Oklahoma football: Backup QB battle now down to two
By Chip Rouse
Baker Mayfield is clearly the starting quarterback, but the battle to backup the Oklahoma football star and team leader just became a tad bit less congested.
A year ago at this time, Oklahoma had just one other quarterback eligible to play on the roster. freshman Austin Kendall. Kyler Murray was there also, but the Texas A&M transfer was forced to sit out the 2016 season because of NCAA rules.
To add depth to the quarterback position and avoid the situation that surfaced last season, the Sooners signed four-star prospect Chris Robison to its 2017 recruiting class. He was listed by Rivals.com as the No. 5 overall prospect in the country at that position, and first committed to Oklahoma in 2015 after Lincoln Riley became the new offensive coordinator.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Robison had been dismissed from the team for what was described as a violation of team rules.
Robison, from Mesquite, Texas, was among a number of incoming players from the 2017 class who enrolled early , in January. As an early enrollee, he was able to participate in Oklahoma spring practice and the spring game, where he completed three of five passes for 49 yards.
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The night following the annual Red-White spring football game, Robison arrested for public intoxication. At the time of the incident, then-head coach Bob Stoops said the university would look into the incident involving Robison and would handle the matter internally.
There had been little said or reported about Robison’s situation since the incident occurred in early April. So it is not clear whether his dismissal stems from the arrest or because of some other violation team rules — or perhaps a combination thereof — since his earlier run-in with law enforcement.
In addition to Oklahoma, Robison had drawn heavy recruiting interest from Houston, Oklahoma State and TCU.
While Murray and Kendall are the only two scholarship players on the roster at the quarterback position, the Sooners also have three walk-ons — Connor McGinnis, Reece Clark and Tanner Schafer — listed at the position.
Looking to the future, OU has commitments from three-star QB prospect Tanner Mordecai in the 2018 class and from four-star recruit Spencer Rattler for 2019. Both are considered dual-threat quarterbacks who can run and throw the football, a style of quarterback play that the Sooners seem to be moving toward with current backup Murray also featuring those attributes.