Spencer Rattler named starting QB ; Jay Glazer reports Rattler expected to start next 3-4 games (month) until Carr’s return

HouseCall said
I am a terrible judged of talent - especially when it comes to NFL QBs.

I remember when people were going gaga over Pat Mahomes and I was like “he’s just another one of those college QBs who has goofy stats because he plays for a team that throws 60 times a game”. Even when LSU played Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl, I failed to see an NFL star in the making.

Same with Lamar Jackson. I couldn’t see what everyone else was seeing with him.

So, having admitted my putrid eye for talent - I’m curious what all the people so pumped about Rattler see in him that makes them feel like he’s a star in the making?

I want to understand why he’s different than all the other college QBs who put up good numbers and are little more than footnotes in the league.

I want to understand what makes him more than a, say, Desmond Ridder type player?

I want to be able to understand why everyone is so jazzed that our starter is injured (not the injury itself but the opportunity it presents for Rattler).

I want to see beyond my clearly poor eye for talent.

Enlighten me, friends!

He is a QB with a very unique path to get to where he is today. One that does require a bit of nuance in attempting to evaluate him. He was a massively hyped QB prospect going from high school to college. He had a great freshman season with Oklahoma displaying top level arm talent and ability to improvise and create something out of nothing with his mobility. He had arguably the most hyped up QB out of high school in the past 20 years (at the time) sign at Oklahoma in Caleb Williams following Rattler's great Freshman season. This led to a bit of a toxic situation at Oklahoma.

Rattler transferred to South Carolina which honestly was not the best decision for him to find success (looking at guys in the same draft class like Penix and Nix who transferred to much more friendly offensive systems to showcase their ability). They had arguably one of the worst offensive line situations in college football last season having to start several true freshman due to a multitude of injuries across the OL. While playing one of the toughest schedules in college football last year.

Rattler was under constant pressure and there were several games where you couldn't even get a decent evaluation on him last year because of this. Rattler showed his talent quite often while at South Carolina the toughest part was trying to decipher his decision making. He made more "poor decisions" than you'd like to see out of a top tier QB prospect, but trying to decipher how many of those were due to the constant pressure he was facing because of his OL situation and the need to make plays to keep his team in the game make that aspect of his game really hard to evaluate.

I thought the Senior Bowl was huge for him. It finally gave him a chance to show what he could do when in an equal setting with some of his peers in this draft class. Guys like Penix and Nix were also at the Senior Bowl this year. By most accounts and from what I saw in watching the Senior Bowl footage that was available, Rattler looked the best out of those 3 during the week of practice and during the game. Rattler even won Senior Bowl MVP. Fast forward to preseason and he continued to impress and make some real nice throws while showing his ability to improvise and for the most part kept the offense moving and came away with points on many of his drives.

Some examples of impressive "wow" plays that have people like myself so excited about him: