With Jason Brown in the transfer portal and Luke Doty still recovering from surgery, South Carolina will be going into the Duke's Mayo Bowl with two scholarship quarterbacks available to play.

Graduate transfer Zeb Noland will be making his sixth start of the season and his first since the Texas A&M game in October.

Head coach Shane Beamer described the quarterback situation as "adventurous" due to lack of scholarship players as well as staying cautious with COVID-19.

"We got a lot of guys on our team who were high school quarterbacks. Particularly with COVID and challenges with that right now, you hate to, but you always have to think about the worst-case scenario," Beamer said. "You want to make sure you have enough quarterbacks to play the game, I'm not going to say we've had open tryouts but you've certainly got a 'break glass in case of emergency' type thing as well."

Despite this, Beamer said he's confident in Noland to run the offense come Thursday.

"Zeb is a veteran, savvy guy that obviously has done a great job all year and I'm excited about seeing him go out in his final chapter of his career and his season at Carolina," Beamer said.

With the bowl game being Noland's final chance to play in a game, Beamer said the door is open for him to return next season as a graduate assistant.

"I'd love to have him next year," Beamer said. "Zeb's a fantastic player, person, coach and is a real asset to our program."

Beamer jokingly said that Noland's performance against North Carolina later this week will depend on what position he'll work with next season.

"If he plays well at quarterback he gets to work with the quarterbacks if not, we're sending him to work with the offensive line next year," Beamer said.

Besides Noland, freshman Colten Gauthier is the only other scholarship quarterback available. Beamer said he's seen improvements from Gauthier throughout the season, adding that the extra work he puts in on Sunday night practices with the wide receivers has paid off.

"Mentally, he's made a lot of progress with being able to communicate things and then the throws he's made, he's gotten better," Beamer said. "He's a competitor and he's a winner, excited about his future at Carolina."

Gauthier will be one of the potential five scholarship quarterbacks on the roster next season. Beamer stressed the importance of depth at every position, especially at the quarterback position.

"Next year you're looking at Spencer, Luke and a whole bunch of freshman," Beamer said.

Beamer said Doty will likely be limited in the spring, giving Gauthier the opportunity to position himself higher on the depth chart next season behind Rattler.

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