NORMAN — Spring drills are underway at The University of Oklahoma and OU will have a 2021 spring game at 4 p.m. on April 24.

The game will be televised by Fox Sports Oklahoma.

Like last season, attendance will be limited to 25% of the stadium capacity. Tickets went on sale March 25 for season ticket holders and if any tickets are left, they will be available to the public beginning  April 5. Student tickets are free and claims for those 2,428 tickets will begin April 19.

For information, call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 405-325-2424.

OU’s pregame fan festival held on the lawn immediately north of the stadium will run from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Many of the usual Party at the Palace elements will be featured the day of the spring game, including a variety of food trucks and music.

The 2021 spring game announcers will be Toby Rowland, Dusty Dvoracek and Jessica Coody announcing.

OU coach Lincoln Riley met with the media last week and expressed his displeasure with football players who have immediate eligibility when they transfer from one Big 12 school to another.

TCU coach Gary Patterson revealed in March that OU has not released former quarterback Chandler Morris for immediate eligibility. Morris played for OU last season.

“I would first say on it, you know, this particular situation for us is about something that we believe in,” Riley said. “Myself, the leadership here at OU, we think it’s unhealthy for college football to encourage intraconference transfers. Now, that doesn’t mean that we’re against people being able to transfer at other institutions, any other institution we want. I think that rule obviously has been changed, and I think it was a good rule to change, and now players have the ability and freedom, as they should, to be able to go to any school they want.

“But I do think the intraconference can complicate things, and I think the world of coaches understand the big picture and understand all that’s going to bring along a lot of negatives that I just know that we want in this game.”

Riley said this has been a consistent policy for the OU coaches.

“That’s something that we’ve been adamantly opposed to for a long time,” Riley said. “I mean, I get the landscape is changing. We’re certainly watching that, and we’ll adapt as the world changes. But this has nothing to do with the person Chandler Morris. Chandler Morris did a tremendous job here. He’s a terrific young man. He’s got a great family. Sure, I hated to see him go. You never want players to leave your program. But I know he’s going to a good program there with Coach Patterson. And I really do, I wish the kid all the best.”

Former OU tight end Jalin Conyers got a release from Riley who decided to transfer to Arizona State – a member of the Pac-12 Conference.

“To illustrate the point, I had another freshman in the same class that left and went to a Pac 12 school, and we released him right away for the same reason,” Riley said. “Just I don’t believe that you ought to be able to transfer in conference and be immediately eligible to play. I think we’ve got to discourage that.

“Again, doesn’t mean you can’t choose to go to another school, go to any school you want. That’s your freedom, and we get it. Now, how long will that last? I mean, obviously that’s kind of a fluid situation right now. A lot of those decisions are being made, and we’ve made the choice to take a step back to see how all this unfolds on a national level, on a conference level, and we’re certainly going to be open-minded about it.”

A player who transfers and plays immediately could be a disruption, especially a backup quarterback who had access to his former team’s playbook and schemes.

“I know there have been a lot of positive rule changes, again, guys being able to transfer wherever they want I think being one of them, that have helped the game and have helped athletes, and I’m 1,000% for that,” Riley said. “But I also, when there’s something that we believe is going to make the game worse, I don’t want to just do the politically correct thing every single time and just sit back and say OK.”

Three of OU’s last four starting quarterbacks transfered but the only one who came from within the Big 12 was Baker Mayfield from Texas Tech. And Mayfield sat out one year before being eligible to play for OU.

If immediately eligible, Morris would compete with TCU quarterback Max Duggan for the starting job. Duggan has started for two years but has been sharply criticized at times.

“He’s our guy right now,” Patterson said of Duggan. “Outside of popular belief, everybody told me that Trevon Boykin wasn’t very good, that’s what I heard all the time. That was through his sophomore year. We’re pretty excited. I think he squatted 630-pounds the other day. For a quarterback, that’s not bad. We’ve got a chance.”

Morris appeared in five games for OU as a true freshman in 2020, completing 3-of-5 passes for 39 yards, while rushing for 44 yards and two touchdowns on five carries. Morris scored a touchdown during the Sooners’ Big 12 Championship Game win over Iowa State.

Morris was a three-star recruit and was ranked as the No. 448 overall prospect and No. 18 dual-threat quarterback in the country for the 2020 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. He was also the No. 61 player in Texas. TCU originally offered Morris a scholarship during his recruitment.

Morris is the son of former Arkansas coach Chad Morris. Chandler Morris originally committed to the Razorbacks but decommitted and went to OU.