Spencer Michael Rattler (born September 28, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played his first three seasons of

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for the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

, receiving first-team All- Big 12 honors in 2020, and his final two with the South Carolina Gamecocks. Rattler was selected by the Saints in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL draft.

Early life

Rattler attended Pinnacle High School in

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, for all of his four years of high school. He broke the Arizona high school passing record on his 18th birthday. Rattler threw for 11,083 yards in his four years with 116 passing touchdowns and rushed for 1,040 yards with 14 rushing touchdowns. Early in his senior season, he was named MVP of the Elite 11 at The Opening in Texas. In his final season at Pinnacle, Rattler starred in a

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-directed

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sports documentary series called '' QB1: Beyond the Lights''. Rattler was later suspended for violating a district code of conduct, and was ineligible to play for the rest of the season due to cheating. He initially said he had a sprained MCL, but the school administration later advised him not to speak of the nature of the code of conduct violation. By the end of his sophomore year in high school, he had received 14 offers from NCAA D-I schools, including

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, Notre Dame, and

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. On June 19, 2017, he visited

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

on an unofficial visit and committed to Oklahoma a week later. On December 19, 2018, he signed his letter of intent to play for coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners. He was considered a 5 star quarterback by 247Sports and Rivals.com, and a 4 star by ESPN. Rattler was also considered the consensus #1 quarterback and #1 overall prospect from Arizona in the 2019 recruiting class.

College career

Oklahoma

2019

On June 12, 2019, Rattler enrolled at

. He saw action in the second half of the College Football Playoff Semi-Final Game against

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Overall, he appeared in a total of three games in the 2019 season, and thus was able to

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his freshman year of college.

2020

Going into his redshirt freshman season, Rattler competed with Tanner Mordecai for the starting job. On September 1, Lincoln Riley announced that Rattler had won the starting quarterback job over Mordecai, and Rattler made his starting debut on September 12 against Missouri State. On September 26, Rattler tied the Oklahoma record for most touchdown passes through two weeks with 8, set by Sam Bradford in 2008. However, Rattler's starting job got off to a rocky start when he and his Sooners were upset by Kansas State in his second start. In his third start, Rattler threw for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns in the upset loss at Iowa State. This loss snapped a streak of 24 straight home losses by Iowa State to Oklahoma. Rattler and the Sooners made a comeback with the win against

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in the Red River Rivalry game. On November 7, Rattler injured his hip in a win against

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. As the starting quarterback, he led the Oklahoma Sooners to a 6th consecutive Big 12 Championship, winning 27–21 over Iowa State.

2021

Going into the 2021 season, Rattler was the favorite to win the

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. However, during Oklahoma's match-up against Texas, Rattler was benched during the second quarter for Caleb Williams and would not play the rest of the season. In November 2021, Rattler's personal coach, Mike Giovando, announced that he would be leaving Oklahoma. Ole Miss,

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, Arizona State,

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, Pitt, Auburn,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

were among the schools that pushed for Rattler the hardest.

South Carolina

In December 2021, Rattler announced he would be transferring to the

University of South Carolina The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...

to play for the South Carolina Gamecocks, under head coach Shane Beamer. Rattler and Beamer had a connection from their time together at Oklahoma. South Carolina tight ends Austin Stogner and Jaheim Bell have also been cited as influencing Rattler's decision.

2022

As the starting quarterback for South Carolina in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Rattler led his team to an 8–5 record. He threw 3,012 passing yards and scored eighteen touchdowns but also threw twelve interceptions. His performance in the first ten games of the season was described as "underwhelming": he averaged 198 passing yards and threw more interceptions than touchdowns. However, at the end of the regular season, he led the Gamecocks in two massive upsets. He threw 438 passing yards and six touchdowns in a win over No. 5

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, breaking the program record for most touchdown passes in a game. The following week, he played for 360 yards and two touchdowns in a win over No. 8 Clemson, South Carolina's archrival, becoming the first South Carolina starting quarterback to beat Clemson since Connor Shaw in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. With these wins, Rattler became the first South Carolina quarterback to ever win back-to-back games against top 10 teams. South Carolina then reached its highest CFP ranking ever and its highest AP ranking since

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, at No. 19 and No. 20, respectively. In the 2022 Gator Bowl, Rattler and the Gamecocks lost to No. 21 Notre Dame 45–38 in a competitive game, finishing the season 8–5 and ranked No. 23, the program's first finish in the AP Poll since 2013, when they finished No. 4. On January 10, 2023, Rattler announced he would return to South Carolina for 2023.

2023

Rattler led South Carolina to a 5–7 record in 2023, throwing a career-high 3,186 yards and 275 completions while doing so. His 2023 season was described as "one of the best quarterback seasons in school history" and Rattler was described as being "among the country’s best signal-callers". Rattler declared for the 2024 NFL draft following the season, finishing fifth in career passing yards and first in career completion percentage at South Carolina. He played in the 2024 Senior Bowl and was named its MVP.

Statistics

Professional career

Rattler was selected by the

in the fifth round with the 150th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. There were 137 players selected between Rattler and the previous quarterback drafted, Bo Nix, setting a record for the common draft era. In the 2024 preseason, Rattler completed 20 of 38 pass attempts for 202 yards and a passing touchdown, as well as an 8 yard rushing touchdown. After starting quarterback Derek Carr suffered an injury in Week 5, Spencer Rattler became the Saints' starting quarterback for Week 6 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, completing 22 of 40 passes for 243 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions as the Saints lost 51–27. In his second start, a 33–10 loss to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

, Rattler completed 25 of 35 passes for 172 yards, rushed for 34 yards, and was sacked six times. He fumbled twice, one of which was returned for a touchdown, before leaving the game due to a hip injury late in the fourth quarter. In Week 15 against the Washington Commanders, Rattler replaced starting quarterback Jake Haener in the 2nd half. Rattler completed 10 of 21 passes for 135 yards and a touchdown to Foster Moreau with no time left on the clock, which brought the score within a point. However the Saints failed on the subsequent 2 point conversion attempt, thus losing 19–20. Rattler finished his rookie season playing in seven games. He finished with 1,317 passing yards, four touchdowns, and five interceptions. He also set a franchise record for most passing yards by a rookie quarterback.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

New Orleans Saints bioSouth Carolina Gamecocks bioOklahoma Sooners bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rattler, Spencer 2000 births Living people American football quarterbacks Oklahoma Sooners football players Players of American football from Phoenix, Arizona South Carolina Gamecocks football players New Orleans Saints players