The Sooners are well-represented in ESPN’s latest college football rankings piece. It only makes sense that the ESPN piece in question has to do with quarterbacks, a position Oklahoma has developed and produced great talents at historically.
Each year, ESPN’s Bill Connelly updates a list of the top quarterbacks since 2000. Of course, the list continues to get harder to make as another superstar makes their break each season. This year, that can be pointed at LSU’s Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy.
In recent history, Oklahoma has done an incredible job developing and producing high-level quarterbacks, including plenty of Heisman-winners. Here are the six Oklahoma representatives in the top-80 quarterbacks in the 2000’s era.
No. 43 – Landry Jones
Over the course of his four seasons in Norman, Jones threw for 16,646 passing yards, which leads all Power Conference quarterbacks all-time, and only two other quarterbacks have thrown for more yards in their career. He tacked on 123 passing touchdowns, three rushing touchdowns and 52 interceptions over his four-year college football career.
“It was hard to appreciate Jones’ steady excellence in real time, but by the time he had graduated he had put together a four-year statistical résumé that, even in the near-decade that has followed, no one has surpassed,” Connelly wrote of Jones.
Jones played at Oklahoma from 2009 to 2012.
No. 36 – Jason White
White played the bulk of his games at Oklahoma in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, though he spent time in Norman beginning in 1999. He threw for 7,922 passing yards and 81 touchdowns with 24 interceptions over the course of his career with the Sooners.
“BCS title game losses dampened White’s legacy a bit, but his evolution from athletic dual-threat to statuesque ball-distributor following knee injuries was awe-inspiring. He didn’t win one Heisman vote and finish third in another by accident,” Connelly wrote.
No. 27 – Jalen Hurts
While Hurts spent three seasons at Alabama before transferring Oklahoma, he had his best season of his college football career while in Norman. He finished with 3,851 passings yards and 1,298 rushing yards and 52 total touchdowns. His incredible campaign left him No. 2 in Heisman voting that season, falling just short to LSU’s Joe Burrow.
“Hurts was a starter for three years, averaged 2,900 passing yards and 1,036 rushing yards per season and led three CFP bids; as a backup to Tua Tagovailoa in 2018, he helped to save a CFP bid as well. He was the SEC’s offensive player of the year as a freshman and Heisman runner-up as a senior. What a career,” Connelly wrote.
No. 15 – Sam Bradford
While Bradford played three seasons at Oklahoma, his final season saw him play just three games in his final season at Norman due to injury. Over the 2007 and 2008 seasons, Bradford appeared in 28 games, finishing the 2008 season in a BCS National Championship defeat and winning the Heisman Trophy.
“The 2008 OU offense was, at the time, the best spread attack in history. Bradford threw for 4,720 yards and 50 TDs, and the Sooners scored at least 58 points in six consecutive Big 12 games that year. Only a 2009 injury (and a couple of goal-line failures in the 2008 national title game) kept him out of a potential top-10 spot here,” Connelly wrote.
No. 7 – Kyler Murray
Murray’s college football career was an incredible one to follow. He’s another one of the former Sooners to have won a Heisman while at Oklahoma. He played his freshman season at Texas A&M before transferring to Oklahoma to play for his final two seasons.
In 2018, Murray succeeded Baker Mayfield and posted 4,361 passing yards and 1,001 rushing yards while scoring 54 total touchdowns and throwing just seven interceptions. Murray led the Sooners to a College Football Playoff berth and eventual playoff loss during his Heisman campaign.
“Murray was a first-round draft pick in baseball but decided to play college football one last season in 2018. We were all better off for it. As Baker Mayfield’s OU successor, he threw for 4,361, rushed for 1,478 more and posted 54 combined TDs. IN ONE YEAR. And then he became a first-rounder in another draft,” Connelly wrote.
No. 1 – Baker Mayfield
The only Sooner with a more electric season at Oklahoma than Murray is Mayfield. He played three seasons at Oklahoma after his lone season at Texas Tech. He played 40 games over his three seasons in Norman, throwing for 12,292 passing yards, 119 passing touchdowns and 21 interceptions. He added 893 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground during that span, too.
Mayfield won the Heisman in his final season at Oklahoma while helping the program to two College Football Playoff berths.
“It began with him walking on at Texas Tech, quickly winning the starting job and throwing for 413 yards in his debut. He lost his job to injury, then traded up, landing at OU. The Sooners hadn’t won an outright conference title since 2010, but he led them to three in a row, with three top-five finishes and two CFP bids. His storybook career ended with him throwing and rushing for 4,938 yards and 48 TDs, winning the Heisman and bringing OU to within an eyelash of the national title game. He was so good that, despite non-prototypical size, the Cleveland Browns couldn’t resist making him the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft,” Connelly wrote.
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