understands that might not happen and a competition could continue into the summer and training camp.

“It’s always good when you can. When you head into summer workouts and the team knows this guy is our starting quarterback and to empower him with that leadership ability? Sure,” he said.

“As you get within a week and a half of the first game you better have a starting quarterback named so you can divvy up the reps properly. I’ve been part of very end of the spectrum where you have a returning quarterback and he’s the starting quarterback all season or you have a quarterback and he’s beat out and you have a competition that’s not announced until a week before the first game. I’ve seen it all. Ideally you have a guy but after spring practice ends we’re pretty solidified on roles but we’re constantly competing in preseason camp at all those positions as well.”

Also see: Three defensive storylines heading into camp

The quarterback situation won’t be unique this spring, with Beamer saying Thursday the Gamecocks will treat every position as a “clean slate” with guys getting a chance to compete for their playing time.

“Every single position a clean slate. We weren’t here last year and have a lot of new faces. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve spent zero time talking with our staff about this guy being the returning starter at this positions. It’s wide open. One of the core values of this program is competition, and we’re going to be about competition every single day.”