On Oct. 9, 2021, Spencer Rattler's football career took a sharp turn.
To open the second half of Oklahoma's Red River Showdown matchup against Texas, Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley benched Rattler, who previously looked like a candidate to be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, for freshman Caleb Williams, who helped Oklahoma overcome a once-21-point deficit to win. Williams kept the starting job for the rest of the season, and Rattler transferred to South Carolina following the 2021 college football season.
"The past is the past. We're focused on the present and the future, but I would say, yeah, that definitely led me to South Carolina. It was a blessing in disguise that I got to play with the Gamecocks and develop there and get ready to the league after that," Rattler said about his college benching on Wednesday, according to NFL.com.
Across his two seasons at South Carolina (2022-23), Rattler averaged 3,106 passing yards, 18.5 passing touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 143.2 passer rating per season, while completing 67.5% of his passes.
Prior to transferring to South Carolina, Rattler was Oklahoma's starting quarterback in 2020 – when he led the Big 12 in passing yards (3,031), passing touchdowns (28), passer rating (172.6) and completion percentage (67.5%) across 11 games – and through the beginning portion of 2021.
The No. 1 quarterback recruit in the Class of 2019, Rattler looked poised to be the next great Oklahoma quarterback under Riley (e.g. Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts) and go on to be a high draft pick in the NFL. Ironically, Williams also transferred after 2021, following Riley from Oklahoma to USC, with whom he won the 2022 Heisman Trophy Award and went on to be selected by the Chicago
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