McGinnis' Wild Ride Not Over Yet

During his senior season at Heritage Hall High School in Oklahoma City, quarterback Connor McGinnis was doing all he could to become a Yale man.

He got good grades, met the necessary requirements on entrance exams and went through the interview process with a local Yale alum, all so he could quarterback the Bulldogs while studying political science and economics in hopes of someday becoming president of the United States.

Then in December, after his high school football career was complete, McGinnis received a letter notifying him his application to Yale had been declined. "At that point, I didn't have any place to go play football," McGinnis explained. "All the bigger schools already had taken quarterbacks."

McGinnis' quarterback coach at Heritage Hall placed a call to new Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. The Sooners already had a full allotment of quarterbacks, but Riley graciously tabbed McGinnis as a preferred walk-on for that year's freshman class.

After McGinnis redshirted the 2015 season, he and roommate/kicker Austin Seibert chatted about what awaited McGinnis with Texas Tech transfer Baker Mayfield entrenched at quarterback and a slew of talented backups, including Texas A&M transfer Kyler Murray, awaiting their turns.

Seibert suggested McGinnis become a holder on kicks, something the left-handed McGinnis had done in high school.

"We kind of talked about it a little bit and I tried it," McGinnis said. "The dominant hand for holding (for a right-footed kicker) is your left hand. I felt a connection with Austin pretty quickly and that led to a connection with (long-snapper) Kasey Kelleher."

What transpired has been an unfathomable stretch of McGinnis being in the right place at the right time, none of which could have possibly happened as a Yale man:

Connor McGinnis

McGinnis won the 2017 Mortell Holder of the Year Award.

McGinnis won the 2017 Mortell Holder of the Year Award (HOTY), a tongue-in-cheek honor recognizing the nation's top collegiate holder. It was an award McGinnis had no idea even existed until Seibert began a promotional campaign for McGinnis via Twitter.
Seibert, now a rookie for the Cleveland Browns and the kicker for whom McGinnis placed the ball, departed OU as the all-time leading scorer among kickers in FBS history with 499 career points.
McGinnis has been in the same quarterback meetings alongside the last two Heisman Trophy winners in Mayfield and Murray and potentially a third straight winner this year in Jalen Hurts.
A fifth-year senior, McGinnis has been with the Sooners the same number of seasons as Riley, considered by many to be the most brilliant offensive mind in college football.

"It's been quite a good run," McGinnis admitted with a chuckle. "It's one of those deals where God has a bigger plan than what I wanted in the moment back to my senior year in high school. I was really confused with what was going on. Looking back, it's hard to say I would trade any of it."

McGinnis received Academic All-Big 12 first-team honors the last two seasons while carrying a 4.0 GPA. He earned his bachelor's degree in finance last May and is now working on his master's.

Occupying the same meeting room with Riley and a string of Heisman winners could be intimidating both intellectually and athletically, but McGinnis thrives in the setting.

"Looking back, it's hard to say I would trade any of it."
- Connor McGinnis

"All the people in our room obviously have a pretty high quarterback IQ," said McGinnis, whose father, Dr. Donald McGinnis, has been the team's orthopedic surgeon for more than 20 years. "When you throw coach Riley in the mix, there's a ton of times where you're in a meeting and he's drawing up a play and you're like, 'Oh, I get it, and that's brilliant.'"

McGinnis hasn't missed a start since his redshirt freshman season (46/46), nor has he bobbled a snap – two achievements that superstitiously shouldn't be mentioned in fear of the jinx factor.

There also has never been a fake involving McGinnis, who under rule is permitted to run or pass despite having one knee on the ground when receiving the snap from center. "No fakes yet, but my fingers are crossed," said McGinnis, who added he would prefer to pass rather than run should that moment ever come. "I trust coach Riley with those calls more than anybody."

McGinnis shrugs off the pressure of being on special teams, where failure draws the biggest attention for a holder, kicker or long-snapper.

"It's more nerve-wracking beforehand than when you run on the field," McGinnis said. "Once you run out there, it's kind of like shooting a free throw. Once you've done something so many times, with the chemistry we've built up, it kind of feels natural at this point. You get on the field and it's, 'Wow, I've been here before. It's nothing new.'"

Off the field, McGinnis had a Nike internship last summer in New York City, where he somehow milked a $4,500 stipend to share a School of Visual Arts dorm room in Manhattan.

"Nike has a certain number of allotted summer intern spots every year for student-athletes from certain colleges," McGinnis said. "Man, I'm glad I did it."

Perhaps McGinnis once again will be in the right place at the right time when he departs OU.

As for becoming POTUS someday, "I can't say that dream has totally faded from my vision," McGinnis said.