Mayfield, who also started Texas Tech’s regular-season finale against Texas, had initially vaguely cited a “miscommunication” with coach Kliff Kingsbury as the reason.
Just as stunning, Mayfield later revealed he would be enrolling at Oklahoma, which in the spring will have five scholarship quarterbacks, including freshman Trevor Knight, who was named MVP in the Allstate Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama.
RELATED: Texas Tech Quarterback Baker Mayfield Plans to Walk-On at Oklahoma
Even though he was a walk-on at Texas Tech, Mayfield is still bound by NCAA transfer rules, and the Red Raiders have not granted him a release to transfer within the conference. Under Big 12 and NCAA rules, if Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma anyway, not only would he have to sit out a year, but he would lose a season of eligibility.
Mayfield, however, is hoping this week the NCAA will grant his appeal to be eligible right away. On Thursday he sat down with ESPN.com's Jake Trotter for a Q&A, here's a excerpt below.
Jake Trotter: So it seemed like OU was the one school you had in mind when you decided you were going to transfer, correct?
Baker Mayfield: Yes. Out of high school, I applied to three schools right off the bat: Oklahoma, TCU and I think Tech was the third. But I didn’t really want to go to Tech until late in the spring of my senior year. Oklahoma and TCU were my first two options coming out of high school. That’s where I wanted to go. And I wasn’t going to give TCU another chance after they basically screwed my whole recruiting over from the start [TCU recruited Mayfield but never offered a scholarship]. So OU was where I’ve always wanted to go. I grew up an Oklahoma fan. I used to go to all the games watching a bunch of people who are in the NFL now.
Trotter: So, have you talked to any OU coaches at all?
Mayfield: Not at all.
Trotter: So you’re just going to show up at OU and just show up for football practice -- is that the plan?
Mayfield: Well, I’m still waiting on my appeal, which is happening this Friday.
Trotter: You’re doing the appeal on your own. OU is not handling that, correct?
Mayfield: Correct. They can’t handle it because Texas Tech has blocked my communication to any Big 12 schools. And so, that’s what we’re having to deal with. The appeal will decide whether I can join the football team and also eligibility-wise and everything that involves football.
Find the full Q&A at ESPN.com
