Spencer Rattler’s eyes widened as he started the march towards Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night.

Head coach Shane Beamer had suggested the ex-Sooner the pregame Gamecock Stroll can be totally different than something he’d skilled at Oklahoma. South Carolina followers obliged the second-year head coach.

Patrons adorning their cherished garnet-and-black attire washed throughout Gamecock Park. Darude’s “Sandstorm” blared as a battle cry of types. Even Sir Huge Spur’s remote-controlled rover joined the motion.

There, in that sea of managed chaos, Rattler’s South Carolina profession started in earnest.

“It was like nonstop (cheers),” he stated by way of an nearly exasperated breathe. “Followers had been in every single place. I’ve by no means seen something like that.”

Pinch your self, if want be. It’s OK. That Rattler is in a Gamecock uniform continues to be borderline unbelievable.

However that stroll, the 8 of 10 passes he accomplished for 79 yards and the handful of scrambles he raced for in Saturday’s Garnet and Black spring recreation — these had been all very actual.

For the primary time since he dedicated to the Gamecocks in December, followers obtained their first have a look at the golden-armed signal-caller from half a continent away they hope will carry South Carolina upward within the SEC East.

“I believed Spencer did effectively,” Beamer stated postgame. “He operated (the offense). … (We) really didn’t have any personnel points and play clock points. We had been fairly clear from that standpoint.”

It’s not that it’s exhausting to fathom a star quarterback would need to play in Columbia. But, the how and why South Carolina was capable of nab one of many extra sought-after transfers of the final 5 years makes nights like Saturday really feel like a mirage.

The story is well-documented by now. South Carolina introduced OU tight finish switch Austin Stogner to campus for an official go to in December. Stogner’s father, Brad, queried Beamer as as to whether he’d kicked the tires on bringing Rattler — a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate on the outs at Oklahoma — to USC as effectively. He hadn’t. Brad recommended that coaches attain out.

Beamer and his employees hosted Rattler through a digital go to. They broke down scheme and the way South Carolina hoped to capitalize on an ahead-of-schedule 7-6 2021 marketing campaign.

After which got here that tweet at 9:06 p.m. Dec. 13 — the one which set Twitter ablaze and formally took Rattler off the switch market. He introduced was becoming a member of Beamer, a former OU assistant, and Stogner at South Carolina.

“It helped to have that little little bit of consolation with the man (Beamer) that you’ve the potential to be enjoying for,” Mike Giovando, Rattler’s longtime non-public quarterback coach, informed the State in December. “You type of know what he’s all about.”

That brings us to Saturday, an evening of celebration and revelry for a program that loved an offseason of fine vibes, good press and an inflow of expertise that has the preseason prognosticators who pegged the Gamecocks for a bottom-of-the-barrel end in 2021 rethinking the 2022 squad.

The previous Oklahoma gunslinger seemed largely the half in Saturday’s managed scrimmage. Rattler accomplished 80% of his passes. He took the operating lanes the protection gave him, when vital, and even had offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield draw up a designed run for him within the second quarter.

Rattler, Satterfield and Beamer have spent months noting that the pro-style terminology and schemes the South Carolina offense struggled to know a season in the past had been a promoting level in getting the previous five-star recruit to Columbia.

These concepts took type in Saturday’s second quarter when Rattler lined up underneath middle, faked a handoff, rolled to his proper and seemed to unload a deep ball to James Madison switch Antwane “Juice” Wells Jr. However as an alternative of forcing the ball to Wells, who drew a security in protection, Rattler fired a strike to a streaking Xavier Legette for a 30-yard achieve.

“That was one of many first occasions we acquired to that route,” Rattler conceded. “Xavier ran an important route. (He) busted it again out. I simply put him on and it was huge explosive play for us.”

Rattler has appeared snug over his first two months in Columbia, flashing an effervescent persona befitting of an SEC signal-caller.

He drew laughs postgame together with his tongue-in-cheek breakdown of the move he accomplished to a to-tapping Wells alongside the sideline and whether or not it ought to’ve been referred to as a sack on the sector Saturday in a recreation that restricted hits on the quarterback.

Below regular recreation circumstances, “I might have gotten hit on that play,” he stated, a wry smile forming on his face, “however I believed it was a dime.”

Coming into the gates of Williams-Brice Stadium earlier than Saturday’s recreation, Rattler swiftly sidestepped a photographer with the intention to high-five one final fan earlier than disappearing into the bowels of the 88-year-old construction South Carolina soccer calls dwelling.

The Arizona native has sidestepped a lot in his profession — destructive publicity, public admonishment and extra. However there’s a reputable buzz round Columbia today, and Rattler is on the middle of it.

As unbelievable as it’d’ve been six months in the past, the previous Heisman hopeful is a Gamecock. Saturday’s efficiency gained’t depend towards any wins come this fall, however that Rattler is donning a USC jersey in any respect is a win value celebrating.