Oklahoma football: Three former Sooner QBs start and star in NFL Week 1
By John Makuch
Oklahoma football history is not star-studded with players who have gone on to accomplished NFL careers at the quarterback position — not, that is, until the last decade.
In the last 10 years, three Oklahoma quarterbacks have been awarded the Heisman Trophy and other was a runner-up in the Heisman voting. Three of the four also were No. 1 overall picks in the NFL Draft. And OU’s real rise to fame at the quarterback spot has been a product of the last three years, the time during which Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts embarked on their NFL careers.
Over this past weekend, in the first week of the 2021 NFL season, Mayfield, Murray and Hurts all started the season opener for their respective teams and all performed extremely
Some NFL fans may be surprised that these three former OU quarterbacks have done as well for themselves and their teams at the professional level, but those who follow Oklahoma football have always known what special talents these players possess and how good they could be at the next level.
At Oklahoma, there is a great expectation that the man under center will be reliable, a team leader, able to fight through adversity and able to step up when the team needs them.
This creates solid NFL talent as coach Lincoln Riley prepares his players to be ready for the spotlight, and step up and perform as leaders on and off the football field.
The QB trio of Mayfield, Murray and now Hurts have helped make their NFL teams better than when they arrived, and that’s the most you can ask of any player at any position, but particularly at a position as important as quarterback.
Quarterbacks and Oklahoma have made a strong name for themselves in recent seasons, which is why since Lincoln Riley arrived OU in 2015, the Sooners have become known as “Quarterback U” because of the quality of quarterbacks recruited and produced by Oklahoma.
Back-to-back-to-back Heisman winners is something that no other school has done with quarterbacks, and Oklahoma may have another Heisman winner in waiting in Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams.
But that is a conversation for another day. Today, we recognize the Week 1 NFL performances of now, time to get into the performances of three of the last four Oklahoma starting quarterbacks.