On3's J.D. PicKell high on Spencer Rattler; why some won't give him his flowers yet
South Carolina’s Spencer Rattler is off to one of the best starts by a quarterback in the country. But when it comes to the 10,000+ lists out there ranking quarterbacks, some have still been hesitant to recognize him as one of the best in the country through four games.
“This might be more of a hotter take, which I try to stay away from,” On3’s J.D. PicKell said Thursday on GC Live. “I think there is some brand bias and some reputation bias around Spencer Rattler because some people can’t forget about him getting benched at Oklahoma. For some people, that’s the snapshot in their mind and it’ll be the forever opinion about Spencer Rattler until he goes and does X, Y, and Z to debunk that. But those who have been paying attention to college football, those who actually sit-down on Saturdays and watch the games understand those are two very different quarterbacks, two very different situations, two different stages in life.”
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Heading into Week 5’s matchup against Tennessee, Rattler’s play has South Carolina’s passing game ranked eighth nationally. In the SEC, he’s ranked first in completions (95), second in completion percentage (74.2%), second in QBR (83), and third in passing yards (1,242). He’s also produced two games in which he completed 90 percent of his passes with his two lone interceptions coming with five minutes to go down two scores at No.1 Georgia.
Despite all of that, as well as playing against a pair of top 25 teams in that span, not every ranking out there has Rattler towards the top. As I said before, there’s 10000+ lists out there ranking quarterbacks these days. That’s not to get confused with draft stock or what NFL scouts are saying about Rattler. In the grand scheme of things these lists mean nothing more than just some friendly banter. Aside from the rankings by some talking heads on TV, here’s just a couple I came across this week.
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On3: 13
CBS: 9
Bleacher Report: 14
247 Sports: 9
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“I would have to imagine that the rankings bias does factor in for a guy like Spencer Rattler because there’s so much kickback that comes from putting him in the top five or even in the top ten because people just go to the, ‘He couldn’t cut it at Oklahoma. He couldn’t do this and he couldn’t do that.’ I think once he debunks that as he gets further and further into the season they’ll be maybe some more rankings love for him.”
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Prior to the start of the season, according to Bet Online, Rattler had the 15th-best odds of winning the Heisman in 2023 at +4000. While his play so far has exceeded the expectations many had for him going into the year, including PicKell’s, PicKell believes it would take more than just Rattler playing well to be in that picture.
“For me, the concern with that is that even though it’s given to the best player in the country, it’s given to the best player on the best team. Where South Carolina is right now they would probably have to win out. Being in the conversation for an SEC title or College Football Playoff race is what it would probably take, in my mind. If you were to stack up the quarterbacks (across the country) Spencer Rattler is probably in that conversation purely from an individual performance. But just with the nature of the Heisman it would probably take a little bit more from South Carolina as a team to get him in that conversation.”
