Saturday on Owen Field, most fans will show up with one thing on their minds: to see Jalen Hurts as a quarterback at Oklahoma.

There will certainly be plenty of interest in Alex Grinch’s defense, the secondary and stars like CeeDee Lamb. But ever since the arrival of Josh Heupel in 1999, quarterback battles have carried the headlines in Norman.

It’s likely you’ve already made up your mind that Hurts will be Oklahoma’s starting quarterback. Why else would a former SEC Player of the Year transfer to a school for a final season if he weren’t going to be the starter?

No one can make a legitimate argument as to why he won’t be the starter. But none of us have seen him run Lincoln Riley’s offense. Well, except for the coaches and the players.

“On a lot of parts of it, you can tell that he’s played some ball and has some experience,” said Riley last week of Hurts’ performance on the practice field. “You see that. At times, you can tell that we’ve only had nine practices. It’s a little bit of both, but it’s getting better every day.”

No one is here to build up a true battle for the starting job. But there are whispers that Tanner Mordecai is capable of making some impressive plays in scrimmage situations.

Riley hasn’t given any indication of Hurts showing any signs of separating himself from Mordecai at this point.

“It’s a competition like it’s always been here. We’ve always had competitions. We’ll always have competitions. This is a very real one,” he said. “Those guys are both playing well and doing a lot of good things.”

In evaluating his future quarterback, Riley has an experienced player in Hurts that is learning a new offense. He has a youngster in Mordecai with a past reputation of being a playmaker.

Riley understands both players are coming into this competition from different backgrounds and direction.

Mordecai has a better understanding of the system.

Hurts has a better understanding of how to win at this level but he’s not as familiar with the offense.

“They are almost like polar opposite ends on both sides of it,” said Riley. “There’s probably some intrigue on the outside on that. They are pushing each other and making each other better and competing well.”

It’s probably not unfair to surmise Mordecai would have to be much more impressive than Hurts in order to win the job.

But that’s getting into the politics of transfers and promises and leadership.

For now, no one has seen these two compete on the same field running the same offense. And you have to expect Hurts will only get better the more comfortable he becomes in this offense.

Hurts is an intriguing option. He’s big, strong and athletic. He looks more like a Heisman winner than those last two guys.

We are just left wondering if he can make the same type of impact as a passer as those last two guys.

“He can from what I've seen in practice,” said Shane Beamer. “He and Tanner Mordecai both. They're out there splitting reps and they've both made great throws, and obviously Tanner is not built like Jalen so to speak. Jalen's not built like Kyler was or even Baker. It's a bigger body that can make all the throws that he needs to make in this offense. He's very smart.”

Don’t mistake Mordecai’s skillset as all pass and no mobility. He can extend plays and make plays with his feet. But he’s more Baker than Kyler.

At best, he’s the type of quarterback that can serve as an escape artist and pick up a first down here or there with his legs.

But Hurts is much more than that.

He’s also a polished leader. More polished than either Baker or Kyler who were both effective, but a little rough around the edges compared to Hurts.

“He's been in the biggest moments he can possibly be in, being part of a national championship game two years in a row,” said Beamer. “I just think having that, with the amount of guys that we lost off last year's team, the amount of leadership that we lost, to have a guy like that come in and be part of our team, whether you're the quarterback or not, just what he accomplished, our guys realize that and understand that.”

If all things are equal, the deck is stacked against Mordecai.

And no matter what we see Saturday on Owen Field, Hurts is only going to get better from there with a full summer and fall camp ahead.

So keep that in mind if you aren’t blown away at the differences between Hurts and Mordecai during Saturday’s Red & White Game.

Surely no one is going to jump to any conclusions based off of one scrimmage?