Sooner Quarterbacks at Five Now with Addition of Two Walk-ons

Head coach Bob Stoops has gone into fall preseason practice six times in his 17 seasons at Oklahoma without designating a starting quarterback.

This is another one of those seasons, even though most folks expect that the starting job for 2015 is pretty well set at this stage. Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield is the odds-on favorite right now to get the call come the season opener on Sept. 5.

Apr 12, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) passes the ball during the spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Stoops continues to say publicly that the competition for the starting QB job is still in process, the choice being between Mayfield and two-year starter Trevor Knight.

I don’t believe many college football experts would argue that is was pure coincidence that Stoops went after Lincoln Riley to become the Sooners’ new offensive coordinator, and that Riley just happened to be bringing a new “Air Raid” offense with him that – oh, how nice – Mayfield happened to be very familiar with, having worked in the same system at Texas Tech.

It’s fairly obvious that the battle for the Sooner starting job is between Mayfield and Knight, but the quarterback competition also includes sophomore Cody Thomas, who started the final three games for OU last season after Knight took a vicious hit to the neck area very late in the game against Baylor.

But those three are not the only ones the Sooners will have on the field as quarterbacks when fall practice officially begins on Thursday.

Nov 8, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Trevor Knight (9) throws a pass against the Baylor Bears during the first half at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The roster also includes two walk-on players who are quarterbacks. Connor McGinnis is an in-state prospect who played his high school ball in the shadows of Norman at Heritage High in Oklahoma City. Reece Clark is the other QB walk-on. Clark, from Cypress, Texas, was thought to be headed to Baylor, but changed him mind and ended up at Oklahoma.

So while OU has enough quarterbacks on the roster this season to field a basketball team, there is only one such spot on a football team, and as I see it right now, that is Mayfield’s to lose.

Having said that, I probably don’t have to remind you that two years ago at this time, everybody was convinced that Blake Bell was going to be the starting quarterback to open the 2013 season. That is, until Bob Stoops advised differently, naming Trevor Knight as the starter.

Trust me, though, you’re not going to need a program to know who the Sooners quarterback is at any time in the coming season.