Spencer Rattler thriving under pressure so far for South Carolina

If there was one moment from Saturday that demonstrates the growth in Spencer Rattler from last year to this one, Dowell Loggains said it came in the second half of South Carolina’s loss to Georgia. 

Facing a third and long with pressure in his face, Rattler stepped up and delivered a great ball to Trey Knox down the middle of the field that would have resulted in a first down. 

Knox dropped the ball but for Loggains, it showed Rattler’s growth in dealing with and performing better against pressure to start the year. 

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“We told him he needed to stretch his drops, keep his eyes downfield and sit in there and make throws. There were going to be colors flashing around him but we didn’t care about that. We needed him to stare down the barrel and make freaking plays for us,” Loggains said. 

“That’s where Spencer’s grown as a player. He stares down the barrel. He sticks it right between his numbers on a critical, critical time in that game. We would have picked up a first down but unfortunately, we didn’t catch it. But (number) seven was fearless.”

Last season, Rattler struggled when he was under pressure. In 138 dropbacks under pressure last season he completed just 33 percent of his passed while averaging 4.8 yards per attempt with five touchdowns and seven picks. 

This year those numbers have drastically improved over an albeit smaller sample size of three South Carolina games into the season. But it is a similar pressure rate compared to last year. 

Rattler is 14-for-32 (43.8 percent) in 49 dropbacks against pressure but is averaging a much better 8.1 yards per attempt with one touchdown and a pick. That’s an NFL rating of 69.5. 

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His turnover-worthy play rate is down from last season with him having just one turnover-worthy play (2.0 percent of dropbacks) under pressure this season compared to 12 last year (8.2 percent).

Stat	Kept Clean 2023	Under pressure 2023	Kept clean 2022	Under pressure 2022
Comp. %	80.8	43.8	78.4	33
Yards/attempt	8.9	8.1	9.0	4.8
TD-INT	3-1	1-1	11-4	5-7
Big-time throw %	2.4	2.9	5.5	5
Turnover-worthy play %	2.2	2.0	2.3	8.2
NFL Rating	111.3	69.5	111.8	36.7

Some of that is a new system tailored to accent his skill set, but Loggains mentions a lot of it is Rattler taking ownership of learning more protections and the strengths and weaknesses of each. 

That’s not something he did a lot of at Oklahoma, Loggains said, and Rattler is excelling at it right now. 

“He wanted to get into six-man protections, understand five-man empty protections, and be able to make adjustments off of them. Then knowing where your problems are. Then you’re not surprised,” Loggains said. “He understands his problems and where the ball has to go against those problems. And he has solutions for them. I think that’s settled him down.”

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He’ll need to continue that this weekend against a veteran, blitz-happy Mississippi State defense. So far against teams starters this year, State is blitzing on 58.5 percent of dropbacks.

Quarterbacks against the blitz this season versus the Bullodgs are completing 70.3 percent of passes for 7.3 yards, and a 1-to-1 TD-to-INT ratio. Mississippi State’s blitzes have resulted in 29 total pressures and five sacks. 

When State doesn’t blitz, quarterbacks are completing 75 percent of passes and averaging over a yard more per attempt with two touchdowns to one pick. The Bulldogs have just six pressures and one sack when not blitzing. 

Rattler’s handled the blitz well so far this year, completing 71.1 percent of passes for 8.4 yards per attempt with three scores and no picks for South Carolina.

And it’ll be up to him to do that again and give his team a chance to win. 

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“To this point, I speak for most people, we’re pretty darn happy with how he’s played. It’s understanding defenses more. It’s understanding coverage and protections more. He worked really hard to understand protections this offseason. It was a big emphasis for him. He wanted to do that,” Loggains said.

“I think it’s a combination of understanding protections, understanding coverages and being fearless in the pocket. He’s put a lot of good stuff on tape.” 

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