Spencer Rattler is back for the 2023 season, what will be his 2nd at South Carolina and his 5th in college.

Ask folks about the former 5-star quarterback if they would have thought he’d spend 5 years in school prior to signing with Oklahoma out of the 2019 class and they might have questioned if something went wrong. Rattler was viewed as a can’t-miss prospect and, at one point, a likely 1st-round NFL Draft pick.

Nothing went wrong, but his Oklahoma career certainly didn’t pan out the way anyone would have expected. Rattler threw for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns his first year as a starter in 2020. That Sooner team went 9-2. The next season, Rattler had Oklahoma off to a 5-0 start before being replaced by Caleb Williams in the Texas game.

Williams took over as the starter for the rest of the season, then Rattler transferred, and then Williams transferred to follow Lincoln Riley to USC.

On a recent podcast appearance on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Rattler was asked if he thinks Oklahoma should be able to claim him if he’s a top choice in next year’s NFL Draft or if he goes on to find success at the professional level.

“I hope not,” he responded sharply.

If Rattler still has some feelings over the way things went down in Norman, he’d be completely justified. When the Sooners found themselves down in the Big 12 opener against West Virginia in 2021, chants of “We Want Caleb” started raining down from the stands. OU was at home and ranked No. 4 in the country. The Sooners went on to win 16-13.

“The situation happened how it happened,” Rattler said. “Obviously, I was salty about it. I’m a competitor. I want to be out there playing. We were winning games, like I said. We were undefeated at the time that I got benched. So I’m like, ‘damn.’ But hey, man. You live and you learn. God sent me here for a reason. That’s how I look at it.”

Rattler’s debut season at South Carolina featured up-and-down play, but an 8-5 finish and signature wins over Tennessee and Clemson. In those two games, Rattler threw for nearly 800 yards and 8 touchdowns against only 2 interceptions.

He enters 2023 hoping for more.