From Phoenix to the Palace: Spencer Rattler's Journey to Sooner Starter
At long last, the Spencer Rattler era has officially dawned in Norman.
It's a moment that Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley has been anticipating for quite some time. A former five-star prospect and Elite11 MVP, Rattler drew Riley's attention and earned an offer from the Sooners as a high school freshman. It's unconventional for Oklahoma to offer a quarterback that early in the process, but Riley was sold on Rattler from the get-go.
“I liked what I saw on tape," said Riley. "I knew in the fall he was going to get some pretty good competition. Some of the things he did as a freshman, a young guy who probably wasn’t physically ready for all of that, were impressive."
Rattler will be Oklahoma's first starting quarterback over the last five seasons to have not transferred from another university. Besides Austin Kendall's single start versus Baylor in 2018, the last true Oklahoma recruit to start a game at quarterback was Trevor Knight in the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl.
However, much like his predecessors, Rattler has had to wait his turn. Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray both took redshirt years upon arriving in Norman, and Jalen Hurts spent most of his junior campaign backing up Tua Tagovailoa at Alabama. When Hurts decided to transfer to Oklahoma for his senior season, it provided Rattler an opportunity to learn the offense behind an experienced field general. In the 2019 season, Rattler saw brief garbage-time action in three games, completing 7 of 11 passes for 81 yards and a touchdown.
It’s been two years since the redshirt freshman led an offense on a regular basis. At Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, he shattered the Arizona high school passing record, racking up 11,083 yards through the air. He also chipped in 1,040 rushing yards over his four seasons at Pinnacle, and accounted for 130 total touchdowns.
“You could see he had a strong natural ability to throw the football and process that playmaking ability,” said Riley. “I liked him, and once I got a chance to go out and see him live, I got to confirm some of those things I saw on film. I felt like he had all the skills necessary.”
Rattler committed to Oklahoma shortly after an unofficial visit in June 2017, and his performance at the Elite11 in 2018 only lent more credence to the accuracy of Riley's evaluation. 247Sports' composite metrics eventually ranked Rattler as the No. 1 overall quarterback in the recruiting class, and he drew early comparisons to Patrick Mahomes and Drew Brees.
Given Riley's reputation for developing quarterbacks in the Sooner system, expectations are high for Rattler in 2020. He's got huge shoes to fill, as it's been five years since Oklahoma didn't send a quarterback to the Heisman ceremonies. Nevertheless, Riley is quite confident that his new signal-caller is up to the challenge.
“He needed to progress and improve over the years, and we felt like he did,” said Riley.
Sooner fans will get their first glimpse of the Rattler era on Sept. 12, when Oklahoma welcomes Missouri State to Owen Field.
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