Spencer Rattler is 'elite' in this area, Marcus Satterfield says

While the first thing that most people notice about South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler’s skillset is his elite arm talent, offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield complimented Rattler Thursday on another part of his game he considers elite.

“He is an unbelievable note-taker,” Satterfield said as the Gamecocks make final preparations for Saturday’s Garnet and Black Spring Game. “I noticed in just the last couple days, he is an elite note-taker, and we talked about like Coach (Matt) Rhule used to say it all the time, every revolution was started with a pen and the importance of taking notes. And he’s really good at that. You tell him something one time, and he’s gonna write it down, and he’s gonna go back, and he’s gonna reorganize it, and he’s gonna learn it. And you don’t have to tell him many things more than once.”

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Rattler, who famously announced in December that he would transfer from Oklahoma to South Carolina, has spent the spring getting acclimated to Satterfield’s pro-style offense after spending three seasons in Lincoln Riley’s no-huddle, spread-based attack.

That’s meant learning to command a traditional huddle and to operate from under center rather than being in the shotgun for nearly 100 percent of the time.

The former five-star prospect from Arizona has also gotten more comfortable and confident in audibling to a different play at the line of scrimmage.

Satterfield shared an example from Thursday’s practice when Rattler went to the line, noticed a presnap look that the defense was showing, and then changed the play based on a conversation that Rattler and Satterfield had weeks ago.

“The defense gave us a certain look that I think we talked about it maybe two weeks ago, hey you can get to this (play), if you see that (coverage),” Satterfield said. “And usually, it’s something that I would do, we would go to the line of scrimmage and kind of do the old traditional look to the sideline, he saw it, it’s the first time we’ve seen it, since we talked about it, he checked to it, and it became a successful play.

“And just little things like that, he’s getting to a point in his development, where he doesn’t have to have someone telling him every single check to make. And that was one of the huge emphasis going into the summer is just transitioning into a pro-style type offense. And for him to do that today. And he was so fired up to see it and get it executed was really, really cool.”

Rattler has consistently added an extra competitive edge to the Gamecocks’ practices this spring, and it hasn’t only been when things were going well, according to Satterfield.

During the open portion of Tuesday’s practice, the offense faced the defense in a live two-point conversation situation. Seven times the offense tried to score and seven times the defense denied them the goal line.

Rather than be discouraged or give in and let the defense win the day, Rattler rallied the troops and kept pushing.

“He just keeps getting better,” Satterfield continued .”And I think just his personality and his competitiveness rubs off on our offense. You’re at the two-point period the other day, that was a debacle. But that just absolutely lit a fire under him. And the rest of practice, he was not gonna let our guys mope around and waste a day.”

Despite the ugly start to the day, the offense responded, scoring two touchdowns in a couple of two-minute opportunities late in practice with Rattler tossing a “walk-off” touchdown to Trey Adkins and then Luke Doty doing the same on a touchdown throw to O’Mega Blake.

“He brought us back and we finished the practice really well,” Satterfield. “And you know, a lot because of just his fiery competitiveness, and I think he gives our guys some confidence to go out there and succeed. So really, really pleased with him, we got a long way to go. But I’m just really pleased with where he is right now.”

Rattler, Doty and the Gamecocks are set for the Garnet and Black Spring Game this Saturday night with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium.

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