Tennessee football: Spencer Rattler to South Carolina no threat to Vols

Don’t make me laugh. So Tennessee football is supposed to worry about the South Carolina Gamecocks getting a quarterback who couldn’t cut it against Big 12 defenses while playing for a quarterback guru as head coach?

Media reports may lead you to believe that after the news that Spencer Rattler is transferring from the Oklahoma Sooners to Shane Beamer’s team. This comes as there are still questions about OU’s other quarterback, Caleb Williams, under new head coach Brent Venables.

Oklahoma transfer tight end Austin Stogner is going with Rattler to South Carolina. That could raise the eyebrows of Tennessee football fans a bit more upon closer examination. Both announced their decisions on Twitter Monday night.

The excitement in Columbia, S.C. makes sense if you don’t look at it too deep. After all, South Carolina just overachieved with its first-year head coach, going 6-6, and it’s adding a quarterback who was a preseason Heisman favorite. Maybe Vol fans are now a bit nervous about visiting South Carolina next year. However, it’s all a fraud.

Let’s start with Beamer. He had the least impressive first season of any head coach in the SEC when you look at how he got to 6-6. Even Auburn Tigers head coach Bryan Harsin and Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea looked better.

Yes, Harsin also went 6-6 and lost to South Carolina, but that happened after Bo Nix got hurt. Before that, Auburn was in contention for the SEC West, and they played a much tougher schedule. Vanderbilt, meanwhile, with much less talent, only lost 21-20 to South Carolina and had them beat late.

Beamer’s first season was honestly a fraud. He got to 6-6 by beating that Auburn team when it was banged up and didn’t have a quarterback yet, and his other signature win is over a 6-6 Florida Gators team that collapsed in November. Don’t try to spin this by saying Auburn almost beat the Alabama Crimson Tide when the LSU Tigers almost beat them too.

Beyond Beamer’s season being overrated, Rattler’s entire reputation is based on what he did in 2020. Yes, he had a Heisman-caliber season, completing 214 of 317 passes (67.5 percent) for 3,031 yards (9.6 yards per attempt), 28 touchdowns and seven interceptions with another six rushing touchdowns.

However, that was an odd year. COVID really limited defenses’ abilities to develop and gel, and again, Rattler was playing in the Big 12. So what did he do when he started this season with higher expectations after a splash freshman campaign?

Well, Rattler’s completion percentage did go up to 74.7 percent, as he completed 140 of 187 passes. However, his touchdown to interception ratio got worse. It was barely above 2:1 with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. His yards per attempt dropped to below eight. Then he was benched against the Texas Longhorns.

So why should Tennessee football worry about Rattler being paired with Beamer? The Vols have Hendon Hooker coming back. Against SEC competition, Hooker had a better touchdown to interception ratio, more yards per attempt and more rushing yards.

You can say that Hooker is playing for an offensive guru, but as has already been mentioned, Rattler was too. Again, it’s also hard to not stress multiple times the fact that Rattler played in the Big 12, one of the worst defensive conferences.

Simply put, the Vols have nothing to worry about. Now, Stogner is a concern, as Beamer specializes in tight ends, but his production dropped from 422 to 166 yards this past year in Lincoln Riley’s offense.

Add in the final fact, which is that Tennessee football beat South Carolina 45-20 last year, and there’s no reason to worry about Rattler with them. They almost beat the Pittsburgh Panthers with Kenny Pickett this year despite Hooker not yet even being the starter. Rattler in South Carolina is no threat at all.