Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley said this week he still isn’t ready to name a starting quarterback for the 2018 season.
It’s 15 days before the Sooners season opener against Florida Atlantic, and the word is the quarterback competition between redshirt junior Kyler Murray and redshirt sophomore Austin Kendall is too close to call.
There is some speculation that Riley could be close to making a decision after Saturday’s planned scrimmage, but the OU head coach refused to be pinned down to a timeline for making the decision.
“We’ll certainly do something before the first game,” Riley told reporters, including the Oklahoma City Oklahoman, after practice on Wednesday. “Other than that, we’re gonna let it play out.”
I’m not quite sure why Riley is letting this drama play out or what his motivation might be in doing so. Unless he totally disappointed in fall training camp or suffered an injury, the starting job was always Murray’s to lose.
You have to believe there was some arrangement made when Murray elected to return to school for at least one more football season after signing a professional baseball contract with the Oakland Athletics as the No. 9 overall selection in the first round of the 2018 MLB Draft. Otherwise, why would he want to come back if there was a 50/50 chance or worse that he would ride the sidelines as a backup?
One reason the dual-sport Sooner star (Murray also was the starting center fielder on the OU baseball team) might be willing to take that chance is because he is hoping to also have an opportunity to play professional football, although most experts believe his better opportunity for a professional sports career is in baseball.
As for Riley’s motivation in playing out this drama at the all-important quarterback position, it could be that he believes the healthy competition will bring out the best in both quarterback candidates and put the Sooners in a stronger position to hit the ground running from the start of the 2018 season.
Murray and Kendall offer different quarterback skills and styles of play. While Murray’s quickness and foot speed make him a dangerous dual threat both running and throwing the ball, Kendall is more of a pro-style quarterback who is better in the passing game. That is not to say, though, that Murray lacks passing skills or that Kendall isn’t capable of picking up yards on the ground.
It has been reported that Murray has been throwing very well and with strong accuracy in preseason training camp.
Because the two Sooner quarterbacks vying to replace Baker Mayfield, perhaps the best Oklahoma quarterback of all-time, bring different strong suits to the offense, it is not out of the question that we could see both receive playing time this season as the situation dictates. This could be another reason Riley wants both to get plenty of reps in preseason training drills.
Let’s not kid ourselves, though. Whether it’s this weekend or this time two weeks from now when Riley lets us know who the opening-day starter will be, the man behind center with the starting offensive unit on Sept. 1 is going to be wearing the numero uno on his crimson jersey.
A number, in this case, that will have double meaning and mean double trouble for Oklahoma opponents, even if it is for only a short time.