Spencer Rattler impressing Dowell Loggains with ownership of offense
Dowell Loggains wants to see less horseshoer and more composer from Spencer Rattler in year one at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks are building an offense from the ground up under first-year coordinator Loggains. And his starting quarterback has shown the ability to take ownership as he learns what Loggains is teaching him.
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“He’ll stop me in the middle of the field asking, ‘Hey can we do this?’ I’m like, ‘You’re an artist, not a blacksmith. Paint the canvas how you want to paint it.’ Yes, but make sure the protection ties into the route and that ties into the protection,” Loggains said. “You have to get the other 10 guys on the same page. To see his thirst for knowledge grow that way, sometimes that happens when ownership is given to someone.”
Rattler has called his relationship with Loggains more of a partnership, the two working together to try and tailor the 2023 Gamecocks’ offense to what Rattler and the rest of the group do well.
It’s not trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. But more seeing the peg and creating the hole for it to fit through.
Rattler’s seen that, and he’s really taking that to heart while South Carolina finishes up spring practice this week.
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“All of the sudden they take it as it’s theirs. It’s not, ‘Oh, here’s Dowell’s playbook or the coaching staff’s playbook. We’re going to run it.’ We have a blank canvas and can make it whatever we want,” Loggains said. “I’ve been really fired up with him about that to see his curiosity and hunger to have more of a say and more involvement. That’s been really cool to watch.”
For Loggains, it’s a nice canvas to work with. Rattler, the former five-star prospect completed 66.2 percent of his passes last year for 3,026 yards (7.6 yards/attempt) with 18 scores to 12 picks.
He played his best ball to end the season last year, going 84-for-122 (68.9 percent) for 1,044 yards and 10 scores to three interceptions in wins over Tennessee and Clemson plus the bowl game.
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There’s undeniable talent there with more improvement to go, and Loggains has seen it in 13 spring practices.
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“The thing I kept hearing is how talented he is. I really appreciate and enjoy the process of how he embraced that he needs to learn things,” Loggains said. “There’s carryover, there’s new stuff and trying to figure out this and what he’s comfortable with.”
The offense is still nowhere close to being done. It likely won’t be until the end of training camp once the entire team is put together and Loggains has more evaluation time.
He called building it a “constant evolution” while the Gamecocks’ offensive staff figures out what it has.
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“We’re still working through all that stuff. When you practice, you get two special teams periods and two team periods. The ones are taking 12 to 14 reps a day. It’s a long process of trying to figure out those things,” Loggains said.
“The one thing I’ve been fired up about is how much ownership Spence is taking in everything. He’s asking, ‘Hey what about this? What about that?’ Like hey, you may be ready to do that but we have to get the other 10 guys on the same page playing to your speed. That’s been exciting. That process has been a lot of fun going through it with him.”
