University of Oklahoma Quarterback Baker Mayfield is the 2017 Walter Camp Player of the Year
University of Oklahoma redshirt senior quarterback Baker Mayfield (Austin, TX) has been selected as the 2017 Walter Camp Player of the Year. The Walter Camp Player of the Year is voted on by the nation’s 130 Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches and sports information directors.
2017 Walter Camp Player of the Year – Baker Mayfield-FINAL
Other finalists for the 2017 Walter Camp Player of the Year award included quarterback Lamar Jackson (Louisville) and running backs Saquon Barkley (Penn State), Bryce Love (Stanford) and Rashaad Penny (San Diego State).
The 51st recipient of the Walter Camp Player of the Year award, Mayfield is the fourth Sooner player to win the prestigious honor, joining quarterback Josh Heupel (2000) and running backs Billy Sims (1978) and Steve Owens (1969). Overall, Mayfield is the 19th quarterback to earn the award. Mayfield is also eighth player from a current Big 12 Conference school to win the award, and the first since 2009 (Colt McCoy, Texas).
Mayfield has been a standout for the Big 12-champion and second-ranked Sooners (12-1), who will face #3 Georgia in the semifinals of the College Football Playoffs on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA.
The 2017 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, Mayfield leads the nation in passing efficiency (203.8), while ranking second in passing yards (4,340) and passing touchdowns (41). Mayfield has completed 71 percent of his passes (262-of-369) and has thrown just five interceptions in 13 games.
He has thrown for 300 or more yards nine times, including a career-best 598 (24-of-36, 5 touchdowns) in a win against Oklahoma State on Nov. 4 that earned him Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week honors. On Dec. 2, Mayfield led the Sooners to the 2017 Big 12 title, passing for 243 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-17 victory over TCU.
Mayfield has thrown at least two touchdown passes in 26 consecutive games. A two-year captain, Mayfield, who played the 2013 season at Texas Tech, is the only player in Football Bowl Subdivision history to pass for at least 13,500 yards (14,320) and rush for at least 1,000 yards (1,082). He ranks second in school history in passing yards (12,005) and touchdowns passes (117).
Mayfield, along with members of the 2017 Walter Camp All-America team, and other major award winners (Alumni Award-Eddie George; Man of the Year-Calvin Johnson; Distinguished American-Lee Corso), will be honored at the organization’s national awards banquet, presented by David McDermott Lexus of New Haven, on Saturday, January 13, 2018 at Yale University’s Lanman Center in New Haven.
Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
The Walter Camp Football Foundation is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA). The NCFAA was founded in 1997 as a coalition of the major collegiate football awards to protect, preserve and enhance the integrity, influence and prestige of the game’s predominant awards. The NCFAA encourages professionalism and the highest standards for the administration of its member awards and the selection of their candidates and recipients.
Walter Camp Players of the Year
2017 – Baker Mayfield, QB, Oklahoma
2016 – Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
2015 – Derrick Henry, RB, Alabama
2014 – Marcus Mariota, QB, Oregon
2013 – Jameis Winston, QB, Florida State
2012 – Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame
2011 – Andrew Luck, QB, Stanford
2010 – Cam Newton, QB, Auburn
2009 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
2008 – Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
2007 – Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas
2006 – Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State
2005 – Reggie Bush, RB, USC
2004 – Matt Leinart, QB, USC
2003 – Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Pittsburgh
2002 – Larry Johnson, RB, Penn State
2001 – Eric Crouch, QB, Nebraska
2000 – Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma
1999 – Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin
1998 – Ricky Williams, RB, Texas
1997 – Charles Woodson, DB, Michigan
1996 – Danny Wuerffel, QB, Florida
1995 – Eddie George, RB, Ohio State
1994 – Rashaan Salaam, RB, Colorado
1993 – Charlie Ward, QB, Florida State
1992 – Gino Torretta, QB, Miami
1991 – Desmond Howard, WR, Michigan
1990 – Raghib Ismail, WR, Notre Dame
1989 – Anthony Thompson, RB, Indiana
1988 – Barry Sanders, RB, Oklahoma State
1987 – Tim Brown, WR, Notre Dame
1986 – Vinny Testaverde, QB, Miami
1985 – Bo Jackson, RB, Auburn
1984 – Doug Flutie, QB, Boston College
1983 – Mike Rozier, RB, Nebraska
1982 – Herschel Walker, RB, Georgia
1981 – Marcus Allen, RB, USC
1980 – Hugh Green, DE, Pittsburgh
1979 – Charles White, RB, USC
1978 – Billy Sims, RB, Oklahoma
1977 – Ken MacAfee, TE, Notre Dame
1976 – Tony Dorsett, RB, Pittsburgh
1975 – Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State
1974 – Archie Griffin, RB, Ohio State
1973 – John Cappelletti, RB, Penn State
1972 – Johnny Rodgers, RB, Nebraska
1971 – Pat Sullivan, QB, Auburn
1970 – Jim Plunkett, QB, Stanford
1969 – Steve Owens, RB, Oklahoma
1968 – O.J. Simpson, RB, USC
1967 – O.J. Simpson, RB, USC
