Dowell Loggains already working to recruit Spencer Rattler back to South Carolina

Spencer Rattler still has an important decision to make about his future in football.

Rattler, who will play in the Gamecocks’ upcoming bowl game, is eligible for the 2023 NFL Draft. There’s also a chance he could return to college for another year.

His return, though, will somewhat hinge on the message from newly-hired offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who would welcome the opportunity to work with Rattler with open arms.

“We’ve got to do a great job of bringing him back,” Loggains said. “I told someone it would be the biggest recruit since my wife.”

Loggains was part of an Arkansas offensive staff that saw Rattler play early in his South Carolina tenure, week two in Fayetteville. The Rattler Loggains saw was vastly different than the film he’s seen from the Gamecock’s quarterback over his last eight quarters.

“Those last two games and I haven’t had a chance to dive in and talk to Spencer about this, but he played free,” Loggains said. “And for whatever reason, he got to the point where he looked very confident. And it didn’t feel that way all year. It’s hard for me to sit up here and judge that, but that would be my observation, which could be wrong.”

In the last two games, Rattler completed 72 percent of his passes for 798 yards, eight touchdowns and two interceptions. He led the Gamecocks to back-to-back wins over top-10 opponents for the first time in program history.

“Knowledge builds confidence and confidence allows you to play fast,” Loggains said. “At that point, those last two games, that’s what it felt like. I was extremely impressed with him.”

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Altogether, he passed for 2,780 yards, 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

Before being hired, Loggains had a chance to see what Rattler could do firsthand. Rattler threw for 376 yards with one touchdown and an interception in a 44-30 loss.

“I was concerned about where you guys needed to go after we played y’all — the way we beat y’all,” Loggains said. “But to be honest, at the end of the season, I was kind of shocked. You got better.”

Following a 1-2 start, South Carolina turned its season around and finished No. 20 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. This caught Loggains’ attention.

“There was something special about this place and this culture and what’s being created to finish the way you did,” he said. “And that goes back to coach (Shane) Beamer and what he’s created with culture. That’s what really enticed me with this job.”

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Loggains has only been on the job for less than 48 hours and has already spoken with Rattler. He’ll have to convince the Gamecock quarterback to come back.

If he’s successful in returning Rattler, he said he wants him to be comfortable and be able to have a say.

Rattler would be learning from a coach with NFL experience. Loggains spent 12 years working with the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. During that time, he learned a lot from coaching veteran quarterbacks such as Kerry Collins, Matt Hasselback and Jay Cutler.

“When you get to this age, you’re not going to change a throwing motion. You can tweak it and shorten it and you can get the ball out quicker,” Loggains said. “I do think the advantage of coming from the NFL is that you learn a lot from quarterbacks…Just being able to teach these guys what I’ve learned in 17 years of coaching at the highest level at the quarterback position, it excites me. Gives us a good chance to make a kid better.”

“That’s why you coach is to see how good can we make you and how long are you willing to work. You spend all of your energy into making the kid better.”

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For now, Rattler will begin preparing for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl on Dec. 30. Any decisions about his future will have to wait.

“I’ll decide what I want to do after the bowl game,” Rattler told GamecockCentral.com at a recent Garnet Trust event. “It’s definitely up in the air. I’ll talk to my family, coaches, so I’ll make an informed decision.”

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