JD PicKell: South Carolina's offense will be exciting under Spencer Rattler

As On3’s JD PicKell continues to analyze the college football landscape, on Sunday, he took his time breaking down the South Carolina Gamecocks‘ expectations for this upcoming season. While other analysts of the game do not expect much out of South Carolina, PicKell believes the Gamecocks’ offense will be at the very least exciting to watch with Spencer Rattler running the show.

“So, when you look at the diagnosis of this team right now, there’s a lot on offense to be excited about. Spencer Rattler comes with a lot of juice, a lot of excitement, and a lot of buzz,” said PicKell. “They feel like he can come in and take this program to new heights; that’s where a lot of the excitement lies. Now you look elsewhere on this offense; Dak Joyner is a playmaker first and foremost; does a lot of things for their football team. He is the leader of that offense. And then you have five of your offensive linemen, the whole deal, coming back. Went in the portal, got Christian Beal-Smith from Wake Forest; he’s a solid back. They’re hoping he can add some more to the run game.”

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Despite having a down year for the Oklahoma Sooners, last year, Rattler has shown elite arm talent at the college level. Rattler has played in 23 games over the past three seasons at Oklahoma under head coach Lincoln Riley, posting a 15-2 record as a starter. He completed 70.1 percent of his passes (361-for-515) for 4,595 yards with 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. And prior to last season, he was widely viewed as one of the top Hiseman-hopefuls. heading into this season, Rattler has made the Maxwell Award Watch List again.

PicKell: Managing Spencer Rattler is key for South Carolina in 2022

One of the biggest transfer portal moves this off-season was South Carolina getting former Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler in Columbia. Rattler, the former No. 1 quarterback in On3’s 2019 Consensus Top QB Recruits, had an electric freshman year for the Sooners, followed by rocky sophomore year where now-USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams took over for Oklahoma mid-season. The Gamecocks took a big leap last year under Shane Beamer, and On3’s JD PicKell believes that the management of Rattler will be the key for them making yet another jump this season.

“What this program comes down to for me is how they handle Spencer Rattler, because Spencer Rattler like we’ve talked about in previous videos, is trying to revamp his own, I was going to say image, we’ll say draft stock, because at Oklahoma it didn’t get done what he wanted to get done, what was expected of him. At South Carolina he’s swinging for the fence, he’s trying to get back to being that first-round pick kind of quarterback,” PicKell said.

Rattler’s talent is undeniable, and PicKell believes tapping into this talent will require an offensive scheme different from what Rattler played in at Norman.