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Secrets to Our Preseason Success
Published: 4/23/2011 10:35 AM
Last Modified: 4/23/2011 10:35 AM

Oklahoma will be a consensus No. 1 and Oklahoma State a consensus top 10 team as preseason polls continue to be released this spring and summer.
There are reasons for the optimism and some of them can be found, or rather not found, in the NFL draft.
According to Scouts Inc.’s top 32 picks in a mock draft on ESPN.com, there are no local players listed.
OU and OSU’s top players, along with TU’s top players, all elected to bypass the NFL draft and return for next season.
That’s why there is so much optimism for next fall. The Sooners and Cowboys are loaded. The Golden Hurricane has tons of offensive talent.
Wide receiver Ryan Broyles, arguably OU’s best player and projected as a second round pick if he had come out early, was the key returner for Oklahoma to be picked No. 1 in preseason by experts.
Oklahoma State got equally important commitments when wide receiver Justin Blackmon, a projected first rounder, and quarterback Brandon Weeden, projected as one of the top seven quarterbacks had he come out this year, decided to stay in Stillwater.
As a result, next year’s expectations are off the charts at both places.
By contrast, the upcoming NFL draft will be rather boring for local college football fans.
A year ago, six local players were taken in the first 24 picks of the draft led by No. 1 pick Sam Bradford, OU quarterback, taken by St. Louis.
In fact, the Sooners had three of the top four picks. Gerald McCoy went third to Tampa Bay and Trent Williams went fourth to Washington.
OSU’s Russell Okung went sixth to Seattle followed by OU’s Jermaine Gresham 21st to Cincinnati and OSU’s Dez Bryant 24th to Dallas.
There will be no rush to our state’s players in this year’s draft.



Reader Comments 1 Total
DomoArrigato (last year)
It is better to start at #1 than at #8 and have to wait for those ahead of you to lose...but in the end, it is the FINAL poll that matters...#1 then means everything.
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Klein's Korner

Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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