When checking in at the All-American Bowl on Dec. 31, Oklahoma quarterback signee Spencer Rattler told 247Sports that Lincoln Riley said he wasn’t going to take a transfer quarterback anytime soon.

Rattler’s response that day was regarding former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields who at the time was undecided about his future, but has since chosen Ohio State.

Regarding former Alabama signal-caller Jalen Hurts, Rattler told 247Sports on Wednesday evening that Riley was upfront with him regarding taking the former Alabama quarterback because a need popped up in the Sooners quarterback room with the pending transfer of Austin Kendall. Obviously Hurts announced for the Sooners on Wednesday and Rattler was excited about competing and learning the same quarterback room with him.

“Coach Riley called me and he’s always upfront with me,” Rattler said. “I kind of knew it was coming because I saw Austin Kendall in the transfer portal and had a good idea we’d be bringing in a transfer quarterback. Coach Riley called me, he’s always upfront with me and keeps it real and said he’s looking at a couple guys and Jalen Hurts is visiting soon. He said we need an older quarterback in the room and I have no problem with that and I agree with him.”

Rattler has already clicked with Hurts, a former SEC Offensive Player of the Year and National Champion. The two will be together at the same banquet this weekend.

“It’s great,” Rattler said. “Great competition every day in practice. I’ve met Jalen before at the Elite 11 experience, he was out there mentoring us. Great guy, great leader, great teammate. I look forward to competing with him and playing with him.”

The five-star Ratter himself is one of the jewels of this 2019 Oklahoma recruiting class that checks in at No. 1 in the Big 12 and No. 5 nationally, ranking as the No. 1 passer in the country per the 247Sports Composite. His goals in Norman haven’t changed.

“I have the same mindset to go in and work as hard as I can, soak everything up and compete hard every day and play how I know how to play which is super confident,” Rattler said. Hurts will have one year of eligibility remaining. “I’m going to go out and have fun, and I’ll be learning from Jalen and the older guys and that will help.”