Baker Mayfield makes yet another awards list
For the third consecutive season, Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield is a semifinalist for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award.
Oklahoma State wide receiver James Washington also is a semifinalist this season.
The award honors the top college player who played high school football in Texas, played at at a Texas junior college or plays for a school from Texas.
Mayfield, from Lake Travis, has been a finalist each of the last two seasons but has yet to win the award.
They are joined as a semifinalist by Alabama’s Jalen Hurts, Auburn’s Jarrett Stidham, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett, USC’s Ronald Jones II, Texas Tech’s Keke Coutee, Baylor’s Denzel Mims, SMU’s Trey Quinn and
North Texas’ Jeffery Wilson.
The finalists will be announced Dec. 6, with the winner announced Jan. 10 at a banquet in Tyler, Texas.
Walk on spotlight: Reggie Turner
The road didn’t have to be this difficult for Reggie Turner.
Coming out of Pasadena (Texas) Memorial High School, Turner had Division I colleges interested in him, he was just lost as to how the recruiting process worked.
“I didn’t really have too much guidance on how to talk to coaches or tell me this and that about recruiting and playing your cards right and all of that stuff so I got mixed up,” Turner said.
“After that, it was too late and signing day came.”
On signing day during his senior year, despite at offer from Texas Tech to play corner and a late push by Michigan State, Turner remained unsigned.
Turner said he was disappointed.
He wound up at Laney College, a junior college in northern California, and then at Blinn Junior College in Texas.
At Laney, he first made contact with Oklahoma Director of Player Personnel Drew Hill.
Even though he had to sit out for a season at Blinn after becoming ineligible there, he stayed in contact.
“I pretty much called him every day because there was no way I was about to give up after what had happened,” Turner said.
“It was a blessing really.”
Turner is now a redshirt junior, playing scout-team receiver and hoping to follow in the footsteps of players like Jarvis Baxter and Nick Basquine as walkon receivers that earn scholarships eventually.
“Those guys, they worked hard for what they had so I’ve seen that,” Turner said. “It’s just made me want to work even harder.
“I just know that since they got a chance, I’m going to get a chance too. I’ve just got to keep pushing.”
Quotable
Steven Parker, Sooners safety and captain, on whether or not he’ll cry during the Senior Day festivities before Saturday’s game:
“I’m going to try not to, but I can’t promise anything.”