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Oklahoma football: OU is undisputed QBU, but how about other positions?

By Chip Rouse

PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after there is no penalty call on a pass during the second quarter in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CA - JANUARY 01: Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners reacts after there is no penalty call on a pass during the second quarter in the 2018 College Football Playoff Semifinal Game against the Georgia Bulldogs at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual at the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Given recent history, it’s hard to dispute that Oklahoma football is where quarterback prospects want to go to achieve greatness and prepare for NFL careers.

Over the past five years, Oklahoma has become the new Quarterback U of college football. And they’ve certainly got the numbers and the hardware to back up that claim.

In just the last four seasons, the Oklahoma quarterback position has produced:

  • Two Heisman Trophy winners and a Heisman runner-up,
  • Two No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks and three QBs starting in the NFL,
  • Two quarterbacks ranked No. 1 overall nationally in their recruiting classes and another ranked No. 2 in the 2023 class who is committed to the Sooners.

Additionally, second-year starting quarterback Spencer Rattler is a top preseason candidate for the 2021 Heisman Trophy.

But quarterback isn’t the only position where Oklahoma has a history of recruiting and developing some of the best players in the college game.

For the last several seasons, ESPN has produced an annual assessment and top-10 ranking of the schools that produce the most college football talent at every position. This year, they’ve added a special wrinkle, listing the “Mount Rushmore” at each position for the school that ranks No. 1 historically for the best all-around talent at that position.

The ESPN Stats and Information team bases its Position U assessment on a combination of college success, draft stock and NFL success.

We’ve already said Oklahoma is an easy choice for No. 1 at the quarterback position. The four Oklahoma quarterbacks most worthy of Mount Rushmore status, according to ESPN, are Baker Mayfield, Jack Mildren, Josh Heupel and Sam Bradford, with Mayfield  set apart as the best of the best.

For the most part, I agree with ESPN’s choice of the four greatest Sooner quarterbacks of all-time, with one notable exception.

Around this time a year ago, I posted an article revealing my own Mount Rushmore of Oklahoma quarterbacks I thought are the most representative to date of the Sooners storied football history.

My choice of the Mount Rushmore of OU quarterbacks differs by one

My choice of the four OU quarterbacks who should be carved in stone are, in no particular order: Mayfield, Mildren, Bradford and Steve Davis.

I understand ESPN’s choice of Mayfield, Mildren and Bradford: Mayfield a two-time walk-on who not only won a Heisman Trophy but was in the top four in the voting in two other years; Mildren is considered the Father of the Wishbone, and we all know what that meant for OU football in the Barry Switzer era; and Bradford averaged 400 passing years and four touchdowns over 21 games as Oklahoma quarterback, and in 2008 led an offense that averaged 51.1 points a game.

There is good rationale for Heupel, as well. He would be my first runner-up; just not my choice for the final spot among the four greatest OU quarterbacks.

Heupel, now a successful FBS head coach at Tennessee, led Oklahoma to its last undefeated season and most recent national championship in 2000 and was the field general who introduced the Air Raid offense to the Sooner attack in Bob Stoops’ first two seasons as the Sooners’ head coach.

Why I sided with Steve Davis over Josh Heupel is because the former quarterbacked two Oklahoma national championship teams in back-to-back seasons (1974 and 1975). His record in three seasons as the Sooner starting quarterback was an incredible 32-1-1. He is the NCAA record-holder for all-time winning percentage as a quarterback.

Davis was the starting quarterback in Barry Switzer’s first season as head coach. He was born in Louisiana, but grew up in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, the town made famous in John Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Grapes of Wrath.”

Davis died tragically in 2013, when the small airplane in which he was a passenger crashed in South Bend, Ind. He was 60 years old.

OU ranks in the top 10 all-time in seven other position groups

Quarterback isn’t the only position group, however, where Oklahoma is a producer of some of the best talent to ever play college football.

The Sooners finished in the top 10 in seven different position groups and in the top five in four. They were No. 3 in both running backs and wide receivers and No. 4 in the offensive line. Oklahoma was ranked No. 5 as the best running-back school, No. 3 for wide receivers and No. 4 for offensive linemen.

By contrast, Alabama also was ranked in the top 10 in seven position groups, but the Crimson Tide took the top spot in three positions: running back, offensive line and defensive line. Ohio State placed in the top 10 in eight positions groups, including No. 1 at defensive back. Clemson ranked in the top 10 at four positions, but no higher No. 5 for defensive line.

Most football experts agree that quarterback is the most important position on the field. That’s where the Sooners have made their mark since the turn of the century, and it appears they will be well served there for the next few years as they transition from the Big 12 to the powerhouse SEC.

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