Quarterback Competition at OU? Well, Virtually
Tanner Mordecai and Spencer Rattler are competing for the job as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback.
Sort of.
Mordecai and Rattler should be battling it out on the OU practice field. They should be pushing each other in the weight room, competing in the meeting room, trying to impress their coach in the film room.
Instead, because of the Coronavirus shutdown, they’re sitting at home trying to get creative about how to stay in shape and find receivers to throw to.
The reps they’ve lost so far in spring practice and what they could have gained in the less formal summer sessions were going to be huge in their development. Competition makes everyone better. But now Mordecai and Rattler’s competition is with themselves, rather than each other.
Sooners coach Lincoln Riley, however, says he remains largely stress-free about it all.
“Like any coach, would I like to have the reps for them? Of course I would,” Riley said. “But that’s the same for any quarterback any year. I just — it doesn’t give me anxiety right now. These guys, having been in the meeting room with these guys for a long time, having been able to see them play, see them practice, how they prepare, and just getting a feel for their knowledge and feel for what we’re doing, I’ve got a lot of confidence in those guys. I do.”
During a 35-minute media teleconference on Tuesday, Riley said Mordecai, a third-year sophomore, and Rattler, a redshirt freshman, aren’t necessarily losing ground because any future opponents with an evolving quarterback competition are basically in the same boat.
“I mean we’re gonna be in about as good a situation as just about anybody in this scenario because of those two guys,” Riley said, “because they can both play, they both know what we’re doing, they both know what’s expected. The one thing that neither one of them have a ton of right now is just live game experience. They were gonna get better throughout spring, but I wasn’t gonna be able to change that during spring, either. So they’ll be ready. They’re competitive guys. They’re self-starters. They’re at home, working their tails off right now.”
The NCAA implemented rules for the situation wherein players can receive, via video conferencing, two hours per week instruction with their coaches.
“It’s all day in front of a computer,” Riley said. “Whether it’s our staff meetings, or meetings with the players, whether it’s film study or it’s recruiting, it’s … every waking hour, I think, is in front of a screen.“
The virtual world is a weird new normal that everyone is trying to navigate. But Riley and his staff are making the best of it.
“Yeah, you can do a ton,” he said. “In this day and age of video capabilities and all that you can do virtually, there’s a lot. It’s certainly gonna involve quite a bit of film study for these guys, as well as the opportunity to have a virtual board — just like I’m in the meeting room with ‘em drawing something on the board and they can see it all right there (on their computers).
“Two, it just kind of gives me a chance to see their faces, to quiz them, to ask them questions, to kind of check in and see how they’re doing. And we’ve kind of come up with new things to do. So it can’t, per the rules right now, it can’t involve anything physical. So it’s purely a mental deal right now. But it’s something that we’re gonna be creative with, and we feel like we can use it very well. Hopefully the NCAA, (Big 12) conference, whoever, will be kind enough to give us a couple more hours to kind of get our players better.”
Of course, there’s a difference between what’s expected of quarterbacks and what’s expected of other positions. As Riley would have likely put an emphasis on leadership and huddle management and pocket presence and other intangible qualities he wants in a quarterback, now he must reassess how he evaluates those things.
“… You’ve got to take advantage of the meetings, you’ve got to take advantage of the extra time to develop physically, they’ve got to be resourceful about finding opportunities to still be able to throw the ball as much as you can to live targets — which, I know they’re both finding ways to get done right now,” Riley said. “And so that’s where the competition makes a difference. And that’s why it’s important to have multiple good players in your program.”
The 6-foot-2, 209-pound Mordecai came to OU as a 4-star prospect from Midway High School in Waco, Texas, where he passed for 4,797 yards and 51 touchdowns and ran for 1,511 yards and 20 TDs. He played in two games as a true freshman in 2018 and retained his redshirt status. Last year, playing in six games, he served as Jalen Hurts’ primary backup until the Peach Bowl, when it was Rattler who replaced Hurts in the fourth quarter. Mordecai has completed 18-of-30 passes for 244 yards with two touchdowns.
The 6-foot, 198-pound Rattler was a 5-star recruit and the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the country last year from Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, where he passed for an Arizona state-record 11,083 yards and 116 touchdowns and rushed for 1,040 yards and 14 TDs. He played in three games last year, completing 7-of-11 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.
“It certainly helps that they’ve been in the system, that they’ve got a good understanding of what they’re doing,” Riley said. “And they’ve got a good understanding of what they need to be at work on, and so it’s a little bit tougher. Because you know, for quarterbacks, you’d like to have a bunch of receivers and a bunch of group workouts. And you know, not all those things are possible right now. And we get that.
“But also, there’s a chance they continue to study film, continue to work on themselves physically, continue to work on the fundamental parts of this game. And so we’re just gonna … it’s like any time you’re limited on what you can do, you put a greater focus into those other areas. Sometimes you get a little better in those areas than you would without it. And so that’s been our focus with those two guys.”
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