Oklahoma football: Ranking the Sooners’ six Heisman winners
By Chip Rouse
No. 1 – Baker Mayfield, 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, OU quarterback (2015-17)
Baker Mayfield’s three-year career at Oklahoma, after walking on at OU as a Texas Tech transfer, has been nothing short of spectacular.
The Sooners are 34-5 with Mayfield as the starting quarterback and have won three consecutive conference championships. His head coach, Lincoln Riley, call him the best player he has ever coached or had the opportunity to be around. And Mayfield’s college career is still going. The Sooners are in the College Football Playoff for the second time in three seasons, and Mayfield has been the quarterback both times.
College football experts were conceding the 2017 Heisman to the Oklahoma quarterback with three games to go in the regular season. And their premonition was a good one. Mayfield received 86 percent of the Heisman vote. Only three other Heisman winners had a higher percentage (Marcus Mariotta, 2014, 90.9 percent; Troy Smith, 2006, 91.6; Reggie Bush, 2005, 91.8).
Mayfield leads the nation this season in completion percentage (.710), passing efficiency (16.56), yards per completed pass (203.8), and passing plays over 20 yards (82). His 2017 passing efficiency mark is an all-time NCAA best, bettering the mark of 196.4 he set last season. His career total yards of offense (15,402) and passing touchdowns (29) rank sixth in NCAA history, and his career passing yards (14,320) is 10th best in NCAA Division I history).
Mayfield is one of three Oklahoma Sooners to earn unanimous First-Team All-America status (meaning he is a first-team selection on all five All-America teams that make up the NCAA consensus team for 2017). In addition to the Heisman, the Sooner quarterback is the Associated Press Player of the Year, the Walter Camp Player of the Year, the winner of the Maxwell Award as college football’s most outstanding player and the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.
If Mayfield is able to accomplish his personal goal of leading the Sooners to an eighth national championship, he will be only the second of the Sooners’ six Heisman winners to play on a national championship Oklahoma team.
Wouldn’t that be a great way to begin the new year.