2019 Position Preview: Quarterbacks

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For the second straight year, the Oklahoma football team has opened preseason camp with a battle, and for the second consecutive year the Sooners must replace a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback.

In 2018, Kyler Murray became the first FBS player to ever average at least 300.0 passing yards (311.5) and at least 60.0 rushing yards (71.5) per game for a full season, and he led the nation in total yards (school-record 5,362), points responsible for (324; tied), yards per completion (16.8) and yards per pass attempt (single-season FBS record of 11.6). Jalen Hurts arrived in January as a graduate transfer after playing in three College Football Playoff Championships at Alabama. Redshirt freshman Tanner Mordecai is battling Hurts for the starting spot, with ballyhooed true freshman Spencer Rattler also trying to win the job.

"Command of the offense, command of the offensive players, the unit as a whole," head coach and quarterbacks coach Lincoln Riley said of what he wants to see out of his starting signal-caller. "Consistent productivity. Guys that are going to take care of the ball and play the position the way that we expect it to be played here.

"It's one of those things, kind of, when you know, you know," Riley continued. "I've tried before to put metrics to it or numbers to it. We do evaluate the stats, but it's more than just the numbers. It's the feel of the guy that's going to play the best and produce, but also lead the best as well."

Lettermen Returning

Tanner Schafer (R-Jr.) ? Walk-on who has played in two career games and completed 3 of 5 passes for 18 yards.
Connor McGinnis (R-Sr.) ? Three-year walk-on letterwinner as OU's holder ... has not seen action as a quarterback.

Non-Letterman Returning

Tanner Mordecai

Tanner Mordecai (R-Fr.) ? One of OU's two 2018 offensive scout team players of the year ... played in season's first two games in 2018 and completed both of his passes for a total of 37 yards ... a four-star prospect out of high school by ESPN (rated the No. 151 overall recruit in the country and No. 23 player in Texas) and three-star prospect by 247Sports and Rivals.

Mordecai Says

"I think spring was really good, for me and for the rest of the team. I was able to really get comfortable with the offense and what we're trying to do as far as the big picture. I gained more consistency with accuracy, communication and different things like that. Pushing on to summer, we had workouts and seven-on-seven and just getting more comfortable with our receivers. I'm going to put my best foot forward. I'm going to do everything I possibly can, compete my butt off and play ball."

Newcomers

Jalen Hurts

Jalen Hurts (Sr.) ? Graduate transfer from Alabama who enrolled at OU in January ... played last three seasons at Alabama and helped Crimson Tide to 41-3 record (26-2 mark as a starter in 2016 and '17) ... played in six College Football Playoff games (four starts) and helped UA to 2017 national title ... owns Alabama quarterback career record with 23 rushing touchdowns and ranks second in school history among QBs with 1,976 career rushing yards and 71 touchdowns responsible for.
Colt Atkinson (Jr.) ? Walk-on transfer from Trinity Valley (Texas) Community College.
Spencer Rattler (Fr.) ? Five-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals and a four-star prospect by ESPN ... the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the class of 2019 ... an All-American Bowl selection ... Elite 11 quarterback competition MVP ... rated ninth overall in the 2019 class by 247 Sports, 13th by Rivals and 29th by ESPN ... threw for an Arizona state record 11,083 yards in his high school career with 116 passing touchdowns ... ran for over 1,000 yards in prep career to go with 14 rushing TDs.

Hurts Says

"We're trying to create a new identity for what we want to be this year. You only get one shot with this team with what we want to do, so we want to take advantage of it. We want to be dominant, we want to move tenaciously, we want to have that mentality. We want to do it the right way. We don't want to look back and say what we could've done, we want to take advantage of the opportunity we have now at camp. We're going to attack every day."

Notes

Spencer Rattler

This will be the second year in a row the Sooners will break in a first-time starter in Norman. Former QB Baker Mayfield held down the role from 2015-17.
In head coach Lincoln Riley's four years at Oklahoma (since 2015), quarterbacks have set 19 individual school records. Those figures include six single-game highs, seven single-season marks and six career records.
In December, Oklahoma became the first school to produce back-to-back Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks in Mayfield (2017) and Murray (2018). Each of OU's last four Heisman Trophy winners have been quarterbacks: Murray, Mayfield, Sam Bradford (2008) and Jason White (2003).
Mayfield (2018) and Murray (2019) made Oklahoma the first school to ever produce back-to-back Heisman-winning quarterbacks.
Mayfield and Murray hold three of the top four single-season-passing-efficiency ratings in FBS history (Murray 199.2 in 2018; Mayfield 198.9 in 2017 and 196.4 in 2016).

Lettermen Returning

Non-Letterman Returning

Mordecai Says

Newcomers

Hurts Says

Notes

Players Mentioned

Colt Atkinson

Jalen Hurts

Connor McGinnis

Tanner Mordecai

Kyler Murray

Spencer Rattler

Tanner Schafer

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics