Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma football: Spencer Rattler enters transfer portal

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler (7) drops back to pass during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx12487
Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler (7) drops back to pass during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 25, 2021. Oklahoma won 16-13.Lx12487 /
facebooktwitterreddit

A year ago at this time, this would have been huge breaking news. But after what happened this Oklahoma football season and following the stunning headlines surrounding the program in the last 24 hours, the news the Spencer Rattler is entering the transfer portal seems irrelevant.

Rattler began the 2021 season as the preseason favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, following in the tradition of recent OU Heisman-winning quarterbacks Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Heisman runner-up Jalen Hurts.

His ascendancy to the Heisman candidate list this past season followed on the heels of an outstanding 2020 season in which the Phoenix, Arizona, native completed 68 percent of his pass attempts for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He was a Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist, was named national freshman of the year by CBS Sports and was only the second OU quarterback to be named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America (Sam Bradford was the other Sooner so named).

Rattler started the first six games for Oklahoma this season, but was benched in the second quarter in this year’s Red River rivalry game with Texas after throwing two interceptions and with the Sooners’ trailing 28-7. He was replaced by true freshman Caleb Williams, who led OU on a remarkable second-half comeback and an eventual 55-48 win.

Williams was named starting quarterback the following week, and Rattler saw action in only three other games the remainder of the regular season. Despite his relegation to backup status, Rattler remained true to the team, but it was widely expected that he would either declare for the NFL Draft after the season or enter the transfer portal.

On Monday, he chose the latter of the two options. Some have speculated that he might follow Lincoln Riley to USC, but my sense is he will choose to go elsewhere and build up his NFL Draft resume. Wherever he lands, Rattler should be a welcome and highly talented addition. I’m certain we will here his name again before his college career is over.

Rattler finished his Oklahoma career with 4,595 passing yards, a 70.1 completion percentage with a 40 to 12 touchdown-to-interception ratio.

Home/OU Football