Spencer Rattler era at South Carolina has begun, even if it was just a spring game
Spencer Rattler’s eyes widened as he began the march toward Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday evening.
Head coach Shane Beamer had advised the ex-Sooner the pregame Gamecock Walk would be different than anything he’d experienced at Oklahoma. South Carolina fans obliged the second-year head coach.
Patrons adorning their cherished garnet-and-black apparel washed across Gamecock Park. Darude’s “Sandstorm” blared as a battle cry of sorts. Even Sir Big Spur’s remote-controlled rover joined the action.
There, in that sea of controlled chaos, Rattler’s South Carolina career began in earnest.
“It was like nonstop (cheers),” he said through an almost exasperated breathe. “Fans were everywhere. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Pinch yourself, if need be. It’s OK. That Rattler is in a Gamecock uniform is still borderline unbelievable.
But that walk, the 8 of 10 passes he completed for 79 yards and the handful of scrambles he raced for in Saturday’s Garnet and Black spring game — those were all very real.
For the first time since he committed to the Gamecocks in December, fans received their first look at the golden-armed signal-caller from half a continent away they hope will carry South Carolina upward in the SEC East.
“I thought Spencer did well,” Beamer said postgame. “He operated (the offense). ... (We) really didn’t have any personnel issues and play clock issues. We were pretty clean from that standpoint.”
It’s not that it’s hard to fathom a star quarterback would want to play in Columbia. Yet, the how and why South Carolina was able to nab one of the more sought-after transfers of the last five years makes nights like Saturday feel like a mirage.
The story is well-documented by now. South Carolina brought OU tight end transfer Austin Stogner to campus for an official visit in December. Stogner’s father, Brad, queried Beamer as to whether he’d kicked the tires on bringing Rattler — a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate on the outs at Oklahoma — to USC as well. He hadn’t. Brad suggested that coaches reach out.
Beamer and his staff hosted Rattler via a virtual visit. They broke down scheme and how South Carolina hoped to capitalize on an ahead-of-schedule 7-6 2021 campaign.
And then came that tweet at 9:06 p.m. Dec. 13 — the one that set Twitter ablaze and officially took Rattler off the transfer market. He announced was joining Beamer, a former OU assistant, and Stogner at South Carolina.
“It helped to have that little bit of comfort with the guy (Beamer) that you have the potential to be playing for,” Mike Giovando, Rattler’s longtime private quarterback coach, told the State in December. “You kind of know what he’s all about.”
That brings us to Saturday, a night of celebration and revelry for a program that enjoyed an offseason of good vibes, good press and an influx of talent that has the preseason prognosticators who pegged the Gamecocks for a bottom-of-the-barrel finish in 2021 rethinking the 2022 squad.
The former Oklahoma gunslinger looked largely the part in Saturday’s controlled scrimmage. Rattler completed 80% of his passes. He took the running lanes the defense gave him, when necessary, and even had offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield draw up a designed run for him in the second quarter.
Rattler, Satterfield and Beamer have spent months noting that the pro-style terminology and schemes the South Carolina offense struggled to grasp a season ago were a selling point in getting the former five-star recruit to Columbia.
Those ideas took form in Saturday’s second quarter when Rattler lined up under center, faked a handoff, rolled to his right and looked to unload a deep ball to James Madison transfer Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. But instead of forcing the ball to Wells, who drew a safety in coverage, Rattler fired a strike to a streaking Xavier Legette for a 30-yard gain.
“That was one of the first times we got to that route,” Rattler conceded. “Xavier ran a great route. (He) busted it back out. I just put him on and it was big explosive play for us.”
Rattler has seemed comfortable over his first two months in Columbia, flashing an effervescent personality befitting of an SEC signal-caller.
He drew laughs postgame with his tongue-in-cheek breakdown of the pass he completed to a to-tapping Wells along the sideline and whether it should’ve been called a sack on the field Saturday in a game that limited hits on the quarterback.
Under normal game circumstances, “I would have gotten hit on that play,” he said, a wry smile forming on his face, “but I thought it was a dime.”
Entering the gates of Williams-Brice Stadium before Saturday’s game, Rattler swiftly sidestepped a photographer in order to high-five one last fan before disappearing into the bowels of the 88-year-old structure South Carolina football calls home.
The Arizona native has sidestepped plenty in his career — negative publicity, public admonishment and more. But there’s a legitimate buzz around Columbia these days, and Rattler is at the center of it.
As unbelievable as it might’ve been six months ago, the former Heisman hopeful is a Gamecock. Saturday’s performance won’t count toward any wins come this fall, but that Rattler is donning a USC jersey at all is a win worth celebrating.
