Baker Mayfield the starter.....

[Wheat]

BREAKING: Mayfield to be named starting QB

 

[Wheat]

OU football: Baker Mayfield to be named Sooners starting quarterback


NORMAN — Baker Mayfield has done it again.

Mayfield, who walked on first at Texas Tech and then at Oklahoma, will be the Sooners’ starting quarterback for the Sept. 5 season opener against Akron, according to sources close to the program.





Mayfield beat out the two quarterbacks who started games last year for OU—junior Trevor Knight and sophomore Cody Thomas.

Mayfield walked on for the Sooners in January 2013 and looked unlikely to ever be able to breakthrough and earn playing time, much less to become a starter.

Knight was coming off a spectacular performance in a Sugar Bowl win over Alabama, Blake Bell was still a quarterback and Kendal Thompson had not yet transferred to Utah.

Mayfield seemed a natural fit for Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid offense, having ran a similar system both at Tech and in high school at Lake Travis, Texas.

Riley tried to recruit Mayfield to East Carolina after Mayfield announced his decision to leave the Red Raiders.

But Mayfield was set on joining the Sooners.

Despite growing up in the Austin area, Mayfield grew up an OU fan and frequently made trips to Norman to watch the team early in the Bob Stoops era.

“Maybe the strangest thing that’s ever happened in my coaching career,” Stoops said recently of Mayfield’s arrival. “I heard the rumors he’s transferring to Oklahoma and I never talked to the guy. He’s never called to ask if he could. If I said no he might be in a fraternity over here playing yard ball.”



More Mayfield from NewsOK

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Hype and Hope: Baker Mayfield is the latest quarterback to make headlines before ever taking a snap

Baker Mayfield making quite an impression



Mayfield become the first walk-on to start a season opener at quarterback for a Power Five conference school when he earned the starting job at Texas Tech in 2013.

He started seven games for the Red Raiders, throwing for 2,315 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions that season, earning Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year honors.

In the season opener against SMU, Mayfield threw for 413 yards and four touchdowns and completed 43 of 60 passes. He also ran for another touchdown.

After the regular season, with Michael Brewer and Davis Webb also earning significant playing time, Mayfield decided to transfer and quickly settled on walking on to Oklahoma.

He appealed for immediate eligibility but instead spent last season as a scout-team star for the Sooners.

The Sooners were able to place Mayfield on scholarship in the spring. Because he transferred inside the conference, Mayfield lost a season of eligibility.

Knight struggled to find consistency last season. He threw critical interceptions in virtually all of Oklahoma’s losses.

He suffered an injury late in the loss to Baylor and was replaced for the last three games by Thomas, who struggled as well, though without Sterling Shepard available for the most part.

 

[B_dub]

 

[outofyourmind]

I feel like this is good news. I saw him when he started at TT and was impressed.
I just never felt like Knight made the best decisions but how much of that was Heupel I can't tell you. He certainly made quite a few unforced errors.

Hope Mayfield can stay healthy.

Do we need to change our Banner up top yet???

 

[sooner78wakeboard]

I think this is going to be a great fit. Yeah, I am an optomist when it comes to Sooner football. After the last couple of games my attitude was different but now with a new season, I can't help but be excited.

One thing I was thinking about TK9, is that the guy was a two year starter (yeah there were injuries) but he never really got better.

 

[occupant]

His first start:

 

[occupant]

Texas Tech Passing
...............C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT QBR
B. Mayfield 43/60.. 413 6.9 ...4 ..0 ..76.2

 

[B_dub]

Herbie must be a Mayfield fan. Picked OU to make it to the CF playoffs.

 

[occupant]

He had some stinker games too...

I hope that his time on the practice squad has helped him to develop. I'm sure that the defenses he is facing now in practices is much better than what we've had recently.