100 days from South Carolina Football: 10 players who must make a jump in 2023
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football Needs Spencer Rattler to Be the Man
This one is obvious. Spencer Rattler will be the most important player on the Carolina offense this fall. For most of the season in 2022, when #7 was good, so were the Gamecocks. The end of last season was special for Rattler, and in the final three games of the year, Shane Beamer’s group beat two top-10 teams and almost beat Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.
It is no secret at this point that Rattler and former offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield did not mesh well on the field as Rattler has, on numerous occasions this offseason, talked about how much more comfortable he is in new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains’ system. Rattler’s favorite target is back in Juice Wells, and new additions Trey Knox (tight end transfer from Arkansas), Joshua Simon (tight end transfer from Western Kentucky), and Nyck Harbor (5-star high school receiver) will compliment speedy outside threats Xavier Legette and Ahmarean Brown.
Adding to the pressure on Rattler in 2023 is the lack of an established run game for the Gamecocks. There are no running backs on the team with significant, high-level lead-back experience. Rattler may have to shoulder a larger-than-expected load for Loggains’ offense if the run game isn’t operating at a high enough level.