COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler is returning for another season, where he hopes to lead the team to even greater heights.
Rattler ended speculation about his future Tuesday night with a social media post that included a montage of clips from the Leonardo DiCaprio film "The Wolf of Wall Street," game highlights of Rattler from this season, and bits of him talking at a news conference. It closed with a graphic saying "he's back."
Rattler was reportedly weighing whether to return to the school or enter the NFL Draft.
It’s welcome news for head coach Shane Beamer as he prepares for year three as the leader of the Gamecocks. USC is coming off an 8-5 campaign that saw them post back-to-back wins over top 10 teams for the first time in school history. Beamer was just rewarded with a new 5-year, 33 million contract extension.
Rattler had an up and down first season with the Gamecocks that saw him struggle at times but also hit highs that he’d never before achieved in his career. He threw for a total of 3,026 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for three others in 2022.
His signature game of the year came against the Tennessee Volunteers. The Gamecocks, a week removed from a dismal performance against Florida, played a game for the ages, knocking off then fifth-ranked Tennessee 63-38. Rattler was brilliant: He threw for 438 and six touchdowns (the passing TDs a school record) to score one of the biggest upsets of the year in college football. He even caught a pivotal pass that helped set up a score.
The next week, Rattler gave Gamecock fans what they want every year: a win over archrival Clemson. The 31-30 victory over the Tigers was the first for USC in that annual series since 2013, a gap of nine years between victories.
Rattler, who’s from Phoenix, Arizona, was one of the highest-rated quarterback prospects in the nation in the 2019 high school recruiting class, with Rivals rating him as the number one dual threat quarterback in America. Even before leaving high school, he’d been on national TV: he was featured on one season of the Netflix reality TV series “QB1: Beyond the Lights.”
He initially went to Oklahoma to play college football. As a freshman, he was a sensation, throwing for 3,021 yards and 28 touchdowns in 2020, including a season-ending win over Florida in the Cotton Bowl. Going into the 2021 campaign, he was considered a preseason Heisman Trophy favorite. But Rattler struggled, and several games into the season was replaced as a starter by freshman Caleb Williams.
After then Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley left the Sooners for Southern Cal, Rattler entered the transfer portal. Beamer, who’d been on the Oklahoma staff before coming to USC and who helped recruit Rattler to Oklahoma, persuaded Rattler to take his talents to Columbia.