'A dream come true' for Mayfield (part 1)

[milesl]

http://oklahoma.247sports.com/Articl...neman-39070432





NORMAN, Okla. — It’s rare that a player outwardly shows so much appreciation and truly understands what it means to hold such a major position at the college level.

Serving as quarterback at The University of Oklahoma happens to be one of those positions.

It’s special.

Heisman Trophy winners have done it.

National Championship-winning stars have done it.

And new OU starting quarterback Baker Mayfield knows that.

He grew up watching the likes of Jason White and Josh Heupel. He recalls wearing a No. 22 Quentin Griffin jersey while running around as a little kid outside the area that is now the Everest Training Center.

This opportunity and privilege is not lost on him.

In many ways, one almost gets the feeling this is sort of surreal for Mayfield he appreciates it so much.

“It puts a smile on my face,” Mayfield said. “You know, it’s a dream come true coming out from when I used to tailgate right here on this patch of grass right here, throw the ball around in a Quentin Griffin jersey, watch Jason White and Mark Clayton play.

“So it’s a dream come true to be able to go out there and play on the field that they did and be able to try to replicate, duplicate what they did on that field.”

It’s been a long time coming for him, too.
The early days

Mayfield was never the biggest; he was never the most physically dominating specimen.

In middle school to early high school, he wasn’t even a starter.

He stood at just 5-foot-2 entering his freshman year—though he got up to 5-foot-5 by the end of that year—and it’s because of that, Mayfield claims, the coaching staff went with other guys at quarterback.

“I mean, I wasn’t very big at all so they had other people playing that were physically more capable of accomplishing [things] and winning games at high school,” Mayfield said. “So they had been playing so I was just developing my mental game of football before all that happened and then just realizing, you know, you can know the game and still be good at it, even if you don’t have all the abilities.”

Mayfield, however, had something a lot of others don’t: a competitiveness and chip on his shoulder that carried him.

“I’m a competitor no matter what,” Mayfield said. “And then I just always had a little fire under my eyes. People said I couldn’t play it at that size. I knew I was going to grow eventually. It wasn’t like I was going to stay at 5-2 forever. Eventually I hit puberty after a little bit. But, no, I just had a little chip on my shoulder. I thought I was capable of doing it and playing at a high level and just stayed with it.”

It wasn’t until later in high school at Lake Travis that people started to see his potential. But there were only a few.

Out of high school, the three-star with a 0.8385 rating, according to the 247 Composite, only had offers from Florida Atlantic, New Mexico, Rice and Washington State, the last of those his only BCS offer.

He elected instead to walk on at Texas Tech.
In and out of Tech

Mayfield came into a competitive quarterback battle for the Red Raiders before the 2013 season, mere months removed from graduating high school.

Davis Webb his primary competition, with Michael Brewer out with a back injury, Mayfield, the kid who declined his lone BCS offer, would beat him out to become the first walk-on ever to start a season opener at a BCS school.

He started the first five games of the season, leading the Red Raiders to a 5-0 start before injuring his knee.

Things went south from there.

With Mayfield on the shelf, Webb took over, winning two more games before suffering the first two of five straight losses. Even after the first loss, Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury elected to stick with Webb instead of his season starter who had an unblemished record.

After dropping the second straight, though, Kingsbury went back to Mayfield.

But it didn’t turn out as well as the first go around.

Mayfield took a string of games against Kansas State, Baylor and at Texas, and Tech, slumping after its 7-0 start, dropped all three to fall to 7-5.

Kingsbury benched Mayfield during the Texas game in favor of Webb again for the remainder of that contest and the Holiday Bowl, which Tech would win to cap off an 8-5 season that could have been much better.

But, otherwise, overall it was a very solid one for the true frosh Mayfield.

He threw for 2,315 yards and 12 touchdowns to nine interceptions on the year.

He won Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year in doing so.

Still, Kingsbury wouldn’t award him with a scholarship.

That led Mayfield to think about other options.

“I’m disappointed because I love Lubbock,” Mayfield said to the Austin American-Statesman at the time. “I’m thankful for the opportunity they gave me and everything that Lubbock has done for me, but it’s time for me to move on and start over…I just didn’t feel comfortable anymore, and I just felt like it was time to move on.”
Transferring with a lot on the line

If doing it once was crazy, doing it twice was really crazy.

Passing up a BCS scholarship offer—albeit across the country—to Washington State was taking a big chance, and he paid it off by starting for the better portion of a season at Tech.

But moving on from what would likely eventually become a scholarship situation at Tech, though the Red Raiders slow played him for no reason, to walk on at OU, the program who had just saw its quarterback throw for 348 yards and four touchdowns en route to earning Sugar Bowl MVP honors in a victory over Alabama, seemed like a big chance. Call it a huge risk.

There’s no guarantee the Sooners would take him to begin with, though it’s safe to say not allowing the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year from the year before to walk on would have been a mistake.

Head coach Bob Stoops recalls the day he met Mayfield and calls it maybe the strangest thing that’s ever happened to him in his coaching career.

“I was hearing the rumors that he’s transferring to Oklahoma and I’ve never talked to the guy, and he’s never called to ask if he could,” Stoops said. “If I said, ‘No,’ he might be in a fraternity over here playing yard ball. And they said, ‘No, he’s coming.’ And [I said], ‘Well, I haven’t heard from him.’ And none of our coaches had. Well, then I go to our first team meeting after and he introduces himself. I said, ‘So you’re Baker Mayfield?’ I had no idea. Of course I knew of him and how well he did, you know, at Tech, but it was just strange that he wouldn’t have checked with anybody.”

See, that’s a part of his DNA, though.

Has been since day one.

He was confident enough in himself—ever since those days he was the little 5-foot-2 kid who had a chip on his shoulder—to know it would work out.

“I wouldn’t say it’s cockiness, but I’m confident in my abilities,” Mayfield said. “But people are probably thinking I’m crazy showing up without talking to any coaches. I mean, it kind of was crazy, but it’s seemed to be working out."

But admittedly, the early part of the transfer wasn’t easy.

For one, Mayfield was in an all-new place without anyone he knew.

“That was probably the biggest point, I would say,” Mayfield said. “It was tough not knowing anybody and just hanging out. You know, I was working out in the rec center. I didn’t really have very many friends at all, if any. I became friends with the guys on my hall, and I played intramural softball. Those were my real friends so, I mean, it was a different experience.”

And he had to wait several weeks before finding out if he’d even be allowed to walk on.

“School didn’t start for three weeks so I couldn’t talk to them until I got my release [and it] officially came into play,” Mayfield said. “But, yeah, so I was just hanging out before I could do anything. It was kind of a different situation not being involved in any team related activities, but I got used to it, and then when I got to join the team it made my life a lot better.”
Paying it off on scout team

It didn’t take too long for Mayfield to prove he was worthy of a scholarship.

In the 2014 Spring Game, just three months after joining the team, Mayfield took his talents in front of 43,500 people and stole the show.

He threw for a pair of touchdowns, 8- and 28-yard scoring throws, while going a perfect 9-of-9 for 125 yards.

“I just had the plan to come here because I wanted to win a National Championship, and whether it’s driving the defense on scout team next year or doing whatever, I mean, I’m just trying to make this place better,” Mayfield said after the electrifying performance. “I grew up an OU fan so I’m just trying to help out however I can.”

Mayfield would carry that momentum into the summer and fall camp through the 2014 season en route to earning a scholarship.

When asked what players were impressing on scout team, time and time again the names Mayfield and Dorial Green-Beckham came up.

Mayfield and Green-Beckham won Scout Team Player of the Week honors numerous times, and the two looked poised to be a lethal pair for the upcoming season if Mayfield won the starting job and Green-Beckham stuck around for another year.

“He was ‘Scout Team Player of the Week’ just about every week,” Stoops said of Mayfield. “He works hard, and he has experience. It will be exciting to see.”

As history would serve, Mayfield won the starting job—more on that in a minute—but Green-Beckham entered the NFL Draft to ultimately be selected in the second round by the Tennessee Titans.

[Jack T.]

"He grew up watching the likes of Jason White and Josh Heupel. He recalls wearing a No. 22 Quentin Griffin jersey while running around as a little kid outside the area that is now the Everest Training Center."

Dang, I'm really getting old.