Oklahoma football: Tanner Mordecai, T.J. Pledger transferring
By Chip Rouse
Two Oklahoma football players are entering the transfer portal.
In the wake of winning a 6th consecutive Big 12 Championship and as the No. 6 Sooners begin preparations for a Cotton Bowl date with No. 7 Florida, backup quarterback Tanner Mordecai and running back T.J. Pledger have announced they are leaving OU and entering the transfer portal.
Moredecai, a redshirt-sophomore from Waco, Texas, backed up Kyler Murray in 2018, Jalen Hurts in 2019 and Spencer Rattler this season. He played in four games this season, completing 32 of 40 passes for 395 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
In three seasons at Oklahoma, Mordecai saw action in 12 games, completed 71 percent of his 70 pass attempts for 639 yards, including four touchdown throws. This has been his best season, although he played in two fewer games than he did in 2019.
With Trey Sermon transferring to Ohio State, Kennedy Brooks opting out of the 2020 season and Rhamondre Stevenson suspended for the first five games this year, Pledger became the team’s No. 1 running back to begin the 2020 season. The 5-foot, 9-inch, 193-pound junior from Pacoima, California, rushed for 451 yards this season, including two games in which he gained more than 100 yards.
Since Stevenson returned in the sixth game this season against Texas Tech, however, Pledger has reached double digits in rushing attempts or gained more than 38 yards in any of the Sooners’ last five games. And he logged just one carry for two yards in the win over Iowa State on Saturday.
With the loss of Pledger, Oklahoma will focus its 2021 recruiting effort on signing five-star running-back prospect Camar Wheaton, who is expected to announce his school decision on Wednesday.
The Sooners still have redshirt freshman Marcus Major and true freshman Seth McGowan behind Stevenson, but they have no running backs in the 2021 recruiting class, which is why they are making a special push to land Wheaton.