All systems are go for Oklahoma football this fall. The Sooners are set at the most important position – quarterback. That is, for as long as Baker Mayfield stays healthy.
In truth, Oklahoma is well stocked at the quarterback position with Heisman candidate Mayfield at the controls, but the problem is, should an injury or something unexpected happen to the Sooner starting QB that would prevent him from playing, the Sooners have no depth behind him – not in 2016, anyway.
It certainly wasn’t planned that way, but with the departures after last season of backup signal-callers Trevor Knight and Cody Thomas, the cupboard has been left bare insofar as having anyone with college game experience available to come in and replace Mayfield.
Former starting quarterback Knight, whose claim to fame was coming out of his shoes one January night in 2014 to throw for an improbable 400-plus yards and four touchdowns in an earth-shattering Sugar Bowl upset of mighty Alabama, never really lived up to expectations in the starter’s role in three seasons at Oklahoma.
Relegated to backup duty, Knight chose to play out his college eligibility elsewhere in 2016 and transferred to Texas A&M, which had two quarterbacks leave the program after last season, one of which, Kyler Murray, is now at OU, but won’t be eligible to play for the Sooners until the 2017 season.
Thomas saw duty at the QB position in seven of 13 games for the Sooners in 2014 as a redshirt freshman and started in three games for the injured Knight. He was No. 3 on the depth chart last season, behind Mayfield and Knight, and saw very limited duty, appearing in only three games total.
At the end of last season, Thomas, who also played baseball at Oklahoma but sat out the 2015 season to concentrate on just one sport, elected to retire from college football and return to the baseball diamond, which turned about to be a prudent decision. Following a highly productive baseball season, trading in his No. 14 football jersey for a Sooner baseball uniform, the former OU quarterback was drafted in the 13th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers with the 401st overall pick.
Thomas, who was an outfielder playing for Oklahoma, reportedly signed last week with the Dodgers.
What that does is leave head coach Bob Stoops and offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley with only true freshman Austin Kendall behind Mayfield. The North Carolina native was a highly recruited high school quarterback who was rated as a four-star prospect by Rivals, Scout and ESPN, but he is still a raw talent who has not taken one snap at the college level.
This is a troubling scenario for a team that is billed coming into the 2016 season as the Big 12 favorite and a national championship contender, largely because of its explosive offensive attack. The quarterback position, without question, is the trigger and the key to the Sooners’ success on offense.
Mayfield is a gritty and tough kid who doesn’t go down easily, but it is because of that and his off-the-charts competitiveness that he too often puts himself in harms way.
Given the Sooners’ obvious vulnerability at the backup quarterback position going into the 2016 season, look for Mayfield to be under strict instructions to dial back some of his unprotected quarterback runs and heed the slide rule much more noticeably than in the past.
It’s not only in Mayfield’s best interest to do so, but the Sooners’, as well.