Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler reportedly working second team, but Lincoln Riley Declines to Name a Starting QB

Riley says it's not easy to go through this, and said Rattler's doing fine after a day off, but Rattler's dad says he's focused on helping OU but "we're keeping our options open."

NORMAN — Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler is reportedly taking snaps as the Sooners’ backup quarterback, and Rattler’s father says his son is “focused on working for this team, and we’ll see what happens after Jan. 10.”

That’s according to a report Tuesday in the OU Daily.

Head coach Lincoln Riley said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday that he doesn’t “plan on naming a starting quarterback here this week” but said Rattler has handled things well “considering the circumstances.”

Riley said he gave Rattler Monday off and told him to step away from the football facility.

“And he came back refreshed and recharged,” Riley said.

“It’s not easy for a young guy. This guy gets painted different publicly than what he really is. It’s not easy competing on this stage and platform, and it can make it tougher when things don’t go your way.

“Everybody thinks they want this, but it’s not easy. The guys that I’ve coached here, they all had those moments. It’s not a smooth, easy ride. There’s always bumps in the road.”

Rattler was benched on Saturday after two turnovers against Texas — for the second year in a row — and this time was replaced by true freshman Caleb Williams. Williams sparked the Sooners from a 21-point deficit with 299 total yards and three touchdowns and led the biggest comeback in series history in one of the most dramatic games between the Longhorns and Sooners.

Rattler’s father, Mike Rattler, told the OU student paper that his son wasn’t pouting about his situation, but he did have a date circled on the calendar.

“For right now, he’s focused on working for this team, and we’ll see what happens after Jan. 10,” Mike Rattler said. “Hopefully he’ll be playing in the national championship on Jan. 10, and then after that we’ll evaluate where he is as far as if any teams are interested in him in the NFL, we’ll consider that.

“If we think, ‘Hey, you know what, we may ought to do another year or something at Oklahoma, wherever’… we’re leaving our options open whereas that is concerned, but for the most part, right now, we don’t even talk about it, because he’s got a task at hand to deal with.”

OU Daily writers watched practice “from a public building near the OU football practice field, with no athletics employees discouraging observation. The Daily does not observe practice regularly, but did so Tuesday under heightened interest given the situation.”

Going back to Bob Stoops’ 2006 season, OU has maintained a strict policy against media observing practices.

According to The Daily, Williams got 15 snaps in the pre-stretching portion of practice, compared to seven for Rattler. Williams got scrimmage action with starting wideouts Jadon Haselwood, Marvin Mims and Mike Woods, while Rattler worked with backups.

While Riley didn’t confirm who was working first-team or would start on Saturday against TCU, he did maintain that he still trusts Rattler implicitly.

“He’s a great kid,” Riley said. “He’s working hard. I have a ton of trust in him.”

Rattler was the Sooners' starter after redshirting the 2019 season behind Jalen Hurts. He was a 5-star recruit out of Phoenix, and he was named preseason All-Big 12 Conference and was widely projected as the preseason favorite for the Heisman Trophy as well as the No. 1 overall pick in next spring's NFL Draft.

As the No. 4-ranked Sooners are off to a 6-0 start, Rattler has completed 74 percent of his passes for 1,371 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions.