Lincoln Riley names Sooners’ No. 3 QB for start of 2021 season
By Chip Rouse
With less than two weeks to go before the kickoff to the 2021 Oklahoma football season, head coach Lincoln Riley has named the team’s No. 3 QB, and the name might surprise you.
John Hoover, who covers the Sooners for Sports Illustrated, is reporting that Ralph Rucker, a preferred walk-on from Lucas, Texas, will start the season as the No. 3 OU quarterback behind starter Spencer Rattler and primary backup, Caleb Williams, a true freshman from Washington, D.C.
As a senior last season at Lovejoy High School in Lucas, about 30 miles north of downtown Dallas, Rucker passed for 3,423 yards and 47 touchdowns with just three interceptions. A dual-treat quarterback,
Rucker was one of four finalists last season for the Landry Award, presented to the top high school player in North Texas who demonstrated leadership both on and off the field. Former Sooners to have won the Landry Award were QB Kyler Murray and current OU RB Kennedy Brooks.
The 6-foot, 190-pound Texas native beat out two other Sooner quarterbacks for the No. 3 spot: Penn State transfer Micah Bowens freshman Ben Harris from Midwest City, Oklahoma.
Rucker reportedly had also received preferred walk-on offers from Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. He decided in January to walk on at Oklahoma.
Oklahoma will open the 2021 season on Sept. 4 at Tulane in New Orleans. The season home opener is on Sept. 11, when the Sooners will host Western Carolina, an FCS team out of the Southern Conference. That game will be followed a week later by the 50-year reunion of the “Game of the Century” between OU and Nebraska.