Spencer Rattler's early football career prepared him for tumultuous Saints start

It wasn’t the ideal start for Spencer Rattler in his NFL debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6. He threw for 243 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown last week. He’ll make his second straight start for the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night. The Saints play the Denver Broncos. 

Fortunately for Rattler, the adversity he has faced throughout his football career has prepared him for the adversity of a slow start to his NFL career. He hopped around colleges and struggled to be the star he was supposed to be. 

Coming out of high school, he was a five-star prospect from Arizona and ranked the No. 11 ranked player in the Class of 2019. When he signed to Oklahoma, he was in line to be the next quarterback Lincoln Riley groomed into being an NFL star. 

But he didn’t quite pan out to be the prospect he was anticipated to be, getting benched during his junior season. So he hit the transfer portal to revive his collegiate career. 

How many times did Spencer Rattler transfer and why

Rattler ended up at South Carolina with former Oklahoma assistant Shane Beamer. And while he never lived up to the hype when he first signed to Oklahoma, he did enough to get drafted this past April. 

Halfway through his junior season, after entering the year as a Heisman Trophy candidate, he ended up losing his starting job to Caleb Williams during the Red River Rivalry. Williams then replaced Rattler as the starter. 

So he transferred to South Carolina for a chance to prove he was still a Division I FBS starting quarterback. 

Rattler has battled a lot throughout his career. After being a sought after prospect, he fizzled down to the fifth round of the NFL Draft and instead of being the player a team built around, he was Derek Carr’s backup. And now he has a chance to chase stardom.

Rattler found a way to get drafted out of what seemed like an impossible situation. He found a way to do enough at South Carolina to earn him a spot in the NFL Draft. And he found a way to get his second start of the season. 

This is nothing new for Rattler. Sure there will be a learning curve for him as he adapts to playing against some of the best athletes in the world. But this isn’t unfamiliar territory for Rattler. Everything he’s been through since he entered college has prepared him for whatever happens during his NFL career.

Even if it sends him through a rocky journey.