Spencer Rattler, Juice Wells have chance to do 'some special things'

There have been a lot of great quarterback-wide receiver duos at South Carolina. Steve Taneyhill and Sterling Sharpe. Stephen Garcia and Alshon Jeffery. Connor Shaw and Bruce Ellington. Spencer Rattler and Juice Wells will have a chance to add their names to that list.

“I think inside we both knew, ‘Hey, we come back, we can do some special things,'” Rattler said in an exclusive Garnet Trust interview. “So that’s where we’re at now,”

Both players decided within 24 hours of each other that they would return to college for another season. They’ll try to help the Gamecocks win more games and improve their draft stock.

“I wouldn’t say my decision was affected by his decision, it was kind of the other way around, like you said he said,” Rattler said. “But we definitely communicated a few times each week just checking up on each other, seeing what we’re thinking.”

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Very quickly, Rattler and Wells formed a great connection in their first year playing together. In week two versus Arkansas, Wells caught eight of Rattler’s 24 completed passes for a season-high 189 yards, averaging 23.6 yards per catch. They also connected for a 62-yard touchdown.

“He makes big-time catches,” Rattler said. “He’s a big-time player and we need to get the ball to him more, so I’m going to keep throwing him the rock and he’s gonna keep making plays.”

And he did keep throwing him the football. They linked up for 928 yards and six touchdowns on 68 receptions.

Toward the tail end of the regular season, their chemistry was at its best. Wells caught 20 passes for 308 yards and two touchdowns in the final two games.

“I talked to Juice this morning, I said, ‘I’m going to throw you the ball like 15 times so come up with a lot of them,’ and he came up with a lot of them,” Rattler said after Wells’ performance versus Tennessee. “It was just crazy, man. I don’t know what else to say. It was amazing.”

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Wells said their success came from “slimming the playbook down” and “other teams having more to lose than we did.”

“It really wasn’t a lot of thinking, not a lot of strategies and all that type of stuff,” he said. “We just went out there and played and just balled. … I feel like you shouldn’t have to go out there and try to strategize a whole lot against different teams, especially when you have better athletes.”

It wasn’t all perfect, though. Rattler struggled at times, even throwing more interceptions than touchdowns at one point. But Wells always remained confident in his quarterback.

“I’m just in his ear all the time like, ‘You got this bro, no pressure,’ stuff like that,” Wells said. “I’m just there to be his friend, you know what I’m saying?”

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With another year to play together, the pair will have a real shot to elevate their games. Wells could become South Carolina’s first 1,000-yard receiver since 2014. Rattler, meanwhile, could get himself back into the Heisman Trophy conversation.

They’ll have help from first-year offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who plans to simplify his offensive schemes.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned in college football and the space and pace of the game and the ability to communicate with signals and as few words as possible,” Loggains said. “What I’ve been impressed with is how fast these kids learn a signal in a post of words. For whatever reason, it just hits their brain where you don’t even have to say something. You give a signal and everybody knows what to do.”

While it’s only January, Rattler and Wells have gotten a head start on next season.

“We’re getting ready for the offseason, already started our workouts, which have been great so far, and we’re just getting started,” Rattler said.

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