How Spencer Rattler remains connected to a former Notre Dame quarterback
Malik Zaire stood at the whiteboard inside Elev8 Quarterback Academy’s film room and asked one of the high school quarterbacks before him for a play call.
“What’s your favorite play?” he asked a 17-year-old Spencer Rattler.
“Two digs,” Rattler responded.
The average football play can be anywhere from five to 15 different words with varying correlating formations and personnel packages depending on the verbiage. Rattler’s professed favorite play was two words.
The room started to laugh.
“We’re like, ‘OK, is there like a formation? Is there like a pass protection?’ It’s just ‘two digs,’ ” said Mike Giovando, Rattler and Zaire’s shared private quarterback coach. “If you see Malik to this day, or even tell Spencer ‘two digs,’ they’ll just start laughing, because we just could not get over that was the play.”
“It’s really one dig, but it’s called ‘two digs,’ ” Rattler added through a smirk. “I don’t know why.”
Zaire has since graduated from drawing plays, shifting to a career outside of football. But the former Notre Dame quarterback still fondly recounts the workout sessions and chalk talks in Arizona he went through with a high school-aged Rattler.
The arm talent. The ease with which Rattler could loft balls down the field. The “wow” factor that made him one of the most sought-after quarterback recruits of the last decade.
Zaire saw it all on display early. He just hopes his old training partner won’t flash too much of it when Notre Dame takes on South Carolina in Friday’s Gator Bowl.
“We’re definitely looking to kick his butt,” Zaire quipped. “But it’s not gonna be easy. He’s on a hot streak.”
Linking an ex-Notre Dame QB and five-star prospect
If anyone can relate to Rattler’s well-documented, nomadic college career it’s Zaire.
He signed with Notre Dame as a four-star prospect in the 2013 class. Zaire played in 15 games during his time in South Bend, trading time throughout with eventual first-round pick DeShone Kizer. That forced Zaire’s eventual transfer to Florida, where he started two games in 2017 before suffering a season-ending injury in a loss to South Carolina.
Hoping for a shot at the NFL despite a college career that never could quite get rolling, the Ohio native landed in Arizona and connected with Giovando.
“(Zaire) always worked hard around us,” Rattler told The State. “He was always teaching us a thing or two, whatever we wanted to ask, he would answer.”
Giovando has earned a reputation as one of the West Coast’s best quarterback trainers. Rattler has worked with him since middle school. Five-star 2024 signal-caller Dylan Raiola is one of the quarterbacks currently under Giovando’s watch.
Zaire linked up with Giovando through a mutual contact who helps Giovando run his social media. The two clicked and Giovando agreed to train Zaire ahead of his pro day in preparation for the 2018 NFL Draft.
“I think Gio is like Phil Jackson when it comes to coaching, or his methodology behind it,” Zaire said. “He’s a very easy going guy. Very adaptable. You love training with him. It’s no wonder why people gravitate towards him.
“It’s not like you’re learning the secrets of quarterbacking, necessarily, but when you go with Gio, it’s gonna be great work. And you’re gonna get better because it’s gonna be a lot of guys that are also pretty good that are gonna be around him as well.”
Rattler’s history with Giovanda dates back further. Roughly a decade ago, Giovando received a call from a local coach about an uber-talented sixth-grade quarterback who was torching youth defenses in and around Phoenix. Giovando went to see Rattler play shortly thereafter. The two have been connected ever since.
By the time Zaire met Rattler, the now-South Carolina signal-caller had developed into an elite QB recruit.
Ratter was a five-star prospect. He had offers from everywhere. He’d become the first high school passer in Arizona history to throw for more than 11,000 yards.
Joining Giovando for a workout session during the spring of 2018, Zaire watched mesmerized as Rattler spun footballs all around the field.
Rattler had a rare combination of dazzling arm talent and an ability to drop passes where few his age could. Zaire, who’d spent the previous four years playing for a pair of iconic college football brands, was floored.
“He was one of the most natural throwers I’ve ever been around,” Zaire said. “Just naturally gifted and talented with throwing the football.”
A resurgent Spencer Rattler and the Gator Bowl
Zaire and Rattler have kept in touch over the years, trading texts and calls from time to time.
Rattler tracked Zaire following his football career, first with his jump into a gig with the sports media company Overtime and subsequently with his move into broadcasting.
Zaire also kept tabs on Rattler, through his benching at Oklahoma, his transfer to South Carolina and the wins over No. 5 Tennessee and No. 8 Clemson to close the year. That talented teenager he’d worked out with in Arizona was flashing the talent he saw years ago.
“It was really good to see him go through the process of not always being at his best,” Zaire said. “Just because I think it helped — not so much a humbling experience — but a maturation process of him having so much talent, and it not always working out for him.
“I think he’s grown a lot. And you got to see that in those last two games, just kind of slowly putting the pieces together of what the right attitude is mixed with the amount of talent that he has. And he’s producing some real high-quality games against good teams.”
Though it’s been six years since Rattler and Zaire worked out together in Arizona, there are still lasting implications in the former’s game from their sessions.
Climbing in the pocket against then-No. 5 Tennessee, Rattler fired a dart to receiver Antwane Wells Jr. Collected the pass just above his knees, Wells danced a few yards before being slung down by Volunteers defensive back Kamal Hadden to convert a third-and-20 on the final play of the third quarter.
The play call? Two digs.
