Oklahoma football: 5 questions the Oklahoma Sooners must answer in 2020

1. Oklahoma football preseason questions: Is Rattler the next Heisman-winning quarterback?

It should first be noted that there is no guarantee that Spencer Rattler is the starting quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2020 season. While he was the No. 1 quarterback in his recruiting class and has a ton of hype behind him, he’s going to have to win the job in a battle against Tanner Mordecai, who had plenty of fans out of high school in his own right.

For my money, though, Rattler is the better player with the highest upside, which is why he’s going to take the starting job when it’s all said and done. But when that happens, there are going to be great expectations placed upon him. Not only is there hype because of his recruiting profile but also because of what Riley has done with his quarterbacks to this point.

Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray both won the Heisman Trophy in their first season as the starting quarterback in Riley’s offense. And Jalen Hurts, after a good-not-great tenure at Alabama, continued that legacy by heavily being in the mix again. So that begs the question: Is Rattle going to be able to immediately continue that legacy in Norman?

Frankly, it’s difficult to answer that right now. We’ve seen so little of Rattler — though what we’ve seen has already been a bit flashy — that it’s impossible to say for certain what he’s going to be over a full season. But given Riley’s offensive mind and Rattler’s prolific high school career, it’s a safer bet than not to think that the former 5-star signal-caller is going to step in and excel at the head of this offense.

For more NCAA football news, analysis, opinion and unique coverage by FanSided, including Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff rankings, be sure to bookmark these pages.