If this was Spencer Rattler’s final South Carolina chapter, what a ride it was
Spencer Rattler bit the inside of his lip and glanced toward the ground, shrouding his eyes beneath the bill of his gray South Carolina-emblazoned ball cap.
The five-star signal-caller charged with resuscitating an anemic Gamecocks offense this season wore the disappointment of a 45-38 Gator Bowl loss to Notre Dame on his face. The jovial emotion of upsets of Tennessee and Clemson, now suddenly mellowed in the wake of a game South Carolina controlled early but couldn’t hang on.
“The perfect word for it is disappointing, unfortunate,” Rattler said. “We worked our tails off this whole season, battled through so much adversity and came out successful in a lot of games. But we can’t hang our heads after this loss.”
Whether Friday was Rattler’s final game in garnet and black remains to be seen. He said he’s undecided as far as turning pro or returning to Columbia for another year. That will decision will come in the weeks ahead.
If the Notre Dame game was the final chapter in Rattler’s time at South Carolina, then there’s reason to reflect. The man who single-handedly put the Gamecocks in the national conversation with his December 2021 commitment will be remembered in Columbia long after he leaves.
“Had some pressure, and we’ve got to help (Rattler) with some of the throws in the second half, but he’s a heck of a football player that continued to get better as the season went on,” head coach Shane Beamer said. “Certainly was a catalyst to us having the success that we had throughout the season, as well.
Friday was what it was. Rattler did all he could with a skeleton crew offense short many of the playmakers who played key parts in the late season wins over Tennessee and Clemson. He completed 29 of 46 passes for 246 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in garbage time to end the first half. He was mostly good, occasionally off and largely limited given a thinner-than-usual slate of weapons.
South Carolina’s tight end room was worn down to just Nate Adkins — who was injured in the third quarter and never returned — following the departures of Jaheim Bell (Florida State) and Austin Stogner (Oklahoma). Leading rusher MarShawn Lloyd, too, entered the portal.
Still, you saw those flashes of brilliance that Rattler is good for a handful of times per game. His leaping throw while climbing the pocket that landed in the hands of a diving Xavier Legette was a work of art. His scrambling ability in extending plays as long as humanly possible kept the Gamecocks alive as the Fighting Irish slugged their way into the lead.
Those are the kinds of moments that will resonate around town.
“Kentucky, winning that game, beating A&M for the first time, obviously Tennessee and Clemson — that’s tradition-changing type stuff right there,” Rattler said, listing off moments he said he’d remember from this fall. “Making it to this game, we should’ve beaten Notre Dame. But it’s a good feeling to know that the program is going in the right direction.”
Rattler’s path to South Carolina is well documented. The elite recruitment. The Heisman Trophy hype. The benching at Oklahoma. The move to Columbia.
This season itself ebbed and flowed much in the way Rattler’s own career has. There were early-season interceptions that forced onlookers to scratch their heads. But sandwiched between it all were those magician-esque escapes and big-time throws that made Rattler one of the more ballyhooed recruits of the last decade.
His final stat line for 2022 is solid enough: 264 of 399 for 3,024 yards, 18 touchdowns and 12 picks. It wasn’t all-world. It was also far more efficient and exciting than the revolving door of quarterbacks the Gamecocks trotted out in 2021.
All things considered, that’s marked progress.
“Eight win season — should’ve been nine — it sucks that we lost this game,” Rattler said. “But it’s a blessing. We still won a lot of big games this year. Program is still going (up) and it’s only going to get better.”
The loss to Notre Dame stings. Beamer said as much. The downtrodden faces of Gamecocks players and staffers as they left TIAA Bank Field echoed those sentiments.
Rattler will be remembered for his roles in back-to-back wins over top 10 teams, weeks that we may look back on as program-altering victories. The season-ending thud is undoubtedly painful. But there’s reason for optimism in Columbia.
The gun-slinging signal-caller from Arizona is a big reason why.
