Satterfield's Plan For Rattler Unfolds

Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield needed to pivot after his dismal outing against Georgia, and his contingency plan starts with quarterback Spencer Rattler.

Your offense only goes as far as the man behind center can take you. South Carolina has a good quarterback in Spencer Rattler, but he must be put in the proper situation to flourish.

Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield failed to put him in those situations through the first three games. While the playcalling woes shouldn't solely be attributed to Satterfield, he is responsible for the scheme design and play style.

Fans began to call for Satterfield's job after South Carolina's pitiful offensive outing against Georgia. He was an easy scapegoat; someone people could put a finger at and blame when things got tough.

Satterfield was fighting public perception against Charlotte while simaltenously attempting to win back the trust of his players. He knew he had to alter the passing attack to better suit Rattler's needs, but what does that look like?

Rattler's Style

Rattler's immense talent often lends itself to dangerous plays. He has an elite arm with high-level processing skills, and he knows it. Satterfield confirmed that Rattler wanted more pro-style reads implemented into the offense earlier in the week.

While he is capable of executing these plays, he often doesn't. For one reason or another, something always goes awry. During his time at Oklahoma, Rattler was enabled to make creative plays in the structure of an offense.

Head coach Lincoln Riley eased him into the game and limited Rattler's potential for mistakes. Rattler still made splash plays that vaulted the offense forward, but there wasn't fear accompanying every drop back.

It appears Satterfield will take that approach with Rattler. Satterfield didn't ask much of anything from him, keeping concepts to one-progression and leaning on the run game for most of the evening.

The game script featured easy completions to playmakers that could generate yards after the catch. Rattler didn't stretch the field or even come close to making any mistakes, which was by design, not accident.

This trend is unsustainable moving forward. While it may work against Charlotte and South Carolina State, the SEC slate will dominate offenses if they don't attempt to stretch downfield.

However, the Gamecocks have two weeks to configure what the passing plan looks like before they enter that stretch. Rattler is a momentum player, meaning when things are going well, he is like a rocket ship, but when things aren't, he often deteriorates. 

Satterfield should be looking to build on Rattler's performances weekly. For example, Spencer didn't have to win from the pocket against Charlotte because everything was served up to him.

Expect some longer-developing concepts mixed in against South Carolina State, however sparsely. Satterfield's offense looked like the one we envisioned this offseason, but it ultimately comes down to No. 7.

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