Their true freshmen seasons are in the books, and now it’s time to reflect on how things went for Oklahoma’s 2019 class.
SoonerScoop.com was able to catch up with a bunch of members of #NewWave19 during media day for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to get their thoughts.
#NewWave19 rewind – QB Spencer Rattler
2019 stats: 7-of-11 passing, 81 yards, TD; 3 rushes for 23 yards
Anointed the next big thing before he even stepped foot on campus, all you have to do is look at the Heisman Trophy odds for 2020.
Despite not having started a game, Rattler is the third favorite to take home the award. Let that sink in for a moment.
With spring practice less than a week away, everybody is ready to see what Rattler can do. Still technically in a competition with Tanner Mordecai, according to head coach Lincoln Riley, this is the year everybody has circled for Rattler and his arsenal of weapons to take college football by storm.
“We've been close since our sophomore year, being at camps together and competing on the same teams, going against each other at camps,” said Rattler about working with fellow 2019 class members Jadon Haselwood, Theo Wease, Trejan Bridges and Austin Stogner. “It's been a great experience and it's been fun for all of us. We're just ready for our opportunity.”
A five-star recruit for the 2019 class, it was a tougher pill for some OU fans to swallow than Rattler himself that he was going to sit behind Mordecai and Jalen Hurts.
No doubt there’s the competitor in him that wanted to be out there and show the world what he can do, but he understood the value of sitting back, learning the ropes. Since he wasn’t a mid-year enrollee, it was going to be a huge jump, so why not ease into it?
Rattler was portrayed as a little arrogant, or maybe a lot, during his high school days. Don’t think anybody intended for 2019 to be a humbling year for him, but watching Hurts you know gave Rattler an appreciation for how things are supposed to be done.“I've learned a lot from him. He's a very mature guy,” Rattler said. “He's been through a lot. He knows the past and how this college football stuff goes. Watching how he prepares and how he works, I've learned a lot from that.”
Rattler got put through the ringer on scout team. If that sounds familiar, heck, Baker Mayfield did the same thing in 2014 and Kyler Murray was in that role for 2016. Future results speak for themselves regarding those two Heisman winners.
“It definitely hasn't hurt. It's showed me full-speed reps every day against the defense. It's fun going against them,” Rattler said.
Rattler saw action in three games but only saw one series after Sept. 28, just the nature of the beast and how the majority of the games in the Big 12 went.
There was a little bit of a surprise when it was Rattler and not Mordecai who came in and replaced Hurts during the final series of the LSU loss.
Riley would say afterward not to read anything into it, but OU fans have been waiting a long time to get to watch Rattler work. That countdown is almost done.
Already a fan favorite, he’s not QB1 just yet. But yea, you can tell he’s imagining that moment when it’s his name called as the starter at Owen Field.
“It would mean everything. I have a lot of work to do, a lot of preparation to do, but that's my goal,” Rattler said. “It's a blessing. I have a lot of work to do. I haven't shown anything yet. I'm ready for my opportunity and the fan base here is amazing.”
OU begins spring practice Tuesday.
