Big 12 football 2018 preview: Breakout stars, biggest games, predictions

Baker Mayfield is gone but the Big 12 has plenty of star power but will that result in one of the league’s teams making the College Football Playoff?

Long known for its offensive firepower–and lack of quality defense–the Big 12 enters the 2018 season in a state of uncertainty.

The loss of several the league’s top passers means most of the top teams have question marks at the sport’s most important position.

Oklahoma–again considered the favorite–enters the season without Heisman trophy winner and no. 1 pick in the NFL draft Baker Mayfield. The Sooners will try to replace Mayfield with Kyler Murray, a two-sport athlete who was drafted with the 9th pick in the MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics and has already decided to play baseball after his last year as a college football player.

Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph, TCU’s Kenny Hill, and Texas Tech’s Nic Shimonek have also moved on. Texas and Kansas State couldn’t settle on one starting quarterback throughout the 2017 season, and that uncertainty has continued into 2018. Iowa State brings back starter Kyle Kempt, but he needs to make a sizable improvement to be considered as one of the conference’s top passers.

The one premier starting quarterback returning to the league was named the Big 12 preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Offensive Player of the Year – Will Grier, QB, West Virginia

With the rest of the conference’s top quarterbacks off to the NFL, Grier decided to return to the college level as the Big 12’s top passer. Grier threw for 3,490 yards in 2017, good for 20th in the nation, despite missing two games and the large majority of a third.

Grier was extremely consistent running Dana Holgorsen’s offense, throwing for at least 285 yards in all 10 games he finished. The Mountaineers couldn’t overcome the loss of their leader, as they went 7-3 in those 10 games but lost all three of their games without him.

Grier’s college career has seen its ups and downs. It began at Florida in 2014, competing for the starting quarterback job. He redshirted that year and was embroiled in another competition in 2015. A few games after he cemented his place as the starter, he was suspended for one year by the NCAA for using performance-enhancing drugs.

Grier then decided to transfer and announced the next Spring West Virginia would be his next stop. He sat out the 2016 season as a transfer and entered the 2017 season as the starter.

He enters the 2018 season on the Davey O’Brien Award (nation’s best quarterback) watch list, and also among the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy.

Also in consideration for the Big 12’s top offensive player are Grier’s favorite target, West Virginia wide receiver David Sills V, and running backs Justice Hill from Oklahoma State, Rodney Anderson from Oklahoma, and David Montgomery from Iowa State, who Pro Football Focus ranks as the third-best player returning to college football.