Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield could get extra year if Big 12 rule passes
Oklahoma Sooners fans may get an early Christmas present in the form of an extra year of eligibility from quarterback Baker Mayfield.
The Big 12 is considering a rule at next week’s annual spring meetings that would involve non-recruited walk-ons and give Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield an extra year of eligibility in 2017.
Mayfield’s eligibility is currently scheduled to end after the 2016 season. This would in effect be the Baker Mayfield rule because there is no bigger or more important non-recruited walk-on than the Sooner’s Heisman Trophy candidate.
Mayfield was a walk-on at Texas Tech during his freshman year before he decided to transfer after losing the job to Davis Webb. Mayfield decided to transfer to Oklahoma but in the process lost a year of eligibility due to NCAA transfer rules.
But it’s pretty unfair to penalize a walk-on a year of eligibility and it looks like the Big 12 is trying to right that wrong.
The proposed Big 12 change would involve non-recruited walk-ons, Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione said, and not just Mayfield.
— Chuck Carlton (@ChuckCarltonDMN) May 27, 2016
If the rule passes, this would be a significant decision that would send ripple effects throughout the Big 12 and the rest of college football because, with Mayfield, the Sooners are a national title contender.
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Mayfield may have been the most valuable player in the nation last year in guiding the Sooners to the Big 12 title and a berth in the College Football Playoff. He’ll begin this season on the short list for the Heisman and the Sooners could return to the Playoff if he stays healthy.
But if the rule doesn’t pass, that doesn’t necessarily mean Mayfield will try to make it in the NFL after the year. According to Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News, Mayfield could transfer out of Oklahoma and apply for a waiver from the NCAA to play in 2017.
He would be a free agent, which would send tidal waves throughout the nation because he’d have interest from nearly every school in the country.
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