Baker Mayfield's Answer on Saving HS Team’s Season With Huge Donation Was All Class

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers are 4-6 on the season.
Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers are 4-6 on the season. / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been struggling lately on the field but something the quarterback did off the field for a local high school football team will never be forgotten by its players, coaches, and families.

When Mayfield learned that Space Coast High School might not be able to have a season this year due to lack of funds and unusable equipment, the QB and his wife, Emily, donated $17,900 to save the squad. The team, which went 1-8 last season, then caught fire, going 10-3 and winning a state championship.

Mayfield was asked Wednesday what that meant for him and his answer was all class:

"I get chills just thinking about it," Mayfield said. "It’s just a cool story. Like I said, I have an unbelievable platform to be able to give back and obviously they were in a predicament of probably not having a season, not just for varsity but for JV, they didn’t have enough equipment. So being able to give back and seeing that turnaround—all we did was give them some helmets they did the rest, they turned it around. They believed in it and that’s what football is all about—it teaches you life lessons how to handle adversity, how to deal with it and push forward so congrats to them. It’s pretty special."

Pretty cool.


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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.