Baker Mayfield is still in the early stages of his NFL career.
But the Cleveland Browns quarterback’s legacy at the college level is already secure.
So much so that next month, Mayfield’s alma mater, Oklahoma, will unveil a statue of the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner. According to Mayfield’s former coach, Lincoln Riley, the statue will make its debut at the Sooners’ Spring Game, which is scheduled to take place at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on April 18.
“We’re actually going to unveil it in the stadium. That will be a part of the game,” Riley told reporters on Monday. “Instead of a ceremony outside of the stadium, why not include all 50, 60, 70,000 — whatever’s there, why not include them in that moment?”
After initially playing as a walk-on at Texas Tech, Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma, where he built one of the most impressive resumes in college football history. In his three seasons with the Sooners, Mayfield completed 69.8 percent of his passes for 12,292 yards, 119 touchdowns and 21 interceptions, adding another 893 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground.
In addition to leading Oklahoma to two College Football Playoff appearances, the Austin, Texas, native earned plenty of hardware during his time in Norman, including the Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, Davey O’Brien Award, Associated Press Player of the Year and the 2017 Heisman Trophy. Mayfield was the sixth Oklahoma player to win the Heisman Trophy, with the five previous Sooners having already been honored with statues at the school.
Following his illustrious college career, the Browns selected Mayfield with the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. He went on to set an NFL rookie record with 27 touchdown passes in 2018 before completing 59.4 percent of his pass attempts for 3,827 yards, 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 16 starts in 2019.
RELATED: Trent Williams, Jason Peters emerge as potential Browns targets
RELATED: Odell Beckham Jr. shouldn’t be going anywhere…for now: Bud Shaw’s Sports Spin