Spencer Rattler reflects on decision to play for Shane Beamer at South Carolina

Spencer Rattler knew Shane Beamer was a coach he wanted to play for when he entered the transfer portal following the 2021 season. The pair had already spent two seasons together at Oklahoma, where Beamer was an associate head coach under Lincoln Riley from 2018-20.

That made the decision easy for Rattler to join Beamer at South Carolina and help him attempt to jump start a rebuild of the program. Now two years later, Rattler’s college journey has come to an end as he announced he will enter the 2024 NFL Draft.

As he reflected on his journey, he had high praise for his head coach as he explained why he chose to finish out his career with the Gamecocks.

“I knew the type of person he was,” Rattler said. “His players loved him. Him coming here, I saw what he was doing. When I got in the portal, I knew that was a guy I wanted to play for. Never in a million years I thought I’d be at South Carolina. It’s just funny how God works. Beamer was here, wanted me to come here and I believed what he was doing and I still do.”

Rattler was a starter at Oklahoma in 2020 and led the Sooners to a Big 12 Championship. However, he was benched midway through the 2021 season in favor of Caleb Williams. That left him in search of a new school to finish out his career with and it didn’t take long for him to land on South Carolina.

Rattler ends his career in Columbia with 6,212 yards, 37 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. He helped the Gamecocks achieve a 13-12 record over the past two seasons, including two memorable wins against Tennessee and Clemson to close 2022.

South Carolina failed to reach a bowl game for the first time under Beamer as it ended Rattler’s final season with a 5-7 record. However, the quarterback still has no doubt in his coach’s ability to get things turned around headed into 2024.

As the Gamecocks get set to enter a new era at quarterback, he knows they’re in good hands.

“He’s the man for the job, obviously,” Rattler said. “He leads that locker room like nobody I’ve seen before. He’s got it headed in the right direction. I was just happy to be a part of it. Playing under him and with this team, it was awesome.”