QB Spencer Rattler is progressing at the right time for South Carolina. Here’s how

Spencer Rattler hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire five games into his South Carolina career.

He’ll tell you that. Head coach Shane Beamer will tell you that. Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield will tell you that.

But progression isn’t always linear in college football. It’s why Rattler’s stats aren’t exactly a tell-all for where the Gamecocks’ prized quarterback transfer feels his game is less than halfway into his first season in Columbia.

“I think he’s got more — I don’t want to say confidence — but he’s done a great job of being a leader the last few weeks,” Beamer said of how Rattler has progressed since Week 1. “And he continues to get more and more comfortable and confident with what he’s doing and what we’re doing around him as well.”

A brief glance at Rattler’s stats might force one to consider sounding an alarm.

Sans a 376-yard explosion at Arkansas, he’s averaging just 186 yards per game over those four other contests. His eight interceptions rank tops among SEC quarterbacks averaging at least 15 throws per contest. He also ranks tied for last in the league among signal-callers who’ve played at least five games with four touchdown passes, along with Florida’s Anthony Richardson.

But his flashes of brilliance — even if they’ve only come in spurts — give reason to think the Gamecocks are still headed in the right direction.

Take Rattler’s touchdown pass to Austin Stogner last week as proof of his continued development.

Receiving a shotgun snap, Rattler stepped into the pocket as the S.C. State defense closed in on him. He started to run, but kept his eyes downfield. Nearing the line of scrimmage, Rattler slid into a passing motion and flung a 15-yard dart to Stogner for his former Oklahoma teammate’s first touchdown at South Carolina.

Beamer lauded the play as one of his best as a Gamecock on his Sunday teleconference. He doubled down on the stance on Tuesday afternoon. Rattler didn’t go as far to rank his throws in his five-game South Carolina start, but smirked at the thought of the play being up there on his internal list.

“It was up there,” Rattler said with a grin. “It wasn’t a difficult throw, but I stepped up (in the pocket) and I knew where he was going. So, I just threw it to him. ... It was a good play. Fun play.”

Rattler, too, has added an explosive element that desperately lacked a season ago in the four-player carousel that made up South Carolina’s quarterback room in 2022.

The Gamecocks recorded just 99 passing plays of 10 yards or more in 13 games last fall. They’ve recorded 49 such plays in 2022 — which, if extended over a 12-game season, puts USC on pace for 117 passes of 10 or more yards this year.

Much of that comes from the Gamecocks insistence to rely more heavily on a passing game that was retooled with Rattler, Stogner and transfer receivers Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. (James Madison) and Corey Rucker (Arkansas State) this past offseason.

Satterfield hasn’t been shy about saying South Carolina is happy to air it out more this year. Beamer, too, has backed up that stance in recent weeks.

The numbers bear it out, as well.

South Carolina threw 360 passes over 13 games in 2022., the second-lowest mark in the SEC. The Gamecocks are on track to attempt almost 400 throws in the 12-game regular season.

“I’d be an idiot to sit up here and tell you we’re going to run the ball 60 times a game,” Beamer said in the days after a 44-30 loss at Arkansas in Week 2. “We’ve got an NFL quarterback, NFL receivers and NFL tight ends. Every week we’re trying to do what gives us the best opportunity to be successful.”

Added Satterfield recently: “I mean, I’m not gonna lie, going into every game, we’re gonna spin that thing and throw down the field. And that’s what we said going into the season. That’s not going to change.”

Ire surrounding South Carolina’s offense has continued into the early parts of the 2022 campaign and, in fairness, it’s not completely without merit.

USC looked stagnant in spells in the season opener against Georgia State — a squad that didn’t record its first victory of the year until last week. South Carolina was then utterly dominated in a Week 3 meeting with then-No. 3 Georgia.

Still, mature throws like that to Stogner and turning in back-to-back 50-point performances for the first time since 1995 — albeit against one of the FBS’s worst defenses and an FCS squad — indicate growth.

Now, though, comes showing it against SEC competition at Kentucky, a team South Carolina has thrown for 250 yards or less against in eight of their last 10 meetings.

“We’re chomping at the bit (to play Kentucky),” Rattler said. “We’re ready to go.”