Baker's version of the story is we did him dirty and screwed him in favor of Zach Allen, who ended up doing nothing for us and did nothing for Rutgers when he transferred there. I don't know how true that is, but I wonder if both of those guys would have been stuck in the same issue that Mahomes would have been here. Manziel was a RS Freshman in 2011, and in 2012 he's not gonna beat out Casey for the starting spot, but maybe he could have filled in better than Boykin did when Casey got the boot? Maybe he takes the ball and never gives it back, that's possible.
Mayfield same deal, he was a true Freshman in '13, by then we had Pachall and Boykin both with a experience. Doubtful he could have edged them out as a true Freshman and by 14 Boykin was a Heisman finalist so it's hard to say we could have done better.
So much of QB development is timing, it seems.
But even if Mayfield sat behind Pachall/Boykin for the first few years, he still would have been a starter for us in 2016 and 2017. All due respect to Kenny Hill, but Mayfield would have been an upgrade.
In 2016, do we only win 6 games if Mayfield is our starter? In 2017 if Mayfield is playing for TCU and NOT playing for Oklahoma, do we win the Big 12? I don’t know, but I think our chances would have been better.
Also, I think the biggest QB miss might not have been Manziel or Mayfield, but instead taking Brennan Wooten as a QB over D’eriq King in the 2016 recruiting class. Yes I know we offered King the chance to compete as a QB, but we were recruiting him as an athlete. Like Zach Allen, Wooten was another one who never did anything. Big miss by our coaches, don’t know what they saw in him.
The 2018, 2019, and 2020 seasons likely look so much different if we had offered King as a QB rather than Wooten.