Mayfield, Darlington Named Awards Finalists

NORMAN — Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield and center Ty Darlington were named finalists for a total of three national college football awards Tuesday. Mayfield was selected as one of three finalists for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award and for the Burlsworth Trophy, while Darlington was named one of three finalists for the Wuerffel Trophy.

BAKER MAYFIELD

Mayfield, a junior who began his career at Texas Tech as a walk-on before transferring to OU, also a walk-on, leads the country in pass efficiency rating (180.7) and yards per pass attempt (9.8), and ranks fourth in passing touchdowns per game (3.0), fifth in points responsible for per game (21.3) and seventh in completion percentage (68.7).

Mayfield has thrown for at least one touchdown in all 11 games and has passed for at least three scores in eight contests. He has already tied the school single-season record for most touchdown passes of at least 70 yards with four. He has 39 total touchdowns this year (33 passing) with only five turnovers.

The Austin, Texas, product set the OU record for passing yards in a season opener with 388 (in only three quarters of play) in a 41-3 win over Akron. At No. 23 Tennessee the next game he rallied the Sooners from a 17-0 deficit with touchdowns on their last four possessions in a 31-24 double-overtime win.

Against Tulsa the following week, Mayfield set the OU single-game record for total offense (572 yards; the most by an FBS player this year) and tied the school record by accounting for six touchdowns (four passing). His 487 passing yards in the game stand as the fourth most in OU history, and his 226.6 pass efficiency rating was the highest by a Sooner with more than 30 attempts in a game.

Oct. 17 at Kansas State, Mayfield tied the school record for touchdown passes in a half with five in the first 30 minutes as OU took a 35-0 lead to the locker room. And four weeks ago at Kansas, he threw for 332 yards in the first half, the second most in a half in school history.

Mayfield joins TCU's Trevone Boykin and Clemson's Deshaun Watson as finalists for the Davey O'Brien Award, which will be announced live on "The Home Depot College Football Awards" show on Thursday, Dec. 10. All three finalists will attend the festivities that day in Atlanta, Ga. The 39th Annual Davey O'Brien Awards Dinner will be held Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Mayfield is looking to join former Sooners Jason White (2003 and '04) and Sam Bradford (2008) as Davey O'Brien Award winners.

Joining Mayfield as finalists for the Burlsworth Trophy, which is annually awarded to the country's most outstanding player who began his career as a walk-on, are Penn State defensive end Carl Nassib and Washington State quarterback Luke Falk.

For the purposes of the award, a walk-on is defined as a player who began his first season of participation with an FBS program without financial aid of any kind from his university's athletic department.

The Burlsworth Trophy is named in honor of former University of Arkansas walk-on offensive lineman Brandon Burlsworth, who became a three-year Razorback starter and was eventually named an All-American in 1998. Burlsworth was selected 63rd overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1999 NFL Draft but was tragically killed in a car accident 11 days later. The Burlsworth Foundation was created in his memory and supports the physical and spiritual needs of children, in particular those children who have limited opportunities.

The Springdale (Ark.) Rotary Club will host an awards ceremony on Dec. 7 in Springdale to honor the three finalists and to announce the 2015 winner. Former East Carolina receiver Justin Hardy won the award last year under the direction of offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, who now serves in the same capacity at Oklahoma. Hardy set the NCAA all-time receiving record with 355 catches.

TY DARLINGTON

Darlington, a senior from Apopka, Fla., is joined by Indiana quarterback Nate Sudfeld and Kentucky punter Landon Foster as finalists for the Wuerffel Trophy.

The award, named after Danny Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback from the University of Florida, is presented to the Football Bowl Subdivision player who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement. Former OU center Gabe Ikard won the award in 2013.

Darlington graduated from OU in two-and-a-half years with a 3.91 GPA in Arts and Sciences Planned Program (Health Promotion emphasis) and is working on his master's in Adult and Higher Education (Intercollegiate Athletics Administration emphasis).

He has made significant community contributions on campus, around Norman and elsewhere. He is serving as 2015-16 president of the Big 12 Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (served as 2014-15 vice president), is one of 15 Division I student-athletes who serves on the NCAA's autonomy legislation committee and was president of the OU Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter in 2013-14 and 2014-15 (he averages between 10-15 FCA speeches per semester).

Darlington also served as 2014-15 president of the OU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, helped lead the OU football volunteer efforts following the devastating tornadoes that hit Oklahoma in May 2013, volunteers at Oklahoma's Children's Hospital special events, has traveled to Haiti three times as part of the Mission of Hope (earthquake damage relief) and has served as a volunteer football coach at Apopka High School every year since graduation.

The 2015 Wuerffel Trophy recipient will be interviewed at "The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Show" on ESPNU and ESPN3 on Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. CT. The presentation of the 2015 Wuerffel Trophy will occur at the 47th Annual All Sports Association Awards Banquet on Feb. 12, 2016, in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.