Greg McElroy reveals what caused Spencer Rattler's issues in 2021

Ahead of the 2021 college football season, the mainstream world didn’t know what was to come in terms of the seasons that Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Kenny Pickett and others under center would have. Instead, Spencer Rattler entered the year with the world in the palm of his hands – and his performances would end his Oklahoma career earlier than he had originally anticipated.

While Rattler did have a poor redshirt sophomore season – and some of the blame can be placed directly on him – the expectations of constant success from the get-go may have been too much for the former blue-chipper to handle. That’s not his fault, though, it just comes with the territory.

“We’ve seen quarterbacks enter the season as the face of college football … When you’re the face of college football, every single thing you do is going to be overly scrutinized – fair or unfair,” former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy said. “That’s what you sign up for.

Rattler, a redshirt sophomore last season who was in his second year as the Oklahoma starter, had a disappointing 2021 campaign with the Sooners. He was first benched and replaced by Caleb Williams against Texas, with the Sooners down 35-17 with 6:36 left in the first half. Former Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley made the change after a Rattler fumble, his second turnover of the Red River Showdown.

Williams ultimately led one of the most iconic comebacks in recent college football memory and the largest comeback Oklahoma has ever mounted in the 117-year history of the Red River Rivalry. 

Rattler took over as the backup for the rest of the season, finishing with 1,483 passing yards for 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. The role was a tough one, as Rattler served as the backup to current Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts during his freshman season before taking over as starter in 2020 before his transfer following the next year.

“When you look at what Spencer Rattler was at the end of 2020, the guy – as a freshman – was unbelievable,” McElroy said. “When you think about it, he had a career completion percentage of over 70 percent and his touchdown-to-interception ratio over the course of his career is 40-12. The problem is [that] last year, it felt like he was playing with everything to lose.

“He wasn’t the gunslinger that we saw at the end of his redshirt freshman campaign. He wasn’t the guy that was leading the Big-12 champions down the field against the good quality Iowa State defense to secure the victory. He looked like he was gun shy.”

A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Rattler was a consensus five-star recruit and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2019 recruiting class, though McElroy said that might have played to his detriment.

“When you start at the top, there’s only one direction to go and it felt like he was playing to just not make a mistake,” McElroy said. “Everyone said he was the Heisman favorite, everyone said he was the first overall pick – that’s pretty heavy burden to deal with when you’re just a 20-to-21-year-old guy.”

Now, Rattler has found a fresh start at South Carolina under second-year head coach Shane Beamer. While tough sledding awaits Rattler in the SEC, he’s the sure-fire QB1 and doesn’t have to worry about his job being taken from under him, unlike the quarterback factory that has been established at Oklahoma over the last decade.

“I’m very optimistic about what we’re gonna get for Spencer Rattler,” McElroy said. “If we get anything like what we got in 2020, South Carolina is dangerous team in the SEC East.”