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Baker Mayfield’s legacy can reach legendary status with Heisman Trophy win

By Patrick Schmidt

NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to throw against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - NOVEMBER 11: Quarterback Baker Mayfield #6 of the Oklahoma Sooners looks to throw against the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on November 11, 2017 in Norman, Oklahoma. Oklahoma defeated TCU 38-20. (Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /
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A Heisman Trophy win will cement Baker Mayfield’s legacy as one of college football’s all-time greats.

It’s been a long and winding path to the Heisman Trophy ceremony for Oklahoma redshirt senior quarterback Baker Mayfield. He’s expected to win the Heisman Trophy at the Downtown Athletic Club on Saturday night in front of a crowd of former Heisman winners and fellow finalists, Bryce Love and Lamar Jackson, last year’s winner. Mayfield has a chance to have the largest margin of victory for any Heisman winner, and that will cement his legacy as one of the greatest college quarterbacks of all time.

Mayfield’s college career began at Texas Tech where he walked on to Kliff Kingsbury’s team after Rice, New Mexico and Florida Atlantic were the only programs courting him on the recruiting trail. After Michael Brewer was injured before the season opener, Mayfield made history as a true freshman walk-on starting the season opener. He held his own too and through the first five games of the season looked primed to be the next prolific passer for the Red Raiders.

That didn’t happen after Mayfield was injured and slowly slid down the depth chart as the memory of him lighting up the scoreboard in the first month of the season began to fade away. He did return for the final two games of the season, both losses, but when he didn’t receive a scholarship offer in the spring, Mayfield knew it was time to seek a new opportunity.

With future NFL Draft picks Davis Webb and Patrick Mahomes, a future top-10 pick, starting by 2014, Mayfield knew he had to find a new home, and it was a bit of a bumpy ride to Oklahoma. Initially, transfer rules made things ugly for Mayfield. NCAA and Big 12 rules said Mayfield would be ineligible his first year and he’d lose a year of eligibility by transferring within the conference. Eventually, that rule was overturned and Mayfield was able to play in 2017, the year that would cement his legacy as one of the game’s greats.

Mayfield put up prodigious numbers at Oklahoma and finished in the top five of the Heisman vote the previous two seasons. He wasn’t a serious contender to win those years, but this year, it’s been an inevitability for much of November that Mayfield would be the one hoisting the bronze statue on Dec. 9. This three-year stretch is one of the best ever seen in college football and with three finishes in the top 5 of the Heisman vote, Mayfield has joined elite company.

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Mayfield is the first with three finishes in the top five of voting since Florida’s Tim Tebow and joins Herschel Walker, Archie Griffin, Doak Walker, Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard in Heisman lore. These represent some of the legends of the sport and Mayfield has his name mentioned alongside theirs.

That’s not too shabby for a former three-star recruit who had next to zero interest from colleges as a recruit. When Mayfield is announced as the Heisman winner on Saturday, he’ll represent the latest example of perseverance and resiliency that cemented his place among the game’s greats.

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