Spencer Rattler talks South Carolina passing game against Tennessee

Spencer Rattler dropped back about five steps in the shotgun. He needed nine yards to extend South Carolina’s drive.

He found an open Trey Knox near the left sideline. But a swarm of Tennessee defenders came crashing in. Turnover on downs. The game was all but over.

As Rattler came off the field, “F— you, Spencer” chants poured out from the crowd. It was that kind of night for Rattler and the offense in a 41-20 loss to the Volunteers on Saturday.

“We just couldn’t find a rhythm. We’ve got to clean up. We’re 2-3 right now, but it doesn’t feel like 2-3,” Rattler said. “Offensively we’ve been playing really well. That was our first test where they kind of matched how we’ve been playing — the credit to them, they did a great job. It was like their Super Bowl tonight and they did a great job.”

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Ten months prior, Rattler torched the Volunteers secondary for 438 yards and six touchdowns. It was a career night for him as South Carolina beat Tennessee, 63-38 last year.

But it was a different story at Neyland Stadium this past weekend. Determined to not let it happen again, Tennessee played a much better game defensively. And it started with winning the battle at the line of scrimmage.

It was a battle for Rattler to complete every pass he threw. The Vols continued to bring pressure and exploit South Carolina’s offensive line. They finished the game with six sacks.

Part of Tennessee’s game plan was to take away the Gamecocks’ best receiver, Xavier Legette. No team had been able to stop him yet. He was the leading receiver in the country.

But the Vols were able to figure it out when other teams struggled to do so. Legette was non-existent in the second half. He only had five catches for 50 yards.

One of Legette’s catches didn’t even come from Rattler throwing to him. At the beginning of the second quarter, South Carolina ran a fake punt and converted. Kai Kroeger threw a 32-yard pass to Legette for a big gain.

“They took (Legette) away the whole game,” Rattler said. “They were clouding him, pushing the safety over top so he couldn’t do much. Credit to them, he’s our best receiver and they took him away and it definitely hurt us.”

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When Rattler couldn’t find Legette, he instead relied on his tight end, Knox. The two connected on seven passes for 51 yards.

“Sometimes, he was the only guy open. It was pretty late in the game when we started using him. I feel like we could’ve used him even more, but he’s a reliable weapon,” Rattler said.

“He’s banged up as well, so credit to him for fighting through that whole night — he’s super banged up. So he’s a tough dude, respect to him.”

However, it was much tougher to get other receivers involved more. Legette and Knox combined for nearly 50 percent of all Rattler’s completions. He finished 24-for-35 for 169 yards and an interception.

So what was the biggest difference in Rattler not being able to find the same success he did last year? Besides Tennessee just playing better defense, one of his top targets was absent. Juice Wells did not make the trip to Knoxville as he is nursing a foot injury.

“I mean we just had a lot of receivers last year,” he said. “We’ve got guys banged up. We’re going to get better. These guys are coming along, but we’ve got to get guys going.”

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