Not that we need another thread but just pulled some comments from an article with quotes from Baker's Daddy & Family. Baker will become a media darling but I'm glad that we don't have to deal with him and his family, no matter how we plays. From a Sept. 11 Bleacher Report Article:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ld-is-redefining-what-it-is-to-be-an-underdog
On his son as a little league player -
As a pitcher, Baker's fastball frightened hitters—and not just because of its speed. Mayfield was eight when he plunked four straight batters in a Little League game.
"Kids were crying and didn't want to bat, and parents were yelling from the stands," James says. "I had to walk over to the coach and say, 'Take my son out of the game.'
On not getting an offer from any Big 12 School and TCU -
"He really thought he was going to TCU," Matt Mayfield says. "The coaches there encouraged him, and then they hung him out to dry." Signing Day came and went. Mayfield's only Division I offers were from Rice, Florida Atlantic, Washington State and New Mexico. Mayfield says he was "angry" about the situation and couldn't understand why he was being ignored. His dad says Baker was distracted during his senior season of baseball and that he often lashed out at his parents at home. "It was a dismal time for our family, a horrible challenge," James says. "It just kills you to watch your son go through something like that. I had all these coaching contacts, but no one was stepping up in terms of interest level."
On how Kliff handled Baker's injury:
Mayfield won his first five games as a starter, but things began to sour after he suffered a hairline fracture just below his knee during an Oct. 5 victory at Kansas. Team doctors instructed Mayfield not to play the following two weeks, a situation James Mayfield says infuriated Kingsbury. "Kliff wouldn't talk to him for two weeks," James says. "He didn't think Baker was hurt badly enough not to play. It was dumb, cheap psychology."
On not being offered a scholarship:
Believing he'd earned the right to start, Mayfield was peeved. The Big 12's Freshman Offensive Player of the Year reached his breaking point a week later when Kingsbury informed him he wouldn't be awarded a scholarship for the spring semester. Mayfield went home called his father.
"Dad," he said, "I don't want to be here anymore."
A few days later, Mayfield packed up his belongings and drove to Austin.
"People in Lubbock were upset," Mayfield says, "but they don't understand all the things that go on inside that program. The bottom line is that they weren't going to offer me a scholarship. They told me that.
On Kliff not offering Baker a release to play at OU:
"Kliff is a punk," James Mayfield says. "He's a strange bird. He got his feelings hurt, so he wouldn't release Baker. It was classless. It will catch up to him eventually."
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ld-is-redefining-what-it-is-to-be-an-underdog
On his son as a little league player -
As a pitcher, Baker's fastball frightened hitters—and not just because of its speed. Mayfield was eight when he plunked four straight batters in a Little League game.
"Kids were crying and didn't want to bat, and parents were yelling from the stands," James says. "I had to walk over to the coach and say, 'Take my son out of the game.'
On not getting an offer from any Big 12 School and TCU -
"He really thought he was going to TCU," Matt Mayfield says. "The coaches there encouraged him, and then they hung him out to dry." Signing Day came and went. Mayfield's only Division I offers were from Rice, Florida Atlantic, Washington State and New Mexico. Mayfield says he was "angry" about the situation and couldn't understand why he was being ignored. His dad says Baker was distracted during his senior season of baseball and that he often lashed out at his parents at home. "It was a dismal time for our family, a horrible challenge," James says. "It just kills you to watch your son go through something like that. I had all these coaching contacts, but no one was stepping up in terms of interest level."
On how Kliff handled Baker's injury:
Mayfield won his first five games as a starter, but things began to sour after he suffered a hairline fracture just below his knee during an Oct. 5 victory at Kansas. Team doctors instructed Mayfield not to play the following two weeks, a situation James Mayfield says infuriated Kingsbury. "Kliff wouldn't talk to him for two weeks," James says. "He didn't think Baker was hurt badly enough not to play. It was dumb, cheap psychology."
On not being offered a scholarship:
Believing he'd earned the right to start, Mayfield was peeved. The Big 12's Freshman Offensive Player of the Year reached his breaking point a week later when Kingsbury informed him he wouldn't be awarded a scholarship for the spring semester. Mayfield went home called his father.
"Dad," he said, "I don't want to be here anymore."
A few days later, Mayfield packed up his belongings and drove to Austin.
"People in Lubbock were upset," Mayfield says, "but they don't understand all the things that go on inside that program. The bottom line is that they weren't going to offer me a scholarship. They told me that.
On Kliff not offering Baker a release to play at OU:
"Kliff is a punk," James Mayfield says. "He's a strange bird. He got his feelings hurt, so he wouldn't release Baker. It was classless. It will catch up to him eventually."
