How high is Spencer Rattler in college football’s QB pecking order? One outlet has an idea

How good is Spencer Rattler? One outlet has an idea.

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel released their rankings of the country’s top quarterbacks, separated into tiers on Monday. Rattler was slotted in the fifth tier alongside passers like Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Mississippi State’s Will Rogers, Ole Miss’ Jaxon Dart and Oregon State’s D.J. Uiagalelei.

“Rattler had some huge games to end last season, most notably against Tennessee,” Mandel wrote, “but still ended with an 18-to-12 TD-to-INT ratio.”

Rattler, as Mandel mentioned, finished the year with massive games against Tennessee and Clemson. He was named the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 438 yards and six touchdowns in the upset of the No. 5 Volunteers.

The former Oklahoma signal-caller, however, had an up-and-down start to his campaign. Rattler threw for more than 250 yards just once over the first 10 weeks of the season — a 377-yard effort in a Week 2 loss at Arkansas. He also tossed seven interceptions over his first four games.

South Carolina has high-hopes for Rattler in 2023 following the dynamic end to his campaign. The Arizona native also spurned a possible early entry into the NFL draft to return to Columbia, where he’ll rank as the third-most productive returning passer in the Southeastern Conference behind only Rogers and Arkansas’ K.J. Jefferson.

Other quarterbacks included in Mandel and Feldman’s rankings were Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams (Tier 1) — who supplanted Rattler as the starter at Oklahama in 2021 — LSU’s Jayden Daniels (Tier 3), Kentucky’s Devin Leary (Tier 3) and Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall (Tier 3).

“McCall, a three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year, was magical in Jamey Chadwell’s system,” Feldman wrote. “I’m curious to see how the offense is in 2023 under the new staff.”

North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye was slotted in the second tier along with Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. South Carolina will face Maye in the season opener in Charlotte on Sept. 2.