Rob Ferguson – USA TODAY Sports
While many coaches believe you can never have too much depth, the Oklahoma Sooners are feeling the effects of having too many players for a position this offseason. After losing Keith Ford to transfer earlier this spring, Oklahoma will see their current logjam at quarterback eased a bit with the announced transfer of redshirt freshman Justice Hansen.
Hansen was a four-star prospect and one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the 2014 recruiting class but was struggling to get looks in Oklahoma’s four-man quarterback competition this offseason. He flashed some excellent ability when he got on the field during the spring game, completing 5-of-5 passes for 70 yards but he saw the smallest amount of playing time of any of the quarterbacks on the roster.
Instead, Bob Stoops and the Sooners have focused their energy on Trevor Knight, Baker Mayfield, and Cody Thomas as they look for a starter in 2015. All three quarterbacks have starting experience (Knight and Thomas with Oklahoma, Mayfield for the Texas Tech Red Raiders) which put them too far ahead of Hansen for him to catch up.
With the prospect of getting buried on the depth chart, Hansen chose instead to take his services elsewhere. While he did not mention where he would likely end up next season, Hansen had offers from programs like the Arizona State Sun Devils, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Kansas State Wildcats, Missouri Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, and Texas A&M Aggies before signing with the Sooners in 2014. Whether he re-opens the lines of communication with those programs or finds somewhere else to play remains to be seen.
For Oklahoma, they are in a solid position to absorb the loss of Hansen without it hurting them too much. They have three scholarship quarterbacks on the roster now battling for the the starting job in 2015 and will add elite 2016 quarterback prospect Austin Kendall to the mix in a year (provided he sticks with his verbal commitment).
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