Oklahoma football: The real QB race is between Rattler, Mordecai
Oklahoma football head coach Lincoln Riley is right when he insists there’s a quarterback competition going into fall camp, but it’s not for the right to be the starter in 2019.
No matter how much the Sooners want to make it appear there’s a chance for a different outcome, barring an injury, Jalen Hurts is going to be the starting quarterback for Oklahoma football when it takes the field on Sept. 1 against Houston.
It makes sense to let the battle play out, but Riley didn’t bring in a quarterback with 28 games under his belt as a starter to have him sit on the bench in his final season of collegiate eligibility.
Still as all three quarterbacks get reps with the No. 1 offense through the early part of camp, Sooner fans all get a mini preview of what will certainly be the No. 1 storyline in Norman going in the spring and summer of 2020 – the battle between Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler.
For eligibility purposes expect Mordecai to be the No. 2 guy on the depth chart once the season starts, but there’s no doubt coaches are watching how fast Rattler can close the gap and nip at Mordecai’s heels as both players run through fall camp drills.
Mordecai will enter 2020 as a redshirt sophomore with two years of eligibility left, while one would expect Rattler to redshirt freshman next spring barring any unforeseen developments.
The Sooners still haven’t picked a 2020 quarterback in their recruiting class yet so there’s also a chance they go out and get another signal caller from the transfer portal to help fill out the room.
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Rattler comes in as the No. 1 quarterback, the No. 11 overall prospect and the only five-star QB in the 2019 class according to 247 sports. He was an early commit, pledging to the Sooners during the summer before his junior high school season and sticking with Oklahoma all the way through signing day.
Mordecai’s path to Oklahoma was much different. The Sooners had a commitment from four-star quarterback Cameron Rising, but he defected to Tom Herman and Texas the May before his senior season, sending the Sooners back to the quarterback market. They eventually found their guy in Mordecai, a four-star prospect who rose up the ranks late. He was far from a nobody – the No. 11 dual-threat quarterback in his class – but didn’t come in with near the hype and fanfare of Rattler.
Expect both quarterbacks to get some reps in blowout games with the South Dakota game sticking out as the most likely candidate to see all three Sooner signal callers. Riley has also shown in the past that he isn’t afraid to bring in a second quarterback for special packages and trick plays, like he did with Kyler Murray during Baker Mayfield‘s senior season.
But the most intriguing part of this quarterback battle will take place behind the Crimson and Creme curtain with precious little information available to the public. Still keep an ear out for how Riley describes his quarterbacks and what teammates think of Rattler and Mordecai going through fall camp. It is going to have a big impact on the future of the program.