Oklahoma Football: Baker Mayfield shocks no one, wins 2017 Heisman Trophy

There was very little surprise during Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony as Oklahoma football star Baker Mayfield ran away with the award.

Saturday night’s Heisman Trophy ceremony was essentially a formality as everyone knew who the winner was going to be. That’s not taking anything away from Bryce Love or Lamar Jackson who each had incredible years, in their own regards, but Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield soared above the field.

Early in the year, Jackson was considered a serious contender to repeat, having won the coveted award in 2016, but Louisville couldn’t remain in the rankings for long. He played well all year, earning a trip to New York for his second straight ceremony, but his team couldn’t put together a full season.

Love had an impressive year on the ground for Stanford and was the nation’s top running back, filling in for a departing Christian McCaffrey. He was averaging over 10 yards per carry at one point, but he just didn’t quite have the resume of Mayfield.

Speaking of Mayfield, the former walk-on quarterback at Texas Tech has had quite the rise to stardom. He went from unknown in Lubbock to starter under Kliff Kingsbury before losing his job and transferring to Oklahoma. In three years with the Sooners, he’s thrown 117 touchdown passes and just 20 picks.

In 2017, he had his best season yet, passing for 4,340 yards, 41 touchdowns and only five interceptions while completing 71 percent of his throws. He had big moment after big moment, winning at Ohio State early in the year to set the tone and then capping off the season with a Big 12 title win over TCU — the Sooners’ second win over the Horned Frogs on the year.

Mayfield was a walking highlight reel and his Heisman Trophy triumph surprised no one as he became the sixth Sooner to win the award and the third quarterback from Oklahoma to win the award since 2003 (Jason White and Sam Bradford were the other two).

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Complete first round after Week 14

Winning the Heisman is just the beginning for Mayfield as he’s looking to lead his team to the national title in January and earn a first-round draft pick a couple of months later. No surprise here, and not too shabby for a former walk-on.