From Walk-on to Heisman: Baker Mayfield is the Best Player in College Football

Baker Mayfield wins the 2017 Heisman Trophy during the Heisman Trophy Presentation on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017 in New York, NY. 
Todd J. Van Emst/Heisman Trust/Pool
#6 on your programs. #1 in the hearts of OU fans everywhere. And soon, #6 in Heisman Park, just across the street from Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, right next to Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Jason White and Sam Bradford.

On Saturday night, Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield solidified his legacy as one of the greatest players in college football history by winning the 2017 Heisman Trophy. His entire college career has been a long, wild ride, fueled by a chip on his shoulder the size of Norman.

Growing up in Austin, Texas, in the shadow of that ugly burnt orange, Baker Mayfield walked on at Texas Tech after only getting scholarship offers from Rice, FAU, and Washington State. As a walk-on freshman, Mayfield led Tech to a 5-0 record and a #24 ranking, but was injured against Kansas and lost the starting job to Davis Webb (currently backing up Eli Manning on the New York Giants, for whatever that's worth). When Baker felt like Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury wouldn't give him the starting job back, he decided to transfer to the university he was always a fan of: the University of Oklahoma.

According to NCAA rules, transferring players have to sit out one season before playing at a different Division I school, so Mayfield didn't get the chance to get on the field until 2015. He beat out Trevor Knight, the kid who inexplicably beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in 2013, to win the starting job, and he reintroduced himself to the college football world early: September 12, 2015, in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Down 17-3 to the Volunteers midway through the fourth quarter, Mayfield fed Semaje Perine and Sterling Shepard, and won the game 31-24 in double overtime. The statline wasn't the best: 19-39 passing for 187 yards, 3 TDs but 2 interceptions. But it was still a comeback win. "Sooner Magic" seemed to have returned.

Aside from a single loss to Texas, Mayfield and the Sooners barreled through the rest of the season's schedule, and got their first berth in the College Football Playoff. Baker managed to get a 17-16 lead at halftime against the Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl, but the offense sputtered, and Clemson beat OU in a bowl for the second straight year. A bittersweet ending, but a season that showed great promise.

After opening the 2016 season 1-2 with losses at Houston and at home to Ohio State, we got to see Baker's vengeful side, including an undefeated run through the Big 12, getting revenge on Texas and throwing for 545 yards and 7 TDs at Texas Tech (partly a dig at Kingsbury for not offering him a scholarship, but also because Mike Stoops's defense was somehow even worse last year than it was this year and the Sooners squeaked out a 66-59 win.) Mayfield then got invited to New York for the 2016 Heisman presentation, along with his best receiver, Dede Westbrook, and then scorched Auburn in the 2017 Sugar Bowl.

The Sooners started the 2017 season with high hopes, but a lot of questions. Longtime head coach Bob Stoops abruptly retired in June of 2017, and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley got to step up into the big office. A big challenge laid ahead in the second week of the year for Riley, Mayfield, and the Sooners: traveling to Columbus for a rematch with Ohio State. Most people would consider that a tough hill to climb. However, this game is the peak example of what should be referred to as the "Baker Mayfield Revenge Game" (trademark pending). A "Baker Mayfield Revenge Game" occurs whenever Mayfield plays against an opponent who:

  • Beat Mayfield in their most recent meeting
  • Snubbed Mayfield in some fashion during recruiting
  • Snubbed his fellow Sooners for awards or recognition
  • Disrespected Mayfield or his fellow Sooners in one form or another

In Ohio State's case, they were guilty of points 1 and 4. During their victory in Norman in 2016, the Buckeyes sung their alma mater on the field. Mayfield apparently took that slight personally (and I'd bet a good chunk of the team did as well), and his victory in Columbus resulted in what I think has been the defining moment of the season in all of college football so far:


I personally believe this is what Mayfield's statue in Heisman Park should be, btw.

For the rest of the season, the Sooners developed and kept a kind of swagger and bravado, and Oklahoma fans ate it up. Bear in mind, this is the school where Brian Bosworth (another Austin product, funny enough) provided this kind of attitude under Barry Switzer back in the mid-1980s. Sooner fans have always been inclined to embrace the anti-hero, within reason. (This can also apply indirectly to Oklahoman sports fans in general with Russell Westbrook, at least when his shot is working.)

Mayfield runs on pure disrespect, and he doesn't suffer a lack of confidence in his own abilities. His ongoing feuds with Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury and TCU coach Gary Patterson are entertaining sideshows. His attitude can rub some opposing fans or media members the wrong way, and not without reason sometimes. His arrest for public intoxication in Arkansas was a black mark and drew a lot of comparisons to Johnny Manziel. The infamous crotch grab against Kansas (arguably another "Baker Mayfield Revenge Game" due to the injury he suffered his freshman year at Tech) was not a good look, but between not shaking Mayfield's hand and trying to injure him repeatedly during the game, I can certainly understand Mayfield being legitimately angry and wanting to prove a point. If you play dirty against him or talk trash to him, you may regret it.

His playstyle is a bit of a mix of Drew Brees and Brett Favre, with an attitude like a young Jim McMahon. In his three seasons at OU, the Sooners have three straight Big 12 conference titles under two different head coaches, two berths in the College Football Playoff, a 26-2 record against Big 12 opponents, and a 34-5 overall record. It's easily one of the greatest runs for a QB in Sooners history, and it's not over yet. The disrespect may be coming to an end, though. Check out this Heisman victory margin:

I think at least some people outside of "Sooner Nation" respect him now.

Mayfield and the Sooners have a date against Georgia on New Year's Day in the Rose Bowl. A win in Pasadena sends OU to the national championship game in Atlanta to play either Clemson or Alabama, the teams that have dominated college football the last two seasons. I don't know about you guys, but I'm certainly up for a "Baker Mayfield Revenge Game" against Clemson for a national title. I'll make some bowl and NFL picks at some point when I have time, but if I were guessing as an impartial observer, I'd say Clemson-OU would be the most likely championship anyway.

Georgia is a good team with a great defense, and will be a huge test for Mayfield and the Sooners' offense. Don't try to tell them they can't do it, though. Hell, Baker's already beginning to refuel his disrespect gauge:




I would have thought autocorrect would have caught the extra "e" on "applaude", but yeah, this may not have been the wisest course of action by Georgia fans. Their team might be good enough to back up their fans' talk, but you know now that the Sooners are going to take that game seriously. 

We've got two more games left at max to enjoy Baker Mayfield in crimson and cream. No matter what happens in the Rose Bowl or in the playoff as a whole, Mayfield's legend has already been cemented at OU. Let's enjoy the coda, and see if he's got a couple more legends in him.

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Sadly, not everything is coming up roses (pun intended) in Soonerland. Breakout running back Rodney Anderson has been accused of rape-by-instrumentation, though he did pass a polygraph test on the accusations. This story is going to develop for a while and could become a major story as we get closer to New Year's. If these accusations are true, then I think OU may need to cut ties with Anderson, but no charges have been filed yet. Given the murky way the Joe Mixon incident was handled by OU, they really don't have any room to wiggle on this. He's still innocent until proven guilty, but Riley needs to be ready to do what must be done if these accusations are proven true.

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As of this writing (12:07 PM CST, December 10), the Bucs (4-8) just began their Week 14 NFL game against the Detroit Lions. A season that started with an HBO series and a lot of potential has fizzled down to nothing. My theory was originally that if head coach Dirk Koetter and quarterback Jameis Winston could rebound and finish 6-10 on the year, that they'd have one more bite at the apple next season. However, apparently Koetter and Winston may not be getting along:


If things keep going like they are, Koetter's probably going to get the axe on New Year's Day after the regular season ends. It may be happening anyway if the Glazers side with Winston over Koetter. With former coach Jon Gruden sending signals about wanting to return to coaching and still living in Tampa, that may be something we see. I was ambivalent about Gruden comeback rumors--he's been out of coaching for a decade--but he managed to get a Super Bowl in Tampa with Brad Johnson at quarterback. Give him a solid defensive coordinator to revamp that system and keep Gruden from having sole control over personnel, and I think he might be able to build something great again in the 813...or he'll flame out, get into public arguments with Winston on the field, and be fired in two years like every other coach the Bucs have had since we fired Gruden in the first place.

(Update: Game tied 7-7 with 2:35 left in the first quarter, Bucs linebacker Lavonte David just recovered a fumble on the Bucs' side of midfield. Promising!)

---

The Thunder continue to be confusing. After winning three in a row at home last week, the team traveled to Mexico City and blew a 20-point lead against the Brooklyn Nets. They then flew back to the US for a Saturday night game in Memphis and flipped the script, going down by 20 in the first half and then roaring back to win, 102-101 in overtime. Paul George is still injured with an calf contusion and is day-to-day. Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony did not play great games last night, shooting a combined 14-49 and 3-18 from beyond the three-point line. Woof. However, Steven Adams and Alex Abrines took over that game and put them over the top, and Russ actually drove into the paint to force a foul and shoot the go-ahead free throws to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. This was not an especially encouraging win, since the Grizzlies are playing even worse than OKC right now, but it's still OKC's fourth win in the last five games, and their first win on the road since Halloween night. They may be on the verge of turning it around, with Charlotte coming to town on Monday night and a chance to get back to .500, but they need to play a lot more consistently to completely right the ship.

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The Lightning continue their winning ways, beating a solid Winnipeg team in overtime, 4-3. Brayden Point's game-winning goal keeps the Bolts' momentum going. They're already 5 points clear of Toronto for the Atlantic division lead, and still have the best record in hockey right now. They've got a big tilt in St. Louis on Tuesday night at 7 PM CST, and the Blues are every bit as good as the Bolts lately. That's gonna be a hard one, but it'll be on national TV! I'm not impressed with NBCSN's announcer crews, but at least it gives me a change to watch Bolts games in OKC.

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I do need to get back on and write more often. If you actually enjoy my writing, pester me and tell me to do it more regularly. See you guys soon.

-AJ

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