With less than two weeks before the season begins for the Oklahoma Sooners, they name Baker Mayfield, the transfer out of Texas Tech as their opening-week starting quarterback.
Mayfield beat out Trevor Knight and Cody Thomas for the starting job. Knight, a Junior, will be relegated to the backup spot after playing in nine games last season while Thomas, a sophomore, saw very little action last season and is the #3 guy on Bob Stoops’ depth chart. Stoops made the most robotic comments about the quarterback battle after Mayfield was announced as the week 1 starter.
It’s been a very tight battle among those three guys. Baker, Trevor and Cody have all made substantial progress, and I feel we can win with any of them.
Mayfield was the Big 12 offensive freshman of the year with Texas Tech in 2013, throwing for 2315 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He put in a transfer request last year but wasn’t granted a release by the Red Raiders to another Big 12 team despite never being on scholarship at the school.
The Sooners are coming off an 8-5 season including a humiliating loss in the Russell Athletic bowl. With a new offensive coordinator (Lincoln Riley), Mayfield will work in a new up-tempo, spread scheme which is probably not too different from the offense he played in at Texas Tech.