re: Great Spencer Rattler Interview

quote:

---

I'd heard his coach speak out about the word floating he was a locker room cancer. I know it was his coach but he was animated and said the kid was voted team captain 2 years in a row by his teammates and was by all accounts a great leader. I'm hoping the coach is right.

---

I've begun to think he was branded unfairly.

There was some drama made about the fact that Lincoln Riley replaced him, and he left and went to another school.

If he was upset, that was understandable; dude replaced Jalen Hurts (and by extension Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield), and as a redshirt freshman led OU to a solid record (9-2 during covid), was All Big 12, and entered the next year as a Heisman favorite. He was on track to be the next big Sooner QB, make a playoff, and likely be a 1st rd pick. It isn't his fault Riley recruited and landed Caleb Williams, who went #1 overall. It isn't Riley's fault that he chose the guy with the higher upside..., Riley would have made that call if it were any of the other 5 QBs who went in the first round. Doesn't mean they, or Rattler, are bad or will not have a good career, it just means Riley made a call. Urban Meyer did that with Joe Burrow a couple years earlier, and Burrow left too. Burrow landed at LSU with more weapons, and eventually had the ultimate season. Rattler landed at South Carolina, a team that had no business playing the big boys, and beat Tennessee and Clemson. He put good numbers up, his teams were just outmatched.

I know he dropped to the 5th rd, but imagine if he had gone to a contender. He gets into a playoff game, and he's probably a 1st rd pick like the others.

I don't know if Rattler is going to become a starter, or a good one, but I think he was very underrated. He should probably have been a 3rd rd pick, and I think he has the upside of one- you expect him to make the team, develop into a guy you can put on the field if necessary, and run the offense without being hamstrung.