A Look At The 2016 Big 12 Starting Quarterbacks (Part 1)

Welcome to part of our preview of the rest of the Big 12. We’ve already looked at B12 coaches. This week, we’ll look at returning QBs. I forgot about a few of these names. This is a good refresher from Sam Aldrich.

The Big 12 for years has been an extremely passing heavy league, and the 2016 edition should be no different. In fact, this preseason, half of the QBs in the league were selected to the Davey O’Brien list, given to the nation’s top Quarterback.

• Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma
• Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State
• Seth Russell, Baylor
• Skyler Howard, West Virginia
• Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech

The five sensational QBs listed above put up huge numbers in 2015, and are poised for more ridiculous numbers in 2016, especially with the pass-happy systems employed by these schools. The other five schools, well..didn’t perform quite as well. Let’s look at how the top 10 2015 Big 12 QBs ranked in order of QB Rating.

Those are some ridiculous numbers from the top six QBs, folks. Only one team in the conference didn’t have a QB make the list (ahem, Texas). Seth Russell led the way in QBR before a season ending neck injury in week 7 of the 2015 season, and returns for his 5^th year in Waco. So who’s back for this year?

We’re going to take a look over the next few days.

Baylor –Seth Russell, Redshirt Senior

Mentioned above, Russell absolutely crushed in the first 6 games of the 2015 season, throwing for 29 touchdowns, averaging 358 yards of offense per game, and a cold 189.7 QB rating, before his neck injury in game 7 sidelined him the rest of the year. He also runs a 4.5 40, making him tricky to bottle up within the pocket with solid speed. Russell returns for his 5^th year with a new head ball coach in Jim Grobe off of serious neck surgery, so it remains to be seen if he can duplicate the video-game numbers he posted in 2015. If he can, Baylor will be able to sustain their recent success at least one more year.

Oklahoma — Baker Mayfield, Redshirt Junior

Bake had a sensational year for the Sooners in 2015, breaking out with 36 passing touchdowns and 7 rushing touchdowns en route to winning Sporting News Player of the Year, First Team All-American (Sporting News), and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Mayfield has gone from Freshman Offensive player of the year at Texas Tech to one of the premier QBs in not just the Big 12, but the whole country. He’s back for more in 2016 with a loaded offense and a unanimous pick for top 5 team in the country, by any poll.

Texas Tech — Patrick Mahomes, Junior

Mahomes, like many Texas Tech QBs before him, led the Big 12 in passing yards in 2015, in large part to head coach/model Kliff Kingsbury’s extreme spread offense and 5’6 terror Jakeem Grant. Mahomes is back as a junior this year to rack up absurd numbers in yards and touchdowns en route to another likely average-ish year for the Red Raiders.

In all seriousness, Mahomes has a cannon (he was drafted as a pitcher out of high school by the Detroit Tigers) and throws a beautiful deep ball to the bevy of quick Red Raider receivers. Texas Tech is not liable to compete for the Big 12 title this year, but they’ll sure be a lot of fun to watch, especially with Mahomes behind center.