Oklahoma football: As QB Spencer Rattler goes, so will the Sooners in 2020

Despite what head coach Lincoln Riley may lead us to believe, there is no quarterback competition in Oklahoma football, not heading into spring practice or 2020 preseason training camp.

The starting job is set, and it belongs to sophomore-to-be Spencer Rattler. This is not meant as a put-down to Tanner Mordecai, the redshirt freshman who was listed as No. 2 on the depth chart and backup to Jalen Hurts for most of last season. It’s simply a matter of fact.

Rattler spent his freshman season at OU learning the system and becoming acclimated to major college football. He saw action in only three games, throwing a total of 11 passes and completing seven for 81 yards and running with the ball three times for 23 yards. Among the three games in which Rattler appeared was against eventual national champion LSU in the last season’s College Football Playoff.

The fact that Riley called on Rattler to finish out the LSU game instead of Mordecai was a strong indication of the OU head coach’s thinking about the QB role in 2020.

Sooner fans have not gotten to see much of the highly touted quarterback prospect out of Phoenix, Arizona, but the expectations around him are sky high.

All of last season, Rattler served as the scout team quarterback as Oklahoma prepared for its upcoming opponent. He did not arrive on campus until last summer, so the 2020 spring game will be the first chance OU fans will get to see the future starting QB in extended action, albeit in a controlled scrimmage format.

Get ready Sooner fans, this kid is the real deal.

Jason Kersey, who covers Oklahoma sports for The Athletic, describes Rattler’s ceiling this way:

"“Much of (his) ultimate success will come down to the way he handles himself. The talent is there; his ceiling is high.“He has an elite, powerful arm. He is accurate. He is athletic enough to make plays with his legs. He seems to have it all.”"

Riley identified Rattler’s talent level when the five-star prospect was still a sophomore in high school and has been waiting to work with him for years. That time has come, and the best news of all is the fourth Sooner starting quarterback in as many seasons has a year of college experience under his belt.

It’s a good bet that with Rattler at quarterback, the Oklahoma offense will take on the look more like it was with Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield directing Riley’s version of the Air Raid offense, which also features a heavy dose of the running game. Unlike with Hurts, however, the rushing load will be handled by the Big 12’s most talented group of running backs, which includes a pair of returning backs (Trey Sermon and Kennedy Brooks) who have recorded 1,000-yard seasons.

Because Riley is closely aligned with the Air Raid system of offense, there is a wide misperception that the Sooners like to put the ball in the air — targeting its group of talented, fleet-of-foot receivers who are capable of taking it to the house on every reception — more than keeping it on the ground.

In reality, the opposite is true. Over the past four seasons, which includes the time Mayfield, Murray and Hurts were in the quarterback role, Oklahoma’s run-pass ratio has been approximately 56 percent run and 44 percent pass.

While some might conclude that OU’s running game is used to set up the aerial game, it’s closer to the truth that the Sooners passing game is employed to set up what in recent seasons has been one of the most effective and efficient rushing offenses in college football.

It will be interesting to see how the Oklahoma quarterback room evolves in the coming seasons. If Rattler is able to stay healthy, chances are Mordecai will leave after this season. That would leave Rattler and Morris as the backup, along with whichever QB prospect Riley is able to recruit in the 2021 class.

It would not be a surprise to see Morris enter the transfer portal and head to Auburn, where his father is on the coaching staff, if the Sooners are able to land another five-star quarterback prospect in the 2021 class. OU is reportedly high on the list for No. 1 2021 prospect Caleb Williams, who also is being heavily recruited by LSU.

Riley’s reputation developing college quarterbacks has worked well for the Sooners in the five years he has been at Oklahoma, and there is every reason to believe that will continue with Rattler and his successors.

Who knows, in Spencer Rattler we could be seeing a fifth Oklahoma quarterback — and third under Lincoln Riley — win the Heisman Trophy in the last 17 seasons. I wouldn’t bet against it.