Did Baker Mayfield get off easy from his February incident?

For the past two seasons, Baker Mayfield has been the model of leadership on the football field. No one on the Sooner roster plays with more heart and enthusiasm or works harder at trying to improve his game.

On an offseason weekend in February, however, Sooner fans were made aware of a very different, and not particularly becoming, side of the star they have been cheering for on football Saturdays the past two years.

In the early morning hours on Saturday, Feb. 25, the Oklahoma quarterback was arrested by Fayetteville, Ark., police on charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and fleeing.

If you’d like to review more of the details of the incident, you can click here and read the ESPN account of what happened on that regrettable early morning in northwest Arkansas.

Former Sooner head coach Bob Stoops said at the time of the incident that he was very disappointed in his quarterback, but indicated that any disciplinary measures would not be taken until the case was further along in the process.

Since that time, Mayfield has issued an official apology for his public misconduct and exercising poor judgement, and at an April 7 court date, his attorney issued a plea of not guilty on his client’s behalf.

On Thursday this week, OU officials revealed the disciplinary action that will be taken against the school’s All-Big 12 quarterback as a result of the February incident. Mayfield will be required to undergo an alcohol education program provided by the university and perform 35 hours of community service. That will include working with law enforcement, according to published reports.

The Sooner quarterback will serve out the internal punishment during the summer months in advance of the start of the fall semester.

Mayfield, in a statement issued by the OU athletic department after the disciplinary action was disclosed, reiterated, “I could not be more disappointed in my actions and the embarrassment they caused for my university and team.

Oklahoma Sooners Football

“I am anxious to fulfill the responsibilities that have been set,” Mayfield said, “and am continuing to dedicate myself to the high standard that everyone rightfully expects from someone in my position.”

The team punishment does not take the place of any punishment that will come out of the legal proceeding. The court case is still pending.

Questions undoubtedly will now be raised over whether the internal sanctions are too soft and should have more teeth. It is easy to wonder if the punishment might have been different if it were someone not as important to the Sooner football team as Mayfield.

OU will certainly deny that the Mayfield off-the-field incident is being addressed any differently than it would be had it been any other Sooner player, but appearances, rightly or wrongly, swing a bit differently.

Sooner fans, without question, are very happy to hear that the OU starting quarterback and team leader will not miss any playing time next season, but is that really the message you want to send to deter future players from comporting themselves in such an unacceptable and unbecoming manner.

Unfortunately, for those who are of the opinion that the Mayfield incident merited a stronger consequence, a precedent was already in place from just a year ago under Bob Stoops.

Cornerback Jordan Thomas, a key player on defense, was arrested in June 2016 with similar charges to that of Mayfield (public intoxication, interference). This was not the first incident involving Thomas, however. Despite that fact, Stoops handled the latter matter internally, the result of which was that Thomas did not miss any game time in 2017 as part of the disciplinary action.

Circling back to Mayfield, it should be pointed out that the February incident is a first-time occurrence as far as the Sooner starting quarterback is concerned. At no other time, before or since the incident, has Mayfield conducted himself in an inappropriate, and certainly not an unlawful, manner. At least nothing that we know about, which is generally a good thing.

Thomas’ circumstances, in retrospect, were much different.

I would suspect, however, that the situation with Mayfield would be handled much differently were there to be any recurrence.

Having said all of this, I do believe that the internal measures taken against the Sooner quarterback are just and reasonable, given all the facts that have been reported. And as a reminder, the legal system has yet to fully play out on this matter.

I would be very surprised if we hear or see anything but model behavior from Baker Mayfield for the  remainder of his time as a student athlete at Oklahoma.

All bets are off, though, if he leads the Sooners to a national championship in the coming season. I can assure you he won’t be the only one celebrating such an outcome.