Determining the pulse of South Carolina's program

South Carolina landed third on the SEC East’s preseason media poll behind two-time reigning national champion Georgia and a Tennessee team that won 11 games last season.

While it’s certainly some elite company to be grouped with — is that the Gamecocks’ ceiling?

PicKell believes those inside the program are asking themselves a few questions heading into the 2023 season: Who is South Carolina? Or more importantly, who will South Carolina be after this current group leaves? What do they want their legacy going to be?

“For a guy like Spencer Rattler — who’s not going to be back at South Carolina after this coming season — what is the foundation for South Carolina football? Going into year three, you now have, for the most part, your personnel if you’re [head coach] Shane Beamer in how you’ve recruited and the portal,” PicKell said on the Hard Count. “Now, you have your standard; you have your culture.

“The first two years, [Beamer] did a really good job of doing that. Now in year three, it’s like, what are we? What do you want to be? What do we want South Carolina to set up to be in the future? Because of what they’ve done in the past two years, they’re excited about it. They’re going in the right direction — but that’s not what Spencer Rattler came back for, to win eight games. He came back to play in a New Year’s Six bowl and looking to take his shot in the SEC.”

Spencer Rattler will undoubtedly be at the forefront of Carolina’s efforts to do just that. Vegas Insider slots the Gamecocks’ win total at 6.5 wins — a number South Carolina has likely found offensive based on last season’s eight-win campaign.

Rattler blossomed for South Carolina throughout the 2022 season. He started all 13 games for South Carolina last season and saw him complete over 66 percent of his passes while throwing for 3,012 yards. He tossed 18 touchdowns with 12 interceptions — but improved greatly throughout the season.

He spear-headed a pair of top-10 wins against Tennessee and Clemson to close the regular season. Rattler had arguably his best performances in those games, going a combined 55-of-76 passing for 798 yards and eight touchdowns compared to just two interceptions.

If Rattler can bottle up whatever it was that made him tick during that two-week stretch, the Gamecocks can establish themselves as a legitimate threat in the SEC.