Oklahoma QB Tanner Mordecai enters transfer portal

Oklahoma quarterback Tanner Mordecai entered the transfer portal, he announced via social media on Sunday.

Thank you OU football and sooner nation for the past 3 years. Forever grateful for my time here. I have now entered the transfer portal. Excited to see what God has in store for me.
— Tanner Mordecai (@t_mordecai) December 20, 2020

Mordecai, a third-year sophomore from Waco, TX, redshirted behind Kyler Murray in 2018 and served as backup to Jalen Hurts in 2019 and to Spencer Rattler in 2020.

If Mordecai does leave, the Sooners will go into their Dec. 30 Cotton Bowl matchup with SEC runner-up Florida with just two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster: Rattler and true freshman Chandler Morris.

The Sooners also have signed the No. 1 overall player in the 2021 recruiting class in SI All-American quarterback Caleb Williams.

While Rattler has emerged as the Sooners’ next star quarterback this season, Morris has played sparingly. He got into the Big 12 Championship on Saturday, coming in for one play on the goal line and running for a 2-yard touchdown as coach Lincoln Riley had Rattler fake an injury.

"Tanner has been a really good member of this football team," Riley said Sunday on a media conference call. "I think he's looking for the opportunity to go in and be a starter somewhere. I think he's done really well. I think he's ready to be a starter. He had some good competition while he was here. He had some unfortunate events that made it tougher for him to compete, like getting injured during our competition this year.

"But he's a great young man, great family, tremendous quarterback, and he'll make somebody very happy."

Mordecai played in 12 games during his three seasons in Norman: two as a freshman, six last year and four this season. He completed 71.4 percent of his passes (50-of-70) for 639 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He also ran 15 times and netted 2 yards.

The 6-foot-2, 211-pound Mordecai won the favor of Sooner Nation this year against Texas, when Rattler committed two early turnovers and was benched in the second quarter.

Mordecai came in and completed 5-of-7 passes for 52 yards while Rattler collected himself on the sideline. Mordecai directed three offensive possessions — T.J. Pledger lost a fumble, Marcus Major scored a touchdown, and the other ended in a punt — and completed one pass on a 20-yard scoring drive after OU blocked a Texas punt.

Rattler returned to start the third quarter and led the Sooners to a riveting four-overtime win with his clutch performance down the stretch. He took advantage of his brief time off the field and since his benching has had better ball security and been more comfortable and confident.

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