Oklahoma Two Deep Preview: Quarterbacks
With spring practice wrapped up and fall camp now just over a month away, Oklahoma players are using the offseason to improve their place on the two-deep. This series previews Oklahoma’s depth chart position by position.
There was no quarterback competition in Norman this offseason — at least not for the starting spot.
Spencer Rattler is the unquestioned QB1, as not only was he named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year or the Big 12, but he was ranked the No. 1-overall returning player to college football by Pro Football Focus.
After a rocky start in 2020 where Rattler was turnover happy, he turned the corner in the second half against Texas.
Returning from getting benched by Lincoln Riley, Rattler led the Sooners to a victory and proceeded to only throw two interceptions the rest of the season.
In total, he captured the imagination of OU fans in his first season as a starter, throwing for 3,031 yards and 28 touchdowns while completing 67.5 percent of his passes.
Spencer Rattler
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Now in 2021, Rattler said he hopes that finally being able to have things running normally in spring football will help the offense be even better to start the season.
“Last year with COVID none of us had that spring ball. Going into the season, you could definitely see at the beginning of the season we weren’t as sharp as we should have been,” he said during a media availability during spring practice. “Now we can focus on these things and get them out of the way now so we can be prepared throughout summer, when we’re home in May, fall camp, and then the beginning of the season. For all us, we feel like we’re coming together more offensively and defensively. We’ll keep that rolling.”
If Rattler can continue to build off his start in 2020 and harness the full potential of Riley’s offense, there is no reason why he can’t live up to the Heisman Trophy expectations laid before him in 2021.
And he’ll have some nice competition behind him at practice to keep him sharp.
Oklahoma Position Previews:
Caleb Williams, the No. 1-overall player in Sports Illustrated All-American’s SI99 for the 2021 class, was able to enroll early and begin to digest the offense.
The 6-foot-1 product of Washington, D.C. hit the ground running this spring, Riley said.
“Caleb is doing well. He’s getting a lot of reps. He’s learning a lot,” Riley said during a spring practice media availability. “We’re throwing him in a lot of different situations.”
With a larger frame than Rattler, Riley said Williams is already comfortable making plays with his legs as well as through the air with his arm talent.
“He’s done a pretty good job of making plays outside the pocket. He’s athletic. He throws well on the move,” Riley said. “He has some creative to his game. He still has to get consistent on the more routine plays, which is normal for this time in the offense. He’s just learning and getting started.”
Caleb Williams
OU Athletics
Despite the fact that they’ll be pushing each other in practice, Riley said Rattler has embraced his leadership role with Williams.
“Their relationship is very positive, mutual respect for each other, both in similar situations coming out of high school and having to come in and learn this thing really quick,” Riley said. “It’s always great to have other good players in the room. It pushes you no matter how long you’ve been at a place.
“Certainly from Caleb’s perspective, having a guy in there that’s been through the fire, that knows our system at a higher level than Caleb does right now and a guy he can watch the way he prepares, watch the things he does on the field, the way he communicates, all that. I think it’s good. They seem to get along very well and very similar to some of the other, really good relationships we’ve had in that room over the years.”
The competition will continue behind Williams as well.
Oklahoma also added Micah Bowens through the transfer portal after Bowens opted to leave Penn State. Bowens is a 5-11, 192-pound redshirt freshman who can also make plays outside the pocket.
Interestingly enough, Bowens also happens to have played his high school football at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, the alma mater of former OU great and current running backs coach DeMarco Murray.
Micah Bowens
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
During his senior year of high school, Bowens completed 61 percent of his passes, totaling 2,148 yards and 23 touchdowns while only surrendering a pair of interceptions. He also rushed for 589 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Bowens' addition helps make up for the outgoing transfers of Chandler Morris and Tanner Mordecai.
'We were a fan of Micah coming out. Obviously had watched him at Gorman and what he had done there and were very aware of him,” Riley said. “Just one of those things where we had a couple guys leave the room and when you’re going into it, we weren’t going to take a guy to take a guy, but at the same time, we thought if a viable option came up in the transfer portal at the quarterback position that we were going to take a good look at it.”
Bowens will battle with Ben Harris, who joined the Sooners as a preferred walk on from Carl Albert High School in Midwest City, OK. Harris has quite the winning pedigree as he went 52-2 at Carl Albert and won four straight 5A State Championships.
Ben Harris
Photo: Mark Loken Photography (used with permission)
Harris threw for 2,215 yards and 22 touchdowns as a senior at Carl Albert, completing 67.3 percent of his passes.
Though it can sometimes be difficult to build true depth at the quarterback position when elite passers with Rattler’s skillset are on campus, Riley has been able to utilize the transfer portal to his advantage to ensure that there is plenty of depth behind his marquee recruits.
