Oklahoma football: Three keys to a successful spring

After back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances and four-straight Big 12 titles, Oklahoma football finds itself in what might be the most pivotal spring of Lincoln Riley’s young career.

Oklahoma football welcomes in a new defensive coordinator, must replace four offensive linemen from a group that won the Joe Moore Award a year ago as college football’s best offensive line and, of course, has to replace a second Heisman Trophy winner in as many seasons.

Here’s a look at the three keys for a successful spring for Oklahoma football.

A clear quarterback hierarchy

Let’s get this clear right off the bat, we are not saying that Oklahoma needs to name a starter by the end of spring football. That’s not going to happen. It hasn’t been the way Lincoln Riley operates and quite frankly it’s a terrible idea in the transfer era of college football.

Still, it would be good for one of the quarterbacks (most likely Jalen Hurts) to take control of the battle and establish a clear pecking order going into summer. That’s not a knock on Tanner Mordecai, who has all the skills to succeed in the Sooners’ offense in the future (the 2020 quarterback battle between Mordecai and then-redshirt freshman Spencer Rattler will be great fun for all).

Still, Hurts was brought in to be the guy and with his tremendous experience advantage, he has to create some separation in the battle. Some might point to last year, when Kyler Murray and Austin Kendall “battled” until the week before the season started, but nobody was really buying. This year needs to be similar. If it isn’t, it likely means that Hurts ins’t picking up Riley’s complicated offense quick enough.