Oklahoma Sooners

ESPN's Todd McShay released the first version of his 2012 NFL mock draft earlier today, projecting the first round of April's draft. McShay has Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as the first pick to the Indianapolis Colts, with USC offensive tackle Matt Kalil and LSU cornerback Morris Claiborne rounding out the top three.

Oklahoma underclassmen Landry Jones and Ronnell Lewis are among McShay's first 32 picks. He has Jones going No. 16 to the Seattle Seahawks and Lewis as the last pick in the first round to the Green Bay Packers. Jones is the fourth quarterback in the first round behind Luck, Baylor's Robert Griffin III (No. 7) and USC's Matt Barkley (No. 8).

Jones has a decision to make after the Insight Bowl. He talked extensively with reporters about his thought process Tuesday night and said where he stacks up against other quarterbacks will not impact his decision to stay or go.

"I don't think you can make a decision based on whether your class is deep," he said. "In every draft, there's going to be guys. (But) there are a lot of different factors in what you want to do."

Lewis, on the other hand, is almost certainly done at Oklahoma. Coach Bob Stoops said Monday that the defensive end would miss the bowl game because of an academic issue, and that he expects Lewis to declare for the NFL draft.

"I don't want to come out and speak for [Lewis], but we've talked and I feel it's in his best interest to go on to the NFL," Stoops said.

What do you think? Should Lewis and Jones come back to Oklahoma for their senior season or leave early for the draft? Here's McShay's full mock draft.

Fans are going to have to wait a couple of more days before defensive end Chaz Nelson (Columbus, Ohio/Garden City CC) is officially signed with the Sooners.

Nelson texted me moments ago that his national letter of intent papers are in Ohio. He is in Florida right now and will be back in his hometown of Columbus on Friday. He said there are no worries at all, he's still signing with Oklahoma.

"The papers got to my house yesterday, so [as] soon as I get home, I'm signing."

UPDATE: Junior college cornerback Kass Everett (Philadelphia/Pierce College) had a change of heart late Wednesday afternoon and stunningly signed his national letter of intent with the Sooners. Here's our story.

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Oklahoma could have picked up three defensive backs this week. And after landing the verbal commitment of cornerback Kevin Peterson (Wagoner, Okla./Wagoner) on Sunday, the week started off on a good note.

That note turned sour Wednesday as the Sooners were unable to secure the signings of two elite junior college defensive backs. Oklahoma was a finalist for Pierce College (Woodland Hills, Calif.) teammates cornerback Kass Everett and Gerald Bowman but neither one is heading to Norman, Okla.

Everett announced he was signing with Texas Tech at a press conference at Pierce College on Wednesday afternoon. Minutes after, Bowman signed with USC. Everett’s top two schools were OU and Tech, while Bowman was in a three-way race between OU, USC and Miami (Fla.).

Bowman seemed like a slight USC lean the last few weeks so his choice of the Trojans wasn’t surprising. Missing out on Everett, however, is a major disappointment for OU fans. The Sooners put on a full court press to try to land Everett.

(Read full post)

Oklahoma officially has the first member of its 2012 recruiting class as junior college tight end Brannon Green (Altamont, Kan./Fort Scott CC) signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday morning.

Green, 6-foot-4 and 268 pounds, was surrounded by family and friends as he made it official. Green wasn’t even on OU’s radar three weeks ago, but now he’s a Sooner.

“It’s amazing,” Green said. “It just shows that hard work always pays off.”

Not wasting time helps, too. Tight ends coach Bruce Kittle visited Fort Scott two weeks ago and offered Green, nicknamed “Moose.” Before Kittle had the chance to leave the school, Green had made his intentions known he wanted to come to OU.

(Read full post)

The expectations for Oklahoma, the No. 1 preseason ranking and BCS title hopes, might have ended up hurting the Sooners in 2012. OU went 9-3, with losses to Texas Tech, Baylor and Oklahoma State. The Sooners' home loss to the Red Raiders was their first defeat at Owen Field since 2005.

“That’s why you can’t buy into all the positive stuff,” safety Tony Jefferson said. “You’re No. 1 going into the season, you always have that target on your back.”

With a roster depending on several sophomores including Jefferson, receiver Kenny Stills, linebacker Corey Nelson and others, the Sooners didn’t play with urgency at times, often falling behind opponents early.

Nonetheless it was a learning experience for Oklahoma players.

“We know what we have to do to get there,” Jefferson said. “We just have to get over that hill and do the extra stuff.”

Oklahoma sophomore running back Brennan Clay emphatically shot down all rumors Tuesday that he might be transferring to another school.

"That's dead wrong,” Clay said. “Not true at all."

Since the weekend, rumors ran rampant that the San Diego native was considering a transfer, joining a long list of running backs who have already left the team. Coach Bob Stoops, however, said during Monday’s news conference that he hadn’t heard any rumblings of Clay transferring.

Tuesday, Clay quashed those rumors for good.

“It is what it is,” Clay said. “People always want to speculate. It’s not true.”

After starting the opener, Clay played sparingly the second half of the season, in part due to an array of injuries.

But with Brandon Williams and Dominique Whaley still recovering from a fractured ankle, Clay and Roy Finch are the only two healthy running backs left on the roster.

“It’s amazing. We’re hurting out there in reps, no lying,” Clay said. "But we have to take up the slack. We’re the only few left. But we’re good. We’re going to stick it through.”

Josh Heupel’s tenure in the press box could be shortlived.

This week, Bob Stoops didn’t rule out the possibility that OU’s first year offensive coordinator could be calling plays on the sideline next season. The reason would be so Heupel could have more face-to-face interaction with the quarterbacks.

“That something they could talk about, and will,” Stoops said. “It's worth considering.”

Even though he clearly wasn’t pleased with the 38-10 pass-run ratio in the first half at Oklahoma State, Stoops, however, said he wouldn’t increase his role with the offensive play-calling.

“I'm not going to be the play-caller,” Stoops said. “You can't get in the middle of what a guy's thinking or setting up. I don't believe in that.”

ESPN's Andy Katz blogged today about Oklahoma's 8-1 start under new head coach Lon Kruger. Here's an excerpt from Katz's blog:

Oklahoma pulled off a solid coaching hire when it brought Lon Kruger back to the Big 12 to replace Jeff Capel.

How so? Kruger can be labeled as a bit bland, but he has been remarkably consistent wherever he has been, which includes stops at Kansas State (in the Big Eight), Florida, Illinois and UNLV. (It's not fair to lump in his coaching tenure with the NBA's Atlanta Hawks since that was a no-win situation.)

Kruger isn't likely to compete for a national title with the Sooners. But his teams will be in the hunt for the postseason on a regular basis. His squads defend, they improve over the course of the season, and trouble usually doesn't follow them around.

Katz talked to guard Steven Pledger, who has improved immensely this season. Pledger is averaging 29.5 minutes a game, scoring 19.5 points and leading all Division I guards with a 60.4 field-goal percentage, including 51.2 percent on 3s.

"Coach has given us so much confidence,'' Pledger said. "He's giving us a little bit of praise, and we're doing the right things on the court and off the court. Around campus, we're respectful, and it shows with what we're doing. Last year when we were losing, people didn't feel like talking much to other people.''

Read the rest of the blog here.

SoonerNation writer Jake Trotter chatted with readers Monday. Here's the full transcript. If you didn't get your question answered, send it to Jake's mailbag to be published on Friday.

Here are a few highlights from his chat:

Nate (OK): Does Iowa even stand a chance? Also, when do you think Ryan Broyles will be drafted and where to?

Jake Trotter: Last year in the Insight Bowl, Iowa beat a Missouri team that was ranked higher than this OU team is now. So yeah, Iowa has a chance. Too soon to project Broyles' draft stock because of the injury, but the best he could hope for is third round. Because he won't be able to work out for NFL teams before the draft, he could go lower.

Rob (Yukon): What minor shakeups do you predict?

Jake Trotter: For one, an overhaul of the roster. Sooners need to get deeper, and I think that's why you see them going after so many JUCOs. OU didn't have enough guys available to play this year and it showed.

Robert (Tahlequah, Oklahoma): Does the Big 12 have next year's schedule out yet? Do we play TCU there? Is there a chance they move that game to Cowboys Stadium?

Jake Trotter: No schedule out yet. I don't see that with TCU. If OU plays in Cowboys Stadium, I would expect it to be an out-of-conference game, such as BYU in 2009.

Madison Miller (Grove, OK): What do you think about the Sooners football [team] next season?

Jake Trotter: I think it could be a transitional year. The defense is losing its three best players. The offense could be losing its QB, and has to retool at WR, TE and possibly even RB. OU has a chance to be good. But no one is going to be picking the Sooners to win the national title before the season.

Mike (Dallas): There seems to be a lot of off-the-field issues with OU as much as on-field issues. I don't think Bob Stoops has lost control of his team, but I do feel he has a lot more work ahead of him besides X's and O's. Your thoughts?

Jake Trotter: Agreed. Attitude, chemistry, leadership of this team is to be desired. Those problems were much bigger than any game plan or scheme.

Adding to the immense unease surrounding the Oklahoma football program is the damaged kidney suffered by wide receiver Jaz Reynolds against Oklahoma State.

Reynolds spent more than a week in the hospital after his bruising his kidney in the game.

“Even before that, his kidney wasn’t functioning properly. And then it got it badly bruised,” Stoops said. “It was a bad situation there for a full week. He’s still walking around gingerly and sore.”

Reynolds has already been ruled out for the Insight Bowl. His status after that remains unknown.

“The plan from here, there's a couple of options,” Stoops said. “I'm not going to cover them all, but they'll, as a family, decide what they're going to do. But he is expected to be able to play next year.”

Bob Stoops was asked again Monday about the possibility of his brother returning to the Oklahoma coaching staff. He hardly shut the door.

“I am happy with my staff,” Bob Stoops first said, then added, “it's fair to say throughout the country, with all the coaching changes, anything can happen. You never know. So, we'll see.”

Certain OU fans got overly excited about that possibility. Mike Stoops’ Wikipedia page was edited to say that he had been hired back as the Sooners’ defensive coordinator. OU assistant Willie Martinez’s Wikipedia page was also amended to include “former” OU defensive backs coach.

Both pages were fixed back by the end of the day Monday.