On the immediate Oklahoma football checklist, figuring out who the next head football coach for the Sooners is going to be and what the rest of the coaching staff will look like is tops on the list.

After that, the immediate second item is determining whether or not true freshman quarterback Caleb Williams will stay at Oklahoma and what the rest of his playing future holds.

Williams finished the regular season with 1,670 passing yards and 18 passing touchdowns against four interceptions. Most recently against Oklahoma State, Williams passed for 252 yards and three touchdowns.

The Washington, D.C., product has shown he’s capable of star play and convincing Williams to stay at Oklahoma is the Sooners’ best path forward.

Still, if the answer to that question is no, then OU needs talented, immediate help at the quarterback position. Spencer Rattler has already entered the transfer portal and, if Williams departs, that would leave the Sooners with just walk-on Ralph Rucker and Micah Bowens who transferred to Oklahoma from Penn State before this past season.

The Sooners’ 2022 class is without a quarterback commit and OU recently lost its commitment from five-star quarterback prospect Malachi Nelson in the 2023 class.

Oklahoma’s future offensive coaching staff figures to be on the lookout for quarterback help regardless of Williams’ decision, but OU would feel comfortable it has its starter of the future in Williams if he elects to stay.

Again, if he chooses to go elsewhere, then suddenly the Sooners would be in a world of hurt at the quarterback position.

One possible option might be a former five-star quarterback recruit that was committed to the Texas Longhorns way back when. Quinn Ewers ultimately decommitted from Texas and enrolled at Ohio State this past August.

Now, after Ohio State redshirt freshman quarterback C.J. Stroud has authored a season where he’s thrown for 3,862 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns, Ewers has entered the transfer portal.

The Southlake Carroll product was the No. 1 overall player in the 2021 class according to the 247Sports composite rankings. The 6-foot-2 signal-caller famously signed a $1.4 million name, image and likeness deal with GT Sports Marketing back in August.

Oklahoma did offer Ewers in February of 2020, but the Sooners already had one five-star quarterback in Rattler on campus and ended up signing another in Williams.

It might just be that Ewers winds up at Texas after all, but dependent upon Williams’ decision at Oklahoma, perhaps that could open the door for the Sooners to enter the equation.

Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel indicated that his sources said Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech are three of the schools Ewers will consider.

Again, the best-case scenario for Oklahoma is that Williams is the quarterback of the future, but this is at least an option OU fans can have on their radar for now.

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