Trent Dilfer eyes Spencer Rattler, not selling stock after humbling career to this point

Spencer Rattler’s college career hasn’t always gone according to plan. Even so, many still see a quarterback that can take over at that level and, at some point, be a successful prospect in the NFL.

Trent Dilfer is one of those people based on what he said to Albert Breer about the South Carolina QB in an article at Sports Illustrated. He said Rattler’s journey at Oklahoma and now Columbia with the Gamecocks has “humbled (him) in a good way.”

Now, when you stack him up against the rest of next year’s NFL draft class, the new UAB football coach thinks you could see him as almost underrated considering he was once the top high school quarterback in the country.

“Spencer’s been humbled in a good way,” Dilfer said. “My quarterback coach at UAB was his quarterback coach last year at South Carolina. So I watched all the cutups, have seen all the practice film.

“(He) has way more arm talent than people give him credit for. I’d say, in this group, after (Drake) Maye, Caleb (Williams)? I might be missing one. But he has the arm that fits that big-time quarterback conversation,” said Dilfer. “He’s a very good athlete, he’s football savvy, he’s been coached really well. I’d put Spencer with the (Michael) Pratt kid. Those would be two to keep an eye on.”

From there, an NFL evaluator added additional context to Rattler’s case as a pro. They pointed to his massive outburst where he completed 81.1% of his passes and threw for six touchdowns in a huge blowout win over Tennessee as reason to believe that, struggles or not, he has the skill set to make things work at some point in the league.

“You watch that game? He looks like an NFL starter,” the scout said. “He has stuff to figure out but there’s starting NFL talent in that kid’s body.”

Of all the kinds of quarterbacks, Rattler has been all of them while in the Big 12 and SEC. He has spent time as a backup and he has also had coaches bench him. From there, Rattler has started several collegiate matchups. In those opportunities, he has been inefficient in some as well as beyond talented enough in others.

Ahead of his fifth season, it’s clear that Rattler still has more than a shot at making it to the NFL. From here, it’s just all about cleaning up and polishing the faults to his game the best that he can in order to best let his talent, which many still clearly see, shine through.