Baker Mayfield still raking in postseason awards
By Chip Rouse
They’re probably going to have to add anew wing onto to the Mayfield residence in Austin, Texas, just to house all of the postseason honors that have been conferred on now-former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield has been packing in the awards like no other since the end of the 2017 regular season, including the biggest individual prize of all: the Heisman Trophy. The Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and, by most counts, the national player of the year has played his last college football game, but apparently he is not through receiving college football honors.
In the last week, Mayfield has added to what is already an extensive collection of awards recognizing his outstanding 2017 season. He has been announced as the winner of the 2017 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award as well as the Manning Award.
The Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award is presented to the top offensive player in college football who exhibits integrity, performance, teamwork, sportsmanship, drive, community and tenacity. The recipient must also have been born in Texas or graduated from a Texas high school and/or played at a Texas-based junior college or four-year college.
In winning the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award, Mayfield beat out J.T. Barrett of Ohio State, USC running back Ronald Jones II, Auburn quarterback Jarett Stidham and Oklahoma State wide receiver James Washington.
The latest honor to come Mayfield’s way, announced Thursday morning, is the Manning Award. Created to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning, quarterbacks all, the award is the only quarterback honor that takes into account a candidates postseason bowl performance before the balloting takes place.
Mayfield led the Football Bowl Subdivision this past season with an NCAA-record 198.9 passing efficiency rating, completion percentage (70.5), points responsible for (296) and yards per pass attempt (11.5), and consecutive games with two or more touchdown passes (27).
For his career at Oklahoma, Mayfield was 34-6 as the Sooner starting quarterback.
The Oklahoma quarterback’s awards this year include the Heisman, the Maxwell Award, the Davey O’Brien Award, a unanimous All-America selection as well as the Associated Press, Sporting News and Walter Camp Player of the Year
Mayfield will play for the North team in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 27.