Kendall is no stranger to quarterback rivalry
NORMAN — When Brian Kendall hung up the phone for the second time on that Sunday in 2012, he didn’t know how to feel or what to do.
The football coach at Cuthbertson High School in Waxhaw, North Carolina, had just called to let him know the team was changing quarterbacks.
Initially, Brian was elated. Austin, his 14-year-old freshman son who would go on to play at Oklahoma, was going to be the varsity quarterback.
But the celebration was short-lived because that freshman wasn’t just replacing any upperclassman.
He was replacing Ryan, his older brother, who was the two-year incumbent.
“It was not a happy time,” Brian said. “It was a very, very trying week, to say the least.”
In the end, the high school quarterback competition didn’t define Austin’s relationship with his brother, but that experience is helping him as the redshirt sophomore battles Kyler Murray to be Oklahoma’s next starting quarterback.
“I think being competitive in general just takes you further in life,” Ryan said. “I just think that when in doubt, that competitive spirit is going to come out, which is what’s going to lead to him being successful. I think no matter who gets the job or who gets the nod, I think Austin’s going to go full-force with all his heart and the best in him is going to come out when he’s in competition.”
Though Rivals ranked Austin as the fourth-best pro-style quarterback in his class, he isn’t even the most athletic member of his family.
That’s a title that belongs to Ryan — the 5-foot-10 kid who grew up playing lacrosse, soccer and football, excelling in all three.
The summer before his junior year of high school, Ryan broke his hand playing lacrosse, and he was forced to sit out most of the summer football workouts while Austin filled in under center.
Ryan was cleared to play just in time for the first game of the season, assuming his quarterback job while Austin went to the bench.
But after Ryan struggled in a 1-3 start to Cuthbertson’s season, assistant coach Nate Poole thought it might be time for a change. Poole and head coach Michael Roark met the Sunday after Cuthbertson’s loss to Rocky Ridge and initially decided to have Austin and Ryan split reps for the following game. Roark called Brian to fill him in on the plan.
But after a couple more hours of evaluating game film, Roark called Brian back. They were giving the quarterback job to Austin and moving Ryan to slot receiver full time.
Brian decided to let the boys find out from their coach at practice the next day.
The news didn’t go over well.
“All of a sudden,” Brian said, “you’re telling (Ryan), not only did you lose the job, but your little brother, the one that’s a 14-year-old freshman, is the one that beat you out.”
For the ultra-competitive Ryan, losing the job to Austin was tough to swallow.
Before high school, the pair played on the same football team but held different positions. While Ryan was always the quarterback, Austin bounced around from right tackle to linebacker before consistently playing quarterback in eighth grade.
But even before they had to fight for the same position, the pair, along with their younger brother, turned everyday games into fierce battles.
“We couldn’t even play a board game without people getting angry or trying to be the winner,” Ryan said.
“All three of us are very competitive in nature with everything.”
Every day during the first month of school, Ryan had driven his little brother home. But not after that fateful Monday’s football practice.
As Ryan walked through the door of the Kendall home that night, Brian’s phone rang. Austin was two miles away, still at school.
“That whole week, he didn’t take him home,” Brian said.
“I was feeling so bad for Ryan that I didn’t even push him. I just made arrangements to either have myself or my wife pick Austin up the rest of the week.”
Ryan sulked the whole week while the family gave him some space. But on Friday, things finally started to change.
On Austin’s first play as starting quarterback, he threw a quick screen pass. Ryan caught it and sprinted downfield for a first down.
It was the first of many catches for Ryan, who not only finished his high school career as a wide receiver, but also walked on at Kentucky at the same position.
It was also an auspicious start for Austin, who threw for 1,500 yards and 18 touchdowns that year and won a state championship with Charlotte Christian the next. Rated as a four-star pro-style quarterback, Austin initially committed to Tennessee before eventually flipping to the Sooners, where he backed up Baker Mayfield as a true freshman.
Now, coming off a redshirt season, he’s locked in another quarterback competition — this time with Murray.
“I don’t want to make it bigger than it is,” Austin said. “Both of us are coming out here and competing every day.”
Years removed from his own position battle with Austin, Ryan laughs talking about that tumultuous week. He doesn’t remember feeling quite so heated over the whole thing and doesn’t remember leaving his little brother at school.
“The way I saw it,” Ryan said, “it was kind of funny, we had a couple of receivers go down. So I looked at it as, well, we’ve got two great athletes. There’s no point in having one of us on the bench.
“He ended up being better than me.”