What's Next for Tanner Mordecai?
As was the consensus expectation, Spencer Rattler will start at quarterback for the Sooners this fall.
Now Tanner Mordecai finds himself in quite the predicament.
Were it any year but 2020, talk radio personalities across the state would almost certainly be discussing the redshirt sophomore's transfer options.
This isn't the first time a talented signal-caller wound up in a second-string role at Oklahoma. But the circumstances aren't the same in the year of the unprecedented. Mordecai isn't in the same position as Brent Rawls or Tommy Grady or Keith Nichol or Trevor Knight or Austin Kendall. Losing the battle for the starting job isn't as much of a death knell for Mordecai as it was for his predecessors. Though no one would fault him for immediately pursuing an opportunity elsewhere, his path to playing time certainly hasn't been foreclosed.
Why?
Because presumably, there's only one positive COVID-19 test that stands between Mordecai and a starting gig.
We've yet to see a depth chart, but the assumption is that it'll be Mordecai on the second team over Chandler Morris and Tanner Schafer. Should Rattler end up contracting the virus at some point, it stands to reason that Mordecai would inherit the snaps.
The Waco native and former 4-star signee could probably start for the majority of FBS programs. He's no scrub, and dealing with health issues of his own certainly didn't give him much of a chance to compete for the starting job in preseason practices. In naming Rattler the starter, Lincoln Riley remarked, “I just felt like there was enough separation right now.” However, he also acknowledged that Mordecai had been held out of action due to injury for much of camp.
“Tanner Mordecai had to end up missing about 70 to 75 percent of fall practice," said Riley. “He’ll be ready to bounce back. I feel like we’ve got two very competent players at the quarterback position.”
The transfer portal is open. Could Mordecai go that route? Absolutely. He's good enough to be the guy; he's just not as talented as the wunderkind Rattler.
Consider the aforementioned examples. Rawls lost the competition to Jason White in 2003 (Bob Stoops actually listed Rawls as fourth string after he fell out of a truck and sustained a concussion) and transferred to Louisiana Tech.
Come 2005, Grady couldn't beat out Paul Thompson or Rhett Bomar, and jumped ship to Utah. He eventually became the starter for the Utes and enjoyed a decorated career in the AFL.
A Class of 2007 recruit, Nichol couldn't outflank some guy named Sam Bradford, but he'd still get his 15 minutes of fame. He went up north to Michigan State, where he switched to wide receiver and was on the other end of Kirk Cousins' dramatic 2011 Hail Mary to beat Wisconsin.
Knight, of course, had his one shining moment in crimson and cream as a freshman. He picked apart Alabama's vaunted pass defense and led Oklahoma to a 45-31 upset win in the 2014 Sugar Bowl. But little more than a year-and-a-half later, he'd shockingly lose his job to a scrappy walk-on transfer. Knight finished his collegiate career at Texas A&M as Baker Mayfield rewrote the Oklahoma record books.
Most recently, Kendall quite understandably lost the battle with Kyler Murray in 2018. He packed his bags for West Virginia, where he immediately became the starter for the Mountaineers. He's now entering his senior season in Morgantown.
But this time around, COVID-19 has added a new variable to the calculus. Everything is a day-to-day, week-to-week proposition at the moment. A positive test means a two-week quarantine at minimum. Another thing to consider is that Mordecai won't lose any eligibility in the 2020 season, so it's not as if a season behind Rattler is costing him anything.
If Mordecai decides to take his talents elsewhere, there will no doubt be a myriad of programs that would love to have a signal-caller of his caliber. He's never going to start on talent alone at Oklahoma, and that's no fault of his own. Rattler is a physical freak of nature, and Class of 2021 prodigy Caleb Williams is very obviously the next man up. But in the here and now, should misfortune befall Rattler, Oklahoma needs an experienced quarterback who knows the playbook cover to cover. In that regard, it's become clear that Riley has plenty of confidence in Mordecai.
“I don’t know that there’s a quarterback room in America that I would rather have," Riley raved. "We’re going to need everybody in that room some way and somehow this year. Very, very high confidence level in the room right now.”
An insurance policy at the quarterback position is generally nice to have. The Sooners had it in 2017 with Murray, in 2018 with Kendall, and in 2019 with Mordecai himself. But in 2020, it's more essential than ever. The Sooners haven't needed to deploy a backup quarterback in crucial situations during Riley's tenure at Oklahoma. But if worst comes to worst and Rattler finds himself sidelined, Riley would no doubt like to be confident in turning over the keys to a quarterback with significant in-game experience.
Will Mordecai be on the Oklahoma roster in 2021? There's no telling. But here in 2020, his presence on the Sooner sideline is vital.
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