Mack Brown Says Baker Mayfield-Lincoln Riley Duo Will Be Special for Sooners
By Chip Rouse
Add former Texas head coach-turned-college-football-broadcast-analyst Mack Brown to the budding list of folks who believe the Oklahoma Sooners are going to be a better team this coming season than many people think. He believes the tandem of Lincoln Riley and Baker Mayfield will be just the spark the Sooners have been looking for on offense.
Brown spoke with reporters in a conference call on Wednesday and was asked by the Oklahoma City Oklahoman his impressions of the Sooners new offensive coordinator Riley as well as OU’s recently named starting quarterback Mayfield, whom the former Longhorn head coach witnessed first hand while in the head coach’s position at Texas.
“I think Baker already has proven himself,” Brown said. Everybody thought his success in high school at Lake Travis in Austin was more the result of the system he played in, so he didn’t receive the big-time scholarship offers he was hoping for, related Brown, who was the Texas head coach for 16 seasons from 1998 through 2013.
“Lincoln Riley is a guy that every head coach in America had on his list as a possible hire.” —Mack Brown, former Texas Longhorn head coach
Mayfield walked on at Texas Tech and won the first seven games. “Then it didn’t work out for him and he transferred to Oklahoma, and I’m not surprised for him to step up and be named the starter,” Brown said.
“Baker is a very good passer. he is a very accurate passer and also can make plays with his feet. I think he gives Oklahoma a chance to be right in the mix in the Big 12.”
As for the addition of Riley as the Sooners’ new offensive coordinator, Brown described him as “one of the great young coordinators in the country (and) a guy that every head coach in America had on his list as a possible hire. The fact that he ran that (same) offense at Texas Tech that Baker Mayfield is very, very comfortable with gave Baker a better opportunity to take (the quarterback job).
“I think you’re going to see a great combination with Lincoln Riley and Baker Mayfield moving forward,” Brown said.
As a matter of full disclosure, Brown’s 41 years in college football coaching included one season (1984) as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma under head coach Barry Switzer.