USC wasted Spencer Rattler’s stellar season. That can’t happen again

Moments after nearly everyone from South Carolina had cleared the field, a swath of Clemson players in their white jerseys and orange pants ran over to midfield. To the Block C logo. Tigers freshman Zack Owens held a ginormous flag while linebacker Barrett Carter clutched a whiteboard that read, “We run this state.”

Meanwhile, about 50 yards away was Dakereon Joyner, the Gamecocks’ Mr. Do Everything who was walking on the Williams-Brice Stadium field for the final time. The former Fort Dorchester High star turned South Carolina Renaissance Man walked around the stadium alone, the only Gamecock to high-five students and pose for pictures with fans following USC’s 16-7 loss to Clemson.

College football can be cruel. It is cruel for the guys like Joyner, who would play football for South Carolina until they were collecting AARP benefits if not for darn eligibility.

It is also cruel for a guy like Spencer Rattler, the Gamecocks quarterback who sat at the podium Saturday night giving every indication he’d be entering the NFL Draft without actually saying it.

Rattler was the gem of coach Shane Beamer’s first offseason, the transfer-portal whale that South Carolina somehow snatched. He brought instant relevance to the Gamecocks. Instant respect to Beamer. Instant offense.

In Rattler’s first year, he helped lead South Carolina to its first eight-win season for the first time in a half-decade. He guided the Gamecocks to end-of-the-season upsets over Tennessee and Clemson. He gave South Carolina hope in 2023 because you can’t have flash-in-the-pan seasons with a guy like Rattler, right?

Right?

Earlier this week, offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains spoke about Rattler and what he meant to South Carolina. Very quickly, Loggains’ answer turned from reverence to regret.

“How do you have such good quarterback play? How do you not turn the ball over at that position and not have a better record?” Loggains asked. “That’s where I feel like we’ve let him down a little bit.”

South Carolina did not just let Rattler down this season. They wasted one of the best quarterbacking seasons in this program’s history (3,186 passing yards). Wasted it with an inexperienced, injured offensive line. With a defense that couldn’t find itself until Halloween. With so-so running back play.

The Gamecocks had one of the best quarterbacks in the country and they still couldn’t get to a bowl game. No destination trip. No swag bag. No extra month of practice. No offseason to claim success is “right there.”

Just a Christmas with the family and another guy South Carolina can tout as a “Gamecock in the NFL.”

This is a massive offseason for Shane Beamer and his staff. When asked what’s at the top of his short-term checklist, Beamer said, “To get better,” which is a nicer way of saying, “To make sure we don’t waste the next Spencer Rattler.”

Who is the next Spencer Rattler? Who knows? Perhaps it’s freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers. Maybe it’s QB commit Dante Reno. It might be some young star in the transfer portal who wants a better opportunity.

It will be somebody. Beamer’s mission is to make sure the foundation is rock solid when that person comes in. To make sure when South Carolina has another superstar, it capitalizes with a 10-win season, perhaps flirts with a playoff appearance.

That is easier said than done. See: Caleb Williams at USC, 2023.

But Beamer has his work cut out for him, especially considering he’s at an NIL disadvantage when compared with his SEC counterparts.

“We certainly need to be better from an NIL standpoint than where we are,” Beamer said. “I know the people who are involved in that are working their butts off.”

Beamer has already said he and most of his coaches will limit recruiting travel in the next two weeks, a measure to keep a better eye on the current roster and better mobilize if someone transfers. One can only imagine South Carolina reconfigured to a firehouse where coaches only need to slide down a pole to reach a large conference room.

The good news: South Carolina played a ton of young guys this season. Probably far more than it wanted. Five-star freshman Nyck Harbor grew. Freshman Jalon Kilgore started. A number of young offensive linemen got thrown to the fire. Many more underclassmen played meaningful defensive snaps.

“We just started five true freshmen throughout the season,” Beamer said. “We went through some lumps this year. We lost 12 players to season-ending injuries, six of which were offensive linemen. That is not making excuses, it is what it is.”

In other words: South Carolina will need to build more depth. That comes from guys like receiver Juice Wells coming back for another year. Comes from the transfer portal, where South Carolina did not find enough impactful players last offseason. And it comes from high-school recruiting, an area where Beamer is overjoyed.

“We have a hell of a recruiting class coming in here,” he said. “I don’t know if you saw before the game, the committed prospects that were out at midfield with me. It’s a pretty freaking big-time group of players that are coming in here next season.”

Here’s to hope they are part of the foundation that does not waste the next Rattler, that does not have to end their college career like Joyner, walking out of Williams-Brice Stadium with the season over in November.