South Carolina HC praises Saints rookie QB Spencer Rattler's 'swagger' ahead of first NFL start

Rattler, who was drafted at OU for eventual No. 1 pick Caleb Williams – coincidentally during the next year's Red River Rivalry – went on to perform more heroics at South Carolina. In Beamer's words, “He came here and did a lot of things in his first season as a starter that had never been done before.”

That includes being the first Gamecocks QB to beat Texas A&M and the first to win two straight games against top-10 opponents.

That's what the Saints are hoping for today and next Thursday night when New Orleans hosts the Broncos in Week 7. It was a slight surprise to the public when head coach Dennis Allen made this decision, considering Jake Haener began the season as the backup QB to Carr.

Still, Rattler impressed in the spring, leaving New Orleans believing it had gotten a steal in the fifth round. The same was true in the previous season for Rattler, who has considerable potential. Allen described the past week of practice as positive and Rattler could add an extra dimension to the offense with his running ability.

“He has a no-compromise mentality,” Allen said. “We saw that a lot in training camp as he grew each week, and ultimately some of the reps we saw in preseason reflected that.”

Beamer saw a lot of this in South Carolina and gave two other examples.

In 2022, his team lost 38-6 to Florida, a particularly brutal game. All Rattler did was throw six touchdowns and pull off a stunning upset of No. 5 Tennessee the following week.

“Very few QBs can take a bad week from the week before and really think the next week and think they're going to throw six touchdowns and his team is going to score 63 points,” Beamer said. “He was acting crazy.”

Against rival Clemson the next week, Rattler threw an early pick-six to Tigers star linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., now with the Eagles.

“He jogs off and winks at me,” Beamer said with a laugh. “Like 'my mistake.' He knew he made a mistake and made some great throws that led us to the win.