Kudos for Riley
First-year Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley is one of 16 semifinalists for the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award.
First-year Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley is one of 16 semifinalists for the George Munger College Coach of the Year Award, presented annually by the Maxwell Football Club. After taking over for Bob
Stoops during the summer, Riley has the Sooners 9-1 and No. 4 in the country heading into Saturday's game at Kansas.
Other semifinalists include Iowa State's Matt Campbell, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Alabama's Nick Saban and Army's Jeff Monken among others. Semifinalist voting for the award begins Friday and closes Dec. 11. The top three will be named finalists, with that voting open Dec. 12-26. The winner will be announced Dec. 27 and formally presented March 9 in New Jersey at the Maxwell Football Club's National Awards Gala.
Saban won the award last year and Stoops won the award in 2000.
Seven Sooners named first-team Academic All-Big 12
For the 11th consecutive season, Oklahoma had at least seven first-team honorees on the Academic All-Big 12 Team, the conference announced Thursday.
The Sooners also had a league-high 11 second-team honorees. Two of OU’s firstteamers — quarterback/ holder Connor McGinnis and walk-on redshirt freshman linebacker Bryan Mead — were two of 10 student-athletes nominates with a 4.00 GPA.
To qualify, players must maintain a 3.00 or higher GPA, either cumulative or over the previous two semesters, and must have participated in 60 percent of their team’s scheduled contest. Seniors are eligible if they have participated for two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation.
First-team members have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA while the second-team picks hold a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA. McGinnies and Mead were joined on the first team by fullbacks Dimitri Flowers and Jaxon Uhles, offensive linemen Ben Powers and Dru Samia and safety Chanse Sylvie. Second-team honorees were: running back Rodney
Anderson, tight end Mark Andrews, defensive lineman Amani Bledsoe, long snapper Wesley Horky, fullback Carson Meier, quarterback Kyler Murray, kicker Austin Seibert, receivers Mykel Jones and Jeffery Mead and offensive linemen Bobby Evans and Cody Ford.
Mayfield, Summers share a moment
After last weekend’s game, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and TCU linebacker Ty Summers had a quick chat.
Two years earlier, Mayfield was injured on a hit from Summers that led to the Horned Frogs’ linebacker being ejected.
“Ty’s a good dude,” Mayfield said. “He’s the pride of San Antonio Reagan Rattler High School. He’s good friends with Trevor and Connor (Knight). He was Trevor’s successor at quarterback there. I’ve known Ty for awhile. People talk about the hit in 2015, but he didn’t mean to do it.”
Mayfield said he and Summers developed a relationship after the hit, when Summers first reached out to Trevor Knight for Mayfield’s number and then left a voicemail for Mayfield after the game.
“There’s a reason he’s had success,” Mayfield said.
Quotable
Riley, when asked if Kyler Murray was going to play baseball for the Sooners again:
“We’re going to talk through it. The goal is to get through this year and then sit down and visit about it and make a decision on what we think is best.”