As I cover the high school sports and in particular football everybody and their baby’s momma thinks that they’re a D1 player even if the dun isn’t. Then there are the cats who can legitimately play at the highest level of college football but for some reason just don’t get a scholarship. It’s crazy but it happens. Boyz completely miss and it makes no sense.
I could name hundreds of cats that didn’t receive a scholarship comin’ out of high school but balled out in college only to receive a scholarship later. However, no one has won the Heisman doin’ that foolishness.
Well playas…Baker Mayfield is that dude and on Saturday night he became the 83rd cat in the history of college football to hoist the Heisman Trophy. From walk-on to Heisman is NUTS!!! Not only did the dun win the joint but it wasn’t even close. He got 86 percent of the votes and it was the third largest victory since 1950 behind only Ohio State’s Troy Smith (2006) and Oregon’s Marcus Mariota (2014).
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Not only did the dun walk-on at Oklahoma but he walked-on at Texas Tech first. He went to Lubbock, walked-on, started his freshman year and then dipped over to Norman, walked-on and started. Wheredeydodatat?
Boyz are doin’ great to walk-on and get some playin’ time on special teams bruh. They’re doin’ outstandin’ to even get a scholarship but to do all of that and win the Heisman is simply INCREDIBLE!!! I’m not tellin’ you what I heard I’m tellin’ you what I know.
I walked-on at Purdue in the spring of 1987 and was only willin’ to stick around for that spring football semester because as a walk-on you’re at the bottom of the barrel. That’s no disrespect, it just is what it is. I don’t know what they’re doin’ now but back then as a walk-on we didn’t even get the same gear to wear as the scholarship players. The scholarship cats got the top of the line shoes from Puma and we got the low end Pumas. We called them the Buddy’s. Our lockers where in one section of the locker room that wasn’t with everybody else. So in other words, we where alienated from the rest of the team. We were the darn sweat hogs.
When practice was over there were times where the walk-ons didn’t even get to eat dinner. The scholarship cats ate trainin’ table but as non-scholarship players we still had to eat in the dorms. Well playas…the cafeteria closed at 6:30pm. If we weren’t back by then we were short. So there were many days that all 15 of us were tryin’ to anti-up to get some Burger King across the street from the stadium.
As a walk-on you barely get reps because the duns on scholarship get them all because that’s where the bread is bein’ spent. I’m not mad at it because it makes sense. It’s business. So after standin’ around all spring and puttin’ in so much work; winter work-outs, strength and conditionin’, practice with the team to get one or maybe two reps a week didn’t make since to me. I was 5 team and everybody ahead of me was on scholarship. Naw playa I’ve gotta find something else to do with my time. They ain’t gone work.
I wasn’t goin’ to stand around all week and be the fifth team runnin’ back and flunk out of school tryin’ to tell boyz that I was on the team. So I dipped to Indiana University, went to school and became a student leader. I say all of that to say, Baker Mayfield winnin’ the Heisman as a former walk-on is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!! That’s why he’s the only person to EVER do it.
Sure, he was special player but to walk into a joint without a scholarship and take EVERYBODY’S job at a big time college football program, a blue blood of this game is NUTS!! They already had five Heisman Trophy winners down there when it got there. They’ve had 153 All-Americans with 75 of them Consensus and a boy walks-on and starts down there? What!!? No starts and wins the Heisman!!!
There’s the Heisman Mall just across the street from the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium where 30 foot statues of Billy Vessels (1952), Steve Owens (1969), Billy Simms (1978), Jason White (2003) and Sam Bradford (2008) protect the OU legacy. Now make room for Baker Mayfield (2017). The walk-on!!
By Mayfield winnin’ the Heisman on Saturday every walk-on in the country at every level of college football was given hope that they can at least get some playin’ time. I know that if I were still in school right now it would have inspired me. Salute fellow walk-on!! Job well done and stop me when I start lyin’!
Playas Thesaurus:
1) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
2) Wheredeydodatat?: Hood for “Who does that?”
3) Anti-up: verb – to pull our money together
4) Ole boy: noun – the person that I’m currently talkin’ about.
The G is excluded from the endings of all words because the G is near and dear to my heart because I’m from “The G” which is Gary, Indiana. So I only use the G when I’m talkin’ about “The G!”
The caption under the photo is real talk today!