Baker Mayfield wins Heisman Trophy in landslide vote
Baker Mayfield grabbed the attention of the country after he emphatically planted the Oklahoma flag in the middle of Ohio State's field in September, and he capped his dominant season with the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night.
Despite the heroics of Stanford's Bryce Love and last year's winner Lamar Jackson of Louisville, Mayfield was the runaway winner of the prestigious award, marking the sixth time an Oklahoma Sooner has claimed the honor. The senior standout received 732 first-place votes, 657 more than Love's 75.
His unorthodox path has been well-documented and should be a lesson in perseverance to all high school athletes. Mayfield didn't start for his high school team until his junior season. He began his college career as a walk-on at Texas Tech. He transferred to Oklahoma without a scholarship.
With antics ranging from the flag-planting to a crotch-grab directed at the opposition's bench, many people questioned his maturity, but nobody can question his talent.
His junior campaign in 2016 was brilliant, finishing with 3,965 yards passing and 40 touchdowns against eight interceptions. His senior season was even better. With at least one game still to play, Mayfield sits at 4,340 yards passing on an absurd 11.76 yards per attempt average. He has completed 71 percent of his passes and has 41 touchdowns against a paltry five interceptions.
With the Heisman out of the way, Mayfield's attention now turns to the Rose Bowl against Georgia with a shot at the national championship on the line. That will be followed by NFL draft preparation, where the Sooners star will attempt to convince scouts that his immense talent will outweigh his size limitations at the next level.
Given his past success, I'd hate to be the general manager who bets against him.