The Football Brainiacs

Image of Austin Kendall via Charlotte Observer

With spring football starting on Saturday, we figured now was as good a time as any to preview where things stand with this Oklahoma football program. Coming off a disappointing loss in last year’s CFB playoff and returning 14 total starters, there will be no shortage of expectations for this 2016 squad. The plan is to preview things by position group, both as to where things stand in the spring and project how things might play out later this fall. So let’s get started.

* As tempting as it might be to start with the high profile incoming transfer (who we’ll of course get to in a minute), coming off a remarkable 2015 season we’d be remiss starting anywhere other than with Baker Mayfield. He’s clearly ‘the man’ heading into 2016 and while he won’t necessarily be expected to carry the offense considering what OU has returning in the backfield, there will still be a considerable amount of pressure on Mayfield to at least put up something similar to that of what he did in 2015.

The only real concern when it comes to Mayfield is his health. He reportedly suffered multiple concussions last season and has a tendency to put himself in precarious situations on the field always fighting for that extra yard/big play. To that point, Mayfield certainly won’t be held out entirely during spring practices but it is probably reasonable to expect the coaches limit him to a certain extent.

* While there is certainly no real drama heading into the spring with regards to QB1, behind Mayfield there are really nothing but question marks following Cody Thomas’ decision to focus primarily on baseball this spring. And while there remains a chance Thomas could still rejoin the football team in the fall, one would have to assume the coaches will adopt a ‘hope for the best, plan for the worst’ type of approach in terms of not relying on Thomas’ return as Plan A.

Which means the pressure of backing up Mayfield falls squarely on the shoulders of true freshman and early enrollee, Austin Kendall. Prior to Thomas’ departure, it was expected Kendall would have the luxury of redshirting in 2016 but that will no longer be the case. Kendall has the obvious advantage of already being on campus and taking part in spring practices, in which you’d have to believe Bob Stoops & Lincoln Riley will make an concerted effort to get him as many snaps as possible to help accelerate his development. Both because Kendall will need to be ready if/when he’s called upon and because there doesn’t figure to be a huge need to have Mayfield take a ton of snaps in an offense he’s already very familiar with.

* And now we arrive at the guy who more people are probably talking about than anyone, former Texas A&M QB and uber-recruit Kyler Murray, even though he won’t be eligible to play in 2016. However much like Mayfield was a couple years back, Murray will be permitted to take part in practices and the spring game. As a result, OU fans everywhere will be anxiously anticipating any glimpse they’ll possibly be allowed to see whether or not the ultra-talented Murray will prove capable of developing into the star many believed so strongly he’d be coming out of high school.

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