Shane Beamer discusses Spencer Rattler, Austin Stogner’s decision to transfer to South Carolina
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
South Carolina received 2 major boosts to what had been a flagging offense in 2021 in the form of Spencer Rattler and Austin Stogner’s transfers from Oklahoma. With Lincoln Riley having departed from Norman to take the job at USC and Caleb Williams emerging as the starter behind center in the midst of Rattler’s struggles, the door was open for the 2 players to reunite with a familiar face in Columbia in Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer.
Even with Rattler taking a massive step back in 2021 despite being named a preseason Heisman favorite, the Gamecocks should show marked improvement at that spot in 2022, and Rattler could benefit from a change of scenery and playing under Beamer once more. They also gain a talented tight end in Stogner, who recorded 26 catches, 422 yards and 3 touchdowns with the Sooners under Beamer’s guidance in 2020.
As it turned out, Stogner made a strong recruiting pitch to Rattler, convincing his quarterback to join him in the SEC.
“(Stogner’s) dad reached out and Austin visited South Carolina (and) ended up communicating to Spencer how amazing a place this is, and how we have all the resources you need here to win championships and be successful at the highest level,” Beamer said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Wednesday. “And we started communicating with Spencer at that point, and it happened pretty fast, and he’s excited about the next chapter of his football story.”
Shane Beamer tells the story of how Austin Stogner and Spencer Rattler ended up as a combo package in transferring to @GamecockFB pic.twitter.com/urB1NIy8Oi
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 15, 2021
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
