NORMAN, Okla. — In one corner of the sprawling stadium club area designated for Oklahoma football’s local media day sat Jalen Hurts, engulfed in a sea of reporters and cameras.
Hurts is relaxed and charismatic in these situations. When a reporter asked how long it took Hurts to get comfortable with his new team, he smirked and asked, “Do I look comfortable?” Told that he did, Hurts replied, “That’s just me.”
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Two tables to his left sat Tanner Mordecai, who — despite the overwhelming public assumption that Hurts’ ascension is merely a formality — also is competing for the Sooners’ open quarterback job. He sat alone, playing on his phone, until The Athletic approached him, and for the next several minutes the interview was of the one-on-one variety.
The whole scene — and situation in general — is quite similar to last August, when Kyler Murray was the presumed starter and Austin Kendall the “other” competitor. Murray did earn the job, then won the Heisman and became the No. 1 selection in the NFL Draft. And while Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley has insisted for months that Mordecai is a legitimate option and that Hurts won’t be coronated based purely on his past, many have rolled their eyes and responded with unmitigated skepticism.
And it’s not just that for Mordecai. He is sandwiched between Hurts — who boasts a 26-2 career record as a starter and was the 2016 SEC Offensive Player of the Year — and Spencer Rattler, the top-ranked 2019 quarterback prospect who joined the Oklahoma program this summer. Rattler is the highest-ranked quarterback prospect to sign with the Sooners in 15 years. He starred in the Netflix documentary series “QB1.” Conventional wisdom has Hurts serving as a more-than-capable quarterback this season before the Rattler era begins in earnest.
That leaves Mordecai in the middle, competing for a job no one believes he will win, and doing so in what amounts to semi-anonymity. But that’s the thing: Being anonymous suits Mordecai just fine. It’s why he rarely tweets and doesn’t care what anyone else tweets. It’s why he granted few interviews when he was a four-star quarterback prospect at Waco (Texas) Midway. And it’s why it doesn’t hurt his feelings — or his pride — when the reporters and cameras head elsewhere, like they did Friday.
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“I really don’t care,” Mordecai said. “I just don’t.”
On the field, Mordecai has drawn comparisons to Baker Mayfield, the Sooners’ 2017 Heisman winner and current Cleveland Browns starting quarterback. Those comparisons come from moments like the one when, as a Midway senior, Mordecai lowered his helmet and ran through an attacking safety. Mordecai suffered a broken nose but missed just one play.
Mordecai had a lot of time by himself at OU’s media day last week. That suited him just fine. (Jason Kersey / The Athletic)But off the field, Mordecai couldn’t be more different than Mayfield, whose fire comes from perceived slights and enemies — even when he has to invent them. Mayfield is the guy who searched his name on Twitter and “liked” tweets that doubted his abilities when he was at Oklahoma, and who still can’t help but respond to the latest Colin Cowherd insult.
“Talk, to us, is kind of cheap,” said Micah Mordecai, Tanner’s father. “Tanner is pretty private. The only person whose opinion he cares about is Lincoln. Everyone else can write whatever they want, but he’s not too worried about it.”
Midway High coach Jeff Hulme frequently posts up in the hallways in between classes, just in case any assistance is needed. He knows how most star athletes get from one place to another during school hours. They hold court. They stand out.
Not Mordecai.
“When that bell would ring, Tanner would go from one class to the other, and just walk in the hallway as quick as he could and just get to class,” Hulme said. “He didn’t stand around. He was just trying to get from one class to the other.
“If we were standing in the hallway and I said, ‘See if you can point out who the quarterback is,’ you wouldn’t have been able to pick him out. That’s just who he is.”
It’s the same attitude Mordecai has toward all of the more glamorous aspects of being a blue-chip quarterback recruit. He maintains a Twitter account, but rarely uses it. He hasn’t tweeted anything original since Dec. 24, 2018, and that was nearly six months after his previous original tweet. Everything else is retweets, and even those are rare. He did send a tweet with a Notes app screenshot on June 1, 2017, announcing his commitment to OU. But that’s about the only “normal” recruit tweet that Mordecai sent.
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He also wasn’t a big fan of interviews — a trait that continues.
“That stuff doesn’t do anything for you when you play,” Mordecai said. “It really doesn’t. When you play, nobody cares about your ranking, or who you talked to, or whatever. When you’re out there, it doesn’t matter. When you work out, it doesn’t matter. These coaches don’t care.
“I thought it was kind of a waste of time.”
Jessica Morrey can attest to Mordecai’s attitude toward such things. A former sports reporter for KCEN-TV — the Waco area’s NBC affiliate — Morrey interacted frequently with Mordecai during his high school days. When she would cover a Midway victory, it often was tough to get much out of him, especially if it was a question about him. Most answers typically would veer back toward his teammates.
“He was always really quiet,” Morrey said. “If we wanted to do a live postgame interview, it’d be like, ‘OK, come on …’
“They could have just won the district title and he’s going to be totally even-keeled.”
Mordecai put up huge numbers as a high school senior, accounting for 5,120 yards of offense and 71 touchdowns.(Courtesy of Oklahoma Athletics)In these ways, Mordecai is quite similar to the quarterback he hopes to replace. Kyler Murray also is an introvert and shunned publicity as an Allen (Texas) High star and as Oklahoma’s quarterback.
Mordecai trains with Murray’s father, Kevin; it started when Mordecai was in high school.
“In Tanner’s case, he just needs season salt,” Kevin Murray told The Athletic. “He’s not bothered by that lack of attention. At the end of the day, he has great perspective like Kyler did. That crap doesn’t matter. He’s not a social media junkie.
“He’s actually a lot like Kyler. He’s an introvert. He’s not an obnoxious kid. He’s quiet, but he’s über-competitive, like Kyler. He doesn’t talk much, but he carries a big stick and that stick is his arm. He has an elite arm.”
A flip switches when Mordecai jogs onto the gridiron. That’s where the competitiveness, the healthy cockiness, comes out and fuels him the way it does Mayfield.
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Take, for example, a game during his senior season against Cedar Ridge. Mordecai was running near the sideline and could have stepped out of bounds, but instead chose to lower his helmet and run through a big safety.
The collision broke Mordecai’s nose. He missed just one play while trainers found a way to stop the bleeding.
“He’s Woody the Woodpecker out there,” Kevin Murray said. “The guy just won’t die down. He’s going to keep coming. As you get older, you start to mature, you learn how to protect yourself as a quarterback. You learn how to stay healthy and stay on the field. You don’t need to be challenging 6-2 safeties. You don’t need to be challenging outside linebackers. That’ll come with maturity and playing time.”
In terms of production, Mordecai put up video-game numbers as a Midway senior. He threw for 3,989 yards and rushed for another 1,131, scoring a total of 71 touchdowns.
Earlier in his career, Hulme coached Derek Carr — now the Oakland Raiders’ starting quarterback — at Sugar Land (Texas) Clements, before Carr moved to Bakersfield, Calif., for his senior year of high school. Hulme said Mordecai is better than Carr was at this stage in their careers.
“Tanner is the best quarterback I’ve had the privilege of coaching,” Hulme said. “I coached Derek Carr and I compare, in my head, those two a lot. Tanner was bigger, stronger and faster. At this point in their career, there’s no doubt who I would want to be my quarterback.”
Obviously, Riley wouldn’t have offered Mordecai a scholarship if he didn’t believe him capable of being great for the Sooners. Ultimately, Riley is the only person whose opinion matters, even as the 2019 additions of Hurts and Rattler have Mordecai sitting in a strange, anonymous position.
Rattler (left) is seen as OU’s quarterback of the future and Hurts (middle) as the quarterback of the present. Then there’s Mordecai. (Courtesy of Oklahoma Athletics)“Tanner doesn’t pay any attention to the noise or to the perception that he’s the third guy,” Kevin Murray said. “Well, I don’t buy that. I know Lincoln Riley. I know Lincoln Riley’s going to put the best guy on the field because he wants to win. And Tanner understands that.”
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But if he does end up winning the job, Mordecai instantly will become one of the most famous faces in the state of Oklahoma. And he understands that media interviews and publicity are part of what comes with the gig.
There are some signs he’s improving in that department. During the spring, Morrey watched a video of Mordecai at a news conference and was pleasantly surprised by his performance. She sent him a message that read, “Look at you at the podium! Great job! I know how much you don’t like doing interviews.”
Riley hasn’t given much of an indication as to when a quarterback announcement is forthcoming, although recent history suggests it will come between nine and 12 days before the opener. The last time there was a surprise in an August quarterback battle at Oklahoma came in 2013, when Trevor Knight beat out Blake Bell. Still, those who know Mordecai best are insistent that he shouldn’t be ruled out.
Not that he cares if you do.
“I think Tanner’s either going to be a four-year starter or a three-year starter at Oklahoma,” Hulme said. “If it’s this year, then I think he’ll be a four-year starter, and if it’s not this year, he’ll be a three-year starter. It’s going to be really hard for Coach Riley to keep him off the field.
“He may not have the name of Jalen Hurts and all that, but if people sleep on him, it’ll certainly come back to haunt them. No doubt about that.”
(Top photo of Mordecai during OU’s spring game: Alonzo Adams / USA Today)
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