12/8/09
Why will coach Bob Stoops never leave Norman? Because he knows he has a good thing going. That mostly includes a roster full of NFL-caliber players capable of competing for the Big 12 and National Title every year. Looking at the returning depth chart, it's easy to see the wealth of available athletes is plentiful, once again. Injuries obviously played a huge role in the 2009 drop-off. That would include losing All-American players like QB Sam Bradford and TE Jermaine Gresham. Freshman QB Landry Jones really had a better-than-decent outing throwing the ball (28th in total passing) while filling in for Bradford. He will learn to avoid the interception bug with time. Jones’ offensive line won't be another rebuilding project as it was entering this past fall. The RB job is all DeMarco Murray’s now that Chris Brown is gone. And as always, the talent on defense looks far superior to many of the foes OU will square off against. This team is not far removed from getting right back to where it wants to be, at the top of the Big 12 South Division first and foremost. Much like USC however, the Sooners won't, or at least shouldn't, start the season in a Top 10 position as they currently sit unranked at the end of '09. How many players wind up leaving early for the NFL will have the most to say for where OU fits into these preseason polls; losing (up to) seven important cogs would ostensibly mean much to OU’s prospectus. DT Gerald McCoy is already tagged as a top draft pick for this coming April. If all these guys could stick around, Oklahoma might be the favorite to win the mighty South Division, and therefore they’d have an inside track for a National Title birth.