South Carolina Football: Spencer Rattler nominated to Manning Award preseason watch list
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina football signal caller Spencer Rattler was disrespected by the Davey O’Brien Foundation when he was left off of the preseason watch list for the award. The O’Brien Award is one of three major awards given annually to the top quarterback in college football.
Rattler, for reasons unknown, was left off of the watch list for the O’Brien, even though several quarterbacks who have never played were included. Rattler, along with receiver Juice Wells, was nominated for the preseason watch list for the Maxwell Award (given to the top player in college football, usually on offense) but Rattler was still omitted by the Davey O’Brien Foundation.
The good news for South Carolina football fans and their favorite team’s starting quarterback is that he would not be forgotten by another major quarterback award this offseason.
On Tuesday, Spencer Rattler was nominated to the preseason watch list for the Manning Award. The Manning Award is given to the nation’s top quarterback by a group of national media personalities and the three Manning quarterbacks (Archie, Peyton, and Eli). The Manning Award also is the only major award that takes a player’s postseason/Bowl performances into consideration.
No South Carolina football quarterback has ever won the Manning Award.
The award has been given after every season since 2004 (the year after Eli, the youngest Manning of the three, finished his college career at Ole Miss), and all but two of the recipients (Colt McCoy and Stetson Bennett) went on to become 1st-round NFL Draft picks, something that also has been projected by some for Spencer Rattler.
Rattler is all but guaranteed to become the first Gamecock quarterback drafted since Todd Ellis and the first to be selected in the modern 7-round format of the NFL Draft. With a 2023 campaign that plays out more like the end of 2022, he could be a real candidate to bring home the Manning Award and be taken in the 1st round.