What the Baker Mayfield Eligibility Ruling Means for OU Football
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is good to go for two more seasons at OU, but with an option in the second year.
You see, the former Texas Tech transfer and presumptive Heisman Trophy watch candidate in the coming season, was going to be able to play two more seasons of college football regardless of whichever way the vote on how the transfer rule should apply to walk-ons came out.
When the Big 12 Faculty Area Representatives failed on Wednesday to reach enough votes to overturn the existing rule requiring student athletes who transfer from one Big 12 school to another in the same conference to sit out the following season and lose a year of eligibility, it appeared to be a done deal, leaving Mayfield with just one more season playing football at Oklahoma.
Even though Mayfield was a walk-on at Texas Tech and was never offered a scholarship while he was enrolled at the school – which is the crux of the entire issue – Oklahoma and the Big 12, in essence, were the two biggest victims of the initial decision this week at the Big 12 meeting in Irving, Texas, to leave the interpretation and application of the ruling as is.
Mayfield would only have been affected in where he would be able to play in 2017, assuming it would be his choice to continue playing college football behind the 2016 season. Under the terms of the transfer rule, as it was originally put in place, the Sooner quarterback and last season’s Sporting News Player of the Year would have been eligible to play just one more season at Oklahoma. Because he is schedule to graduate in the spring of 2017, however, he would be permitted to transfer to another school and continue playing in 2017 as long as it is not another Big 12 school.
There has been no indication that Mayfield would have pursued that opportunity to transfer again in order to be eligible to play one more year of college football with another school should things have remained as they were after Big 12 officials voted down amending the handling of non-recruited walk-ons within the transfer rule.
Moreover, there is nothing stopping him if he wants to leave Oklahoma anyway after the 2016 season, regardless of the rule change that now allows him to stay at OU for both the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
The news that Sooners could now have the services of the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year extending through the 2017 season got an extra boost when the news came out on Friday that the conference was restoring its championship game in football commencing with the 2017 season.
Considering all the options open to Mayfield as he contemplates his future in college football, I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t remain at Oklahoma for the 2017 season should he not elect to declare for the NFL Draft.
That’s the logical conclusion, anyway, especially when he takes into consideration all that Oklahoma school officials have done in fighting on his behalf, first seeking a waiver that would restore Mayfield’s lost year of eligibility and, when that failed, proposing a change to the transfer rule pertaining to non-recruited walk-ons. Also, don’t discount the fact that Sooner starting QB grew up rooting for Oklahoma, which is a risky proposition when you are from a town near Austin, Texas.
The Sooners are already on their way to assembling a highly ranked recruiting class for 2017, but Mayfield’s availability for 2017 definitely tops the list.
The ball now appears to be in Mayfield’s court. What he decides to do about 2017 could easily have a bearing on what other talented Sooner players – the names Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon quickly come to mind – who might be thinking about leaving school to declare for the NFL Draft ultimately decide about their future.
And something else to keep in mind. Former Texas A&M quarterback Kyler Murray made the decision to transfer to Oklahoma in part, I’m sure, with the understanding that 2016 would be Mayfield’s final season of eligibility. Murray must sit out the 2016 season (he was under scholarship at A&M) but will be eligible to play two seasons with the Sooners. How the potential change in Mayfield’s time at OU will impact Murray remains to be determined.
For those of you who dare to dream, how about this: “Baker Mayfield Wins the Heisman Trophy – Third OU Quarterback Under Bob Stoops to Claim the College Football’s Most Coveted Prize.”
If the talented quarterback who grew up in the shadow of the University of Texas and made his way to Oklahoma by way of Texas Tech plays with the passion and purpose he displayed in his first season as a Sooner last fall, he is sure to be on the radar screen of the Heisman voters, and then, who knows?