Oklahoma Sooners

NORMAN, Okla. -- Malcolm Kelly finished his college career as one of the most prolific receivers in Oklahoma history. But after hauling in 21 touchdown catches and 144 receptions during a sparkling three seasons in Norman, Kelly’s relationship with the OU coaching and training staff soured at the end.

Kelly claimed OU misdiagnosed a partially torn quad that ultimately sidelined him from the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, which the Sooners lost to West Virginia, 48-28. Then, things worsened when Kelly said the OU strength staff failed to notify him he would be testing on field turf instead of AstroTurf on his pro day, which led to a blowup between him and strength coach Jerry Schmidt.

The Washington Redskins still drafted Kelly in the second round, but chronic knee issues derailed his pro career after just two seasons.

Kelly, who’s now a businessman in his native Longview, Texas, agreed to speak with SoonerNation about life after football, his relationship with OU now and what he thinks of the current Sooners’ offense:

SoonerNation: What have you been up to since football?

Malcolm Kelly: Well, I have an oil well testing company and a trucking company. We do a lot of pressure tests for fracking companies and stuff like that. The trucking company hauls a lot of dirt. Right when I got let go of the Redskins, I had already started it. We haul dirt, gravel and sand for different companies. The well testing company, we work with different oil and gas companies. I’m meeting with a guy next week, and we’re hoping to start doing business in Oklahoma.

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Adrian Peterson's alma mater, Oklahoma, takes on former Big 12 foe Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl next month, but Peterson is not letting that game influence who he thinks should win the Heisman.

Texas A&M freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel is the heavy favorite heading into Saturday night's trophy presentation, and though Peterson doesn't have a vote because he never won the award, he wasn't shy about declaring who he thought should win.

"Hopefully, they don't rob him like they did me," Peterson, who lost by 328 votes to junior Matt Leinart in 2004, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I hope he wins."

Peterson is perhaps the greatest victim ever of the "I'm not voting for a freshman!" ideal that permeates Heisman voting. Back in 2004, when Peterson lost, a sophomore had never even won the award. He's absolutely right that he was robbed for no good reason besides his age, though having teammate Jason White finish third in voting didn't help his case.

Tim Tebow in 2007 was the first of three consecutive sophomores to win the award, including Oklahoma's Sam Bradford.

Now, another barrier might fall. I'd argue that Peterson's 1,925-yard freshman season was more impressive than Manziel's. He set an NCAA record for 100-yard games by a freshman, with 11, and went down as one of the all-time Sooner greats, though the rest of his career was marred by injuries and he never got an opportunity to bring home a Heisman.

You never know what's ahead, and Peterson wants to see Manziel get his opportunity now.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, who went 9-5-2 against the Longhorns, reminisces with SoonerNation about his Red River Rivalry tenure, and gives his thoughts on this weekend’s OU-Texas game:

SoonerNation: Your most memorable OU-Texas game:
Barry Switzer: The one that sticks out is my first victory against Texas in 1973, which was also my first year as head coach. We scored half-a-hundred on them (OU won 52-13) – the most points ever put on a Darrell Royal team. We had a great football team. It’s fun going into the game knowing we were really better than Texas. I never was concerned. I knew we had a great football team with the Selmon brothers, Rod Shoate, Joe Washington. We had a great offense, a great defense. We had just come off a 7-7 tie at USC. We were so much better, we should have won the game.

SN: The best Texas player you ever coached against:
Switzer: Earl Campbell. He had that God-given ability. He was the best in high school, best in college, best in the pros. He did it at every level. Had all the physical talents and toughness. Just gifted. Some people got it, and some people don’t. He had it early on. The Marcus Duprees and Earl Campbells and Adrian Petersons are so gifted and talented, and fortunate to have type of gift.

SN: The second-best Texas player you ever coached against:
Switzer: We dominated them in the 80s, so there wasn’t anyone in that era that concerned us. It’s always the quarterback or running back that makes a difference. Other than Earl, no one else really ever stood out that brought fear into your heart. They didn’t have anyone jumping over the field like a Barry Sanders or Joe Washington, where you’re thinking, ‘Hell, we’ll never get him down.’

SN: The best individual performance by an OU player in the Cotton Bowl you coached:
Switzer: We had a couple of them. I think really for me, defensively (linebackers) Rod Shoate (1974) and Brian Bosworth (1985) had two of the greatest defensive performances. They dominated those games, Shoate one year, Bosworth another.

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Jason in Oklahoma City writes: Excluding the 2000 team that won the title, I would think that the 2004 team and the 2008 team were probably the best teams in the stoops era. So if you had Sam Bradford, Jermaine Gresham, DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown, Gerald McCoy, Duke Robinson, Phil Loadholt and Nic Harris go up against Jason White, Adrian Peterson, Mark Clayton, Jammal Brown, Brandon Jones, Dan Cody, Donte Nicholson and Antonio Perkins, who do you think would come out on top? I think it would be a good game, but I think the 2004 team had a little more talent. What’s your opinion?

Jake Trotter: We saw what happened with the ’04 Sooners when they were matched up against an offensive juggernaut in the Orange Bowl against USC. Sure, there were some turnovers that helped ignite the rout. But OU was overmatched.

Not once were the ’08 Sooners ever overmatched. They lost in a shootout to Texas, then couldn’t get going offensively in the BCS title game vs. Florida, and even then, still had a chance in the fourth quarter. Against Texas, OU lost its defensive captain in linebacker Ryan Reynolds and never recovered. Against Florida, OU, which had the No. 1 red zone offense in college football, was stuffed twice inside the Gator 10.

The ’08 Sooners would have trouble containing Peterson, and most certainly would give up some Jason White passes downfield. But I think the Bradford hurry-up, with all those weapons like Gresham, Murray and slot specialist Ryan Broyles would be too much firepower for the ’04 Sooners to handle.