Spencer Rattler scouting report: Exploring the South Carolina quarterback's strengths and weaknesses

The number one QB in the 2019 recruiting class, Spencer Rattler was a highly touted QB prospect coming out of high school, but had to sit behind Jalen Hurts in 2019. He then came out in the 2020 season opener only to go 14 of 17 for 290 yards and four TDs.

In 11 games that year, Rattler completed 67.5 percent of his passes for just over 3000 yards and 28 TDs compared to seven INTs, plus another six scores on the ground. In 2021 it all collapsed for Rattler, having some shaky moments from the start, before finally being benched for the talented Caleb Williams and going on to transfer to South Carolina.

In his debut campaign with the Gamecocks, Spencer Rattler completed 66.2% of his passes for just over 3000 yards and 18 TDs vs. 12 INTs, while leading the program to its best record since 2017 (8-and-5). And he actually slightly improved across the board on all of those individual numbers – 68.9% completion rate, 3186 yards, 19 TDs vs. eight INTs, plus four scores on the ground – while earning team captain duties for a second year in a row.

Profile: 6-foot, 210 pounds; RS SR.

Beaking down Spencer Rattler's scouting report

Spencer Rattler: NFL Combine

Physical make-up & arm talent:

• Doesn’t have a lot a lot of wasted movement overall and creates easy velocity, whether he can really step into and drive throws to either sideline or torques his hips without space to still deliver 40+ yards down the field
• Can throw some lasers and has the arm talent to do so off RPOs, where he doesn’t need to bring the rest of his body into it
• Has that flick of the wrist when dropping balls into the bucket down the field, like you see with Aaron Rodgers
• Has a good feel for when he can take speed off the ball and put it out in front of his guys on crossers
• Can ride those fake handoffs for a long time or pull defenses in with a deep dropback before flicking the ball to guys in the screen game
• Quick to set his feet and create a throwing platform, off rollouts and play-action
• Yet he has plenty of passes on tape with his feet being in awkward positions or off the ground altogether and him being able to “all-arm” throws that you typically would pull your hair out as a coach if other guys attempted those
• Led the FBS with an 83.7% adjusted completion rate when kept clean in 2022, among QBs with 100+ dropbacks, and it was even slightly better last season (84.0%)

Processing & decision-making:

• Understands how to lead receivers away from trail-defenders with ball-placement, whether that’s slightly towards the middle when his guy has the DB on his hip-pocket or to the back-shoulder and a little further out to the sideline if those two are about even
• Makes sure to stop his target in the window against zone coverage, in particular vs. honey-hole shots vs. two-deep
• I thought the move to South Carolina kind of re-lit that fire inside of Rattler, where he became tougher from within the pocket, to stare at the face of pressure and let the ball fly with a rusher barreling in on him
• While there can still be some chaos to his game, Spencer Rattler has clearly worked on calming his eyes and feet as a pocket passer
• Climbs up to the line of scrimmage with a good balance between staying ready to throw and turning himself into a runner, with the twitch to negate rush angles
• Understands where his outlets are and even as he’s getting into creation made, where to find them if nothing else opens up
• Has improved his maturity with throwing the ball away outside the pocket
• Going up against Georgia in 2023 – when the Gamecocks were up 14-3 at halftime – I thought Spencer Rattler had several big-time throws, ripping deep in-cuts, putting just enough air under balls towards the sideline to get it over ancillary zone defenders, etc.

Playmaking in & out of the pocket:

• Has definitely worked on his ability to manipulate the pocket and buying time in order to wait out routes taking a little longer as they’re going to break towards open space
• You also see it when he’s spinning towards the left or drifting that way, being able to square his shoulders and hit guys on the run (in particular crossers) in a secondary window
• Impressive ability to pedal away from rushers closing in and getting enough zip on the ball to hit throws coming into his vision
• Capable of making guys miss who seem to have a clear shot at him, and stay poised with his eyes down the field
• Even as he decides he can’t dart through a lane and escapes the pocket, being able to re-locate targets and hit them on the move is something I noted a few times
• A couple of times per game it looks he’s run himself into trouble or is about to get wrapped up in a pile, yet he gets out of there, locates one of his targets and can flick it there
• Slippery with the ability to find escape lanes and rips off more yards with his legs than the defense typically treats him like, and he’s sturdier as well to survive glancing shots
• Was pressured on an insane 37.9% of dropbacks last season, which makes his 7.9% sack rate fairly low

Weaknesses:

• Not always a pin-point passer, where Spencer Rattler will have a receiver working towards the middle of the field and leads him back into contact too often
• There are certainly still some questionable decisions on tape, trying to beat defenders late who are already driving on routes – Logged the same amount of big-time throws as turnover-worthy plays over his two years in Columbia (33) and in 2022, he had the fourth-highest TWP rate under pressure (9.1%) among QBs with 100+ dropbacks
• Kind of oblivious to free rushers and puts himself in some tough situations, that he won’t get out of nearly as frequently at the next level; And we’ve seen it on multiple occasions, when he’s not totally comfortable, where he just keeps backing up and kind of bailing out of the pocket
• Misjudges his ability to get away from the rush and how long escape lanes will be open on numerous occasions and takes a lot of sacks because of it – 20.2% pressure-to-sack conversion rate for his career
• Below-average athlete for today’s game, who doesn’t impress with speed (4.95 in the 40), explosiveness or power as a runner

Spencer Rattler's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

Spencer Rattler: NFL Combine

What I appreciated most when Spencer Rattler was a very young player was his ability to not get distracted with the rush and be aware of where his guys were on the field. That definitely went away for a while and Rattler sort of felt like a broken player.

However, he turned himself into a different version of himself at South Carolina, while maintaining the arm talent that got him the recruiting hype coming out of high school. The total numbers do not match up with any of the guys ahead of him in these rankings, but his supporting cast was also among the worst in college football.

Last season in particular, Xavier Legette did have a breakout season, but the next-leading pass-catcher had just 312 yards, they averaged 2.8 yards per carry as a team and South Carolina’s offensive line had a different five-man combination in 10 of 12 games.

The decision-making and self-awareness are still not up to NFL standards, but he’s found so much more maturity in his game and the arm talent is legitimately special.

I outlined Spencer Rattler's skill-set as one of “my guys” a couple of weeks ago and also said there, that I’d much rather invest a mid-day two pick into this guy who I could see turn himself into a future starter than taking any of these four guys in the second tier I just described with a top-10 pick.

Grade: Third round