Josh Heupel previews how Tennessee will try to contain Spencer Rattler

Josh Heupel and the Tennessee Volunteers know just how good South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler can be when he’s at his best. It was just last season when he played a phenomenal game in an upset win over Tennessee.

Ahead of their game this season in Knoxville, Heupel praised Rattler for how he’s playing right now.

“He’s a really good player,” Josh Heupel said. “He’s played at a high level, he’s played a lot of football, he’s playing extremely well right now. He was dynamic in that football game, but he has that in his arsenal.”

In last season’s game, South Carolina beat Tennessee 63-38. It was a blowout that few could see coming. For Spencer Rattler, it was a career game. He was 30 for 37 throwing the ball and had 438 yards passing and six passing touchdowns.

Heupel is looking to prevent a repeat of that this season. As he explained, the Tennessee defensive front is going to need to have a big day.

“For us, the line of scrimmage is important and we’ve got to do a really good job. We’ve got to get them in third and longs. Last year, we didn’t get off the field on third and longs. Some of that was coverage. Some of that was him extending and making some really special plays. We’ve got to do a great job of bottling him up and applying pressure at the same time.”

For his part, Spencer Rattler is coming off a phenomenal game. In South Carolina’s win against Mississippi State, Rattler was 18 for 20 for 288 yards passing and three passing touchdowns. He also had 43 rushing yards.

After the game, Rattler explained how fun it was to be the offense’s point guard.

“Tonight was very balanced, very efficient in the pass game,” Rattler said. “Aggressive in the run game. Credit to the o-line, they gave me time. I caused a few sacks just trying to get up in the hole and run. But they did a great job for most of the night. When you can run the ball, it’s easier to throw the ball. The offense Dowell has, just run-and-gun, spread it out, kind of let me be a point guard out there is fun.”

Josh Heupel anticipates Joe Milton will be at full strength for South Carolina game

In the first half of Tennessee’s win over UTSA, quarterback Joe Milton went down with an injury and needed to wear a brace on his knee for the rest of the game. Still, Josh Heupel expects him to be at full strength for the South Carolina game.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it took this long to get that question. For us I know there’s a picture out there. But, for us, routinely on Sundays, we’re going to make sure that our players are healthy. We have a diagnosis inside with our doctors, but we’re gonna make sure medically they check up on him as well,” Heupel said.

“Joe’s been good, feels good. He was with us today so I anticipate him being ready to go play really well.”