Oklahoma football: Five ways 2021 will be national championship year
By Chip Rouse
Outstanding quarterback play
Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Spencer Rattler is back for his second full season as the Sooner starting quarterback. There is a general rule of thumb that teams that win championships, at every level of football, are the ones with exceptional quarterback play, and Rattler is another in a growing line of great Oklahoma quarterbacks.
Rattler had a strong year in his first season as the starter, and he is poised to have an even stronger one in 2021. He has all the skills and mental makeup to be an outstanding college quarterback, but he knows he has to continue to keep getting better and more consistent in his execution and decision making.
Arguably the best quarterback in the nation entering the 2021 season, Rattler is the preseason favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, joining four other Sooner quarterback who have won college football’s most prestigious individual honor in the past two decades and another two others who finished as Heisman runners-up.
Rattler may have the highest expectations of any player in college football this season. Not only is he the favorite to win the Heisman, he also is the projected Player of the Year and a preseason First-Team All-American in multiple media polls.
“Spencer is a team-first guy,” said head coach Lincoln Riley in a recent interview with Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports. “He had been his entire time here. We have visited about (expectations). It can be a factor if you let it.”
The one thing we know about Rattler is he’s not afraid of the expectations or the challenges that come with being the best quarterback on the best team in the Big 12…and perhaps the country. He actually relishes that pressure.
That’s a winning formula for the Sooners this season.