Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Baker Mayfield Could Still Be a Sooner Beyond Next Fall

By Chip Rouse

Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) throws against Clemson Tigers linebacker Ben Boulware (10) during the second quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) throws against Clemson Tigers linebacker Ben Boulware (10) during the second quarter of the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Orange Bowl at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Oklahoma is being considered a legitimate contender to return to the College Football Playoff in 2016 largely because of the return of quarterback Baker Mayfield for his final season – or will it be?

Nov 21, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs with the ball past TCU Horned Frogs safety Travin Howard (32) during the first half at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 21, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs with the ball past TCU Horned Frogs safety Travin Howard (32) during the first half at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /

This week in Dallas, Big 12 presidents will vote on a rule change that could return the year of eligibility that the Sooner quarterback lost when he transferred to Oklahoma from Texas Tech after his freshman season.

Future expansion will be the hottest topic on the agenda of Big 12 officials when they get together in Dallas this week, but the rule that requires all transfers to sit out a season when they transfer to another school within the conference is also on the agenda to be revisited.

A year ago at this time, the same group voted to deny Oklahoma’s request to wave the rule in the case of Mayfield and return the year of eligibility he lost in 2014 when he enrolled at Oklahoma and walked on the football team.

OU’s argument was that Mayfield walked on to play football at Texas Tech and was not recruited to play at the school. He subsequently also requested permission to join the Sooner football team as a walk on when he first arrived in Norman.

Mayfield was the first player to walk on at Texas Tech and start at quarterback as a freshman in the team’s first game of the season. The current Sooner signal caller started the first five games of the 2013 season for the Red Raiders. In eight games that season, he passed for 2,315 yards and threw 12 touchdown passes.

After the 2013 season, Mayfield said that Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury informed him that there would be open competition for the quarterback the following season between Mayfield and two other Red Raider QBs. There also was no indication, according to Mayfield, that the Red Raiders were going to offer him a scholarship.

Sep 19, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs for a touchdown against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane during the first quarter at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 19, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs for a touchdown against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane during the first quarter at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

Even after his transfer to Oklahoma, it was widely reported by ESPN.com and others that Texas Tech purposely dragged its feet about granting Mayfield his full release.

The 2015 Big 12 Player of the Year and the Sporting News National Player of the Year, Mayfield started all 13 games for the Sooners last season and led them to the 11th 11-win season in Bob Stoops’ 17 seasons as head coach. Mayfield’s 3,700 passing yards, 36 passing touchdowns and 405 additional yards rushing led Oklahoma to an appearance in the College Football Playoff, where they lost to Clemson in the national semifinals.

Mayfield’s decision to transfer to Oklahoma came immediately after QB Trevor Knight’s Most Valuable Player performance in the Sooners 2014 Sugar Bowl win over mighty Alabama. Knight struggled with inconsistency and injury in the 2014 season and never lived up to his career performance in the Sugar Bowl win.

Knight lost out to Mayfield in the quarterback competition to begin OU’s 2015 season and after the season announced that he was transferring to Texas A&M.

Mayfield definitely will have one more season in a Sooner jersey. And it could be two more if Big 12 officials see fit this week to change the rule regarding transfers so that it would apply only to those student athletes who are on scholarship in their specific sport and allow non-recruited walk-ons to make the move without losing a year of eligibility.

Sooner fans are hopeful that the narrow crack in the door regarding Mayfield’s chances of playing more than two seasons at Oklahoma swings wide open this week. For that to happen, however, it will require a simple majority vote in favor of the rule change by the conference’s Faculty Athletics Representatives.

Home/OU Football