Spencer Rattler Enters Transfer Portal After Lincoln Riley Leaves For USC

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The state of football at Oklahoma has quite literally changed in the span of 24 hours.

After Lincoln Riley accepted the head coaching position at USC on Sunday, redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Rattler announced his plans to enter the transfer portal on Monday. This was expected even if Riley stayed at Oklahoma, but now it's official. Rattler penned a thank you to Sooner nation on his Twitter.

"Thank you for allowing me to be a student-athlete at this prestigious institution," Rattler wrote. "Thank you to every teammate and coach these last three seasons. We won several games together and made memories that I will cherish forever. Special thanks to my family and friends for your support.

"Thank God for the game of football. It's the ultimate team sport and brings people and communities together unlike anything else."

Rattler has seen his entire path change over the course of a few months. He entered the season as the Heisman Trophy favorite and the frontrunner to be the first overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, but things haven't gone as planned.

Even though the Sooners started 5-0 under Rattler, his inconsistent play quickly became the story. Fans and fellow students openly called for Rattler to be benched and booed him during games. After falling behind 28-7 to rival Texas in the Red River Showdown on Oct. 9, Riley finally did it. He benched Rattler in favor of freshman quarterback Caleb Williams, who led Oklahoma to a comeback and defeated Texas 55-48. From there, Williams had the job.

Rattler played sparingly down the stretch, throwing just 11 passes after the Texas game. He finished his Oklahoma career with a 70.1 completion percentage for 4,595 yards with 40 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 23 games. Rattler led Oklahoma to a Big 12 Championship in 2020 and a 55-20 victory over Florida in the Cotton Bowl.

Rattler will now look for his next destination to finish his college career. South Carolina appears to be an obvious choice, due to his connection with head coach Shane Beamer. Beamer served as assistant head coach under Riley from 2018-2020.

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