Oklahoma football: Former Sooner Spencer Rattler miffed by all the continued OU questions

Spencer Rattler was the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country when he signed with Oklahoma as a member of the 2019 Sooner class. He was the future of the Oklahoma football program and the heir apparent to Jalen Hurts.

He was the starting QB and future at OU until he wasn’t, and that came much sooner (no pun intended) than anyone expected, especially Rattler. After 19 consecutive starts at quarterback for the Sooners, Rattler lost favor with Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, and after Oct. 9, 2021, he would not start another game for the Sooners.

Rattler transferred from Oklahoma after the 2021 season. No doubt he has some bad feelings about his time as a Sooner and what happened last season. He has found a new college home at South Carolina, where he will be the starting quarterback for head coach Shane Beamer when the Gamecocks open the new college football season on Saturday.

Rattler has been asked plenty of questions this offseason about his time at Oklahoma, but now less than a week before the official start of the new season, the former Sooner is making it clear he is done talking about the past and wants to focus on what’s ahead.

During a press conference this week ahead of the South Carolina season opener, Rattler became irritated with a reporter who asked what it was like taking the field at OU.

“I’m just talking about South Carolina, you know what I’m saying,” Rattler retorted. “I don’t even remember what we did running out. We kind of just ran out.”

Rattler was the OU starter in the 2020 season, following a redshirt season in 2019, and had a very good freshman season. He completed 68 percent of his pass attempts for over 3,000 yards and 28 touchdowns. The next season was a much different story.

Although the former five-star prospect began the 2021 season as the starter at quarterback, he was benched before halftime in the Texas game, six games into the season, and was relegated to clean-up duty the remainder of the season in favor of another No. 1 QB recruit, Caleb Williams.

Needless to say, Rattler was not happy with that development. He did remain on the roster for the final seven games of the season but saw only very limited action. It was the worst-kept secret in the country, when the former high school phenom elected after the 2021 season to cut his losses and move on in his college career.

Rattler choice to end up at South Carolina did come with an Oklahoma connection. Shane Beamer was an assistant at OU in Rattler’s freshman and sophomore seasons. The redshirt junior quarterback is also joined at South Carolina by former OU teammate TE Austin Stogner.