Why Spencer Rattler came back to South Carolina, what's next for him

There are a lot of questions about South Carolina and which players play where once the season opener against North Carolina rolls around. But one position is settled with Spencer Rattler at quarterback.

Barring something completely unforeseen, Rattler is the Gamecocks’ starting quarterback. And he’ll be the team’s first two-year starter at the position since Jake Bentley. 

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Rattler, who turned it on late in the year. And the Gamecocks know there’s still plenty to work on heading into 2023.

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“The last couple games two or three games was so much of his ability to just cut it loose, give his receivers and tight ends opportunities to go make plays. And just continue to play with confidence and play free like he did,” Shane Beamer said.

“And there’s a lot of certainly fundamental things and technical things that he’ll tell you he needs to improve on. But as the head coach, that’s what I want to see you just continuing to play with that confidence and swagger that he played with last season.”

Rattler started the year largely inconsistent, completing just 62.1 percent of passes in his first seven games against FBS opponents. He averaged 7.2 yards per attempt with three touchdowns to seven interceptions. 

Over his final four games of the regular season–Vanderbilt, Florida, Tennessee and Clemson–he completed 71.1 percent of passes. Rattler averaged 8.9 yards per attempt with eight scores to two interceptions. 

It’s that freeness Rattler played with–especially against the Vols and Tigers–he and South Carolina are trying to tap into in 2023. 

“I feel like at the beginning to the middle of the year, we might have been doing a little too much that we didn’t need to be doing. Towards the end we limited some stuff down, some personnel groupings,” Rattler said.

“We tightened down the playbook to plays that play to our strengths, to my strengths, our receivers’ strengths, O-line strengths, all of that. Nothing really changed too much as people think. The changes definitely helped towards the end of the season.”

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Rattler comes back as one of the lone returning quarterbacks in the SEC East with Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri all expected to break in new passers next season.

He’s hoping that veteran presence can help him and the Gamecocks trying to take a step forward in 2023 under new play-caller Dowell Loggains. 

“Humbly, I feel like I can stack up with anybody in this league quarterback-wise. We still have a lot of work to do as a group. We have a lot to prove this year,” Rattler said. “Obviously (we) didn’t have the season we wanted last year. We had a good season, but not the way we wanted it. So as a group, we want to be better this year and keep striving for perfection.”

Rattler came back after seriously toying with the professional route but opted to return for one more year at South Carolina for a few different reasons.

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“We weighed all the options, my family and I. Talking to certain people. Obviously that next level, I had a real choice to pick. I just weighed it out and I thought there were more pros coming back,” he said. “I graduate in December and get my degree. That’s important to my family and I. I just feel like we left a little on the table. That’s why Juice (Wells) and I decided to come back one more time.”

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