‘We have free agency in college football’: Huskers ride on the QB carousel part of sport’s new reality | Recruiting

If this version of the home-and-home between Nebraska and Oklahoma had taken place in 1971 — or, heck, maybe 2011 — it’s possible Martinez and Rattler, both of whom had remaining eligibility and neither of whom showed himself to be a no-doubt top NFL Draft pick, would have faced each other again in Round 2.

Instead, Martinez is at Kansas State and Rattler is at South Carolina. Nebraska recruited Brennan and Slovis but eventually happily landed on Thompson as their veteran signal-caller for 2022. Oklahoma, meanwhile, benched Rattler for freshman Caleb Williams as the season went along this fall, only to see Rattler transfer, head coach Lincoln Riley bolt for USC and then Williams transfer, too.

The same day Williams hit the portal, the new OU coaching staff flipped Gabriel from UCLA, where he had just committed and was slated to begin classes.

From USC, Slovis picked Pittsburgh over Nebraska and others, leaving Dart as the heir apparent to the job until Williams went in the portal. Williams, as of Saturday afternoon, hasn’t even announced his commitment yet, but his relationship with Riley was likely among the factors that led to Dart entering the transfer portal last week.

Now the tug-of-war between Nebraska and the Sooners is for Purdy, a young quarterback who likely knows he’s not going to walk right into a starting job. He visited Oklahoma with his family in the middle of the week, is in Lincoln this weekend and could be in class at either school as a second transfer quarterback by Tuesday. The Sooners are also in pursuit of Dart, who might ultimately just end up swapping places with Williams.