Shane Beamer pleased with Spencer Rattler's growth

If there’s one throw Shane Beamer is using to illustrate Spencer Rattler’s growth the last two weeks, it came against South Carolina State.

In the red zone and facing a second and long, Rattler scanned the field and couldn’t find an open man immediately. So he stepped up in the pocket and delivered a strike to Austin Stogner for a 15-yard touchdown.

“He looks to the right first read isn’t their second read isn’t there he steps up in the pocket and then comes all the way back and essentially finds his third or fourth read on the play, Stogner, on the crossing around in the end zone,” Beamer said.

“Just things like that, I’m fired up about him as he continues to get better, and excited to see him continue to progress over the year.”

It might not be perfect, but Rattler’s two best games have come the last two weeks against Charlotte and SC State, a much-needed reprieve from SEC play to help settle back into the offense.

And, taking out two tipped interceptions, and Rattler had a nice Thursday evening for the Gamecocks.

The South Carolina quarterback played a significant role in his team’s 50-10 win over S.C. State. He completed 21-of-27 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns while also running for 31 yards and one score.

Beamer named Rattler as the Gamecocks’ offensive player of the game and shared how good it’s been to see his progression.

“He played great, managed the offense well, took shots downfield, check the play a couple of times, got us into the right play on more than one occasion,” Beamer said. “He’s gotten better the last couple of weeks. Really proud of him.”

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Five weeks into the season, Rattler sits at a 58.9 Pro Football Focus (PFF) overall grade. On the surface, this number does not tell the entire story. After three tough weeks, his ratings have improved significantly.

Rattler finished with an overall grade of 71.6 against the Charlotte 49ers on Sept. 24, where he averaged 8.1 yards per completion.

One of the factors in the grade not being higher could be that he did not throw a touchdown pass. His running backs stole the show as they combined for six scores on the ground.

As a result of his play Thursday, his PFF grade was better on Thursday. He finished with an 84.8 overall grade and 88.9 passing grade, both of which are season-highs.

Those numbers fall more in line with how he performed at Oklahoma. During his three seasons with the Sooners, Rattler averaged an overall PFF grade of 86.4.

“He’s got a good feel,” Beamer said. “He’s playing with confidence right now.”

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Rattler’s hot spots this season are passes to the deep left, intermediate center and intermediate right.

On these throws, he owns an 84.9 passing grade with a 66.7 completion percentage. He’s thrown six deep left balls and completed four of them for 29.2 yards per attempt.

On his longer passes to the other parts of the field, Rattler has been shaky at best. He has a 51.5 passing grade when it comes to balls thrown to the deep center and right. He’s also been picked off four times and thrown one touchdown.

Otherwise, he’s been fairly good, with a 66.6 passing depth grade. His numbers worsen on deeper passes, but he has completed 74 percent of passes less than 20 yards.

“A lot of those throws out on the perimeter aren’t like designed balls,” Beamer said. “We’re just going to throw the ball on the perimeter. It’s, essentially, we don’t have the look to run the football and we got numbers out there on the perimeter. So he’s kicking the ball out there.”

Next up is a tougher test than the last two weeks, a matchup on the road against a top-15 Kentucky team.

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