Spencer Rattler offers evaluation of the South Carolina offense following spring game

It wasn’t the most explosive offensive showing, but South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler was pleased with the performance at the Gamecocks’ annual spring game Saturday evening. The Oklahoma transfer made his debut in Columbia, leading the Garnet team to a 20-13 victory over the Black team.

Rattler played only in the first half, finishing the game 8-for-10 passing for for 79 yards, while also running the ball twice for 12 yards. After the game in a press conference, Rattler said he would’ve liked to make bigger plays, but gave credit to the defense for keeping the Gamecocks in check.

“We made some plays for sure,” the quarterback said. “Obviously, we wanted to have more explosives, but I think we ran the ball really well. We connected on some quick game stuff. Really for me, I was just processing it and getting through my reads and taking what they gave me. That defense has been seeing all our plays the whole spring, so obviously they’re gonna have an idea of what we’re doing. But we’ve still got to execute no matter what, and I feel like we did it at a pretty high level. I wanted to go for it the first drive on fourth-and-inches, but it’s a spring game. That’s coach Beamer’s decision and he’s gonna do whatever. Overall, we’d rather turn three points to seven points, but that’s what we got the spring game for. We’re working.”

Rattler took a couple of deep shots in the game, connecting with Xavier Legette for 30 yards in the first quarter. Perhaps his best highlight of the day came in the second quarter with a defender chasing him down on third-and-18. Rattler managed to get rid of the ball on the run for a 16-yard gain to Antwane Wells Jr. that set up fourth and short.

A former five-star recruit and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2019 class according to On3 Consensus, Rattler played under current Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer for two seasons with the Sooners in 2019 and 2020. After helping lead OU to a Big 12 Championship and Cotton Bowl victory in 2020, he returned to lead the offense in 2021 with Beamer departing to South Carolina for his first head coaching job. Although Rattler began this past season as a Heisman candidate, he struggled to start the year and was eventually benched in place of true freshman Caleb Williams.

After coach Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma for USC this offseason, Rattler decided to reunite with Beamer at South Carolina. He is joined by Sooners tight end transfer Austin Stogner, who was not available Saturday.

The addition of Spencer Rattler this offseason was huge for Beamer and South Carolina. The Gamecocks started four different players at quarterback in 2021, including current backup Luke Doty, so having a solidified starter will be a major change in 2022. Armed with its guy and an extra year of time to learn the playbook, South Carolina will look to improve after finishing an alarming 13th in the SEC in total offense last year. If it hopes to do that, it will need Rattler to get more comfortable and start creating more explosive plays.

The quarterback will make his official debut when South Carolina opens up the 2022 season against Georgia State on Sept. 3.