Receiver is upset at strength coach and the medical staff.

NORMAN -- Oklahoma wide receiver Malcolm Kelly kept mostly quiet after catching one pass in a one-point victory at Texas A&M in 2006. His lip stayed buttoned after the ball never came his way in a one-point loss at Colorado in 2007.

But on Wednesday, after working out for NFL scouts on the OU campus, the talkative Kelly finally popped, offering criticisms of the OU strength and conditioning staff as well as the OU medical staff.

Kelly and three former OU teammates worked out inside OU's Everest Training Center, which has a soft Field Turf-type surface. Kelly, who has been injured since the team's Fiesta Bowl practices in December, had been unable to run for scouts before Wednesday and has been training in Atlanta for three months on a shorter, firmer AstroTurf-type surface.

Kelly said he was assured by director of sports enhancement Jerry Schmidt that he would be allowed to run his 40-yard dash on the AstroTurf-type surface of OU's indoor track facility, the Mosier Center.

Instead, Kelly ran on the softer turf of the Everest indoor football facility. Although there was no consensus (each of the 16 teams and 37 scouts in attendance recorded their own hand-timed numbers), OU and NFL.com reported Kelly's times at 4.68 and 4.75. A random check of various teams' scouting sheets showed Kelly's best time ranging from 4.49 to 4.81.

Afterward, Kelly complained loudly about his situation and was later seen arguing with Schmidt, pointing his finger, waving his hands and even twice throwing shoes he had been holding. They finished their conversation behind closed doors and Kelly said "we settled it," but he was still visibly upset.

"This is my life. You know what I'm saying?" Kelly said. "This ain't no school. This ain't no classroom. This ain't got nothing to do with that. This has to do with me, my family. This is what I do. I play football. And I'm supposed to come out here and run as fast as I can. I already had everything set up for where I want to do it at. I get out here and it's a whole different deal."

Kelly is a junior from Longview, Texas, who declared himself eligible for the draft after three years as one of the Sooners' most prolific receivers. He's rated by many draft services as the top wideout in the draft.

Kelly has been projected to be drafted in the middle of the first round, but if Cincinnati (No. 9) or Buffalo (No. 11) pass on him, he might fall to the end of the first round. The difference could mean millions of dollars in a contract or a signing bonus, and Kelly thinks some teams may be scared away by Wednesday's slow times.

Wednesday night, head coach Bob Stoops, who missed the event because of a personal matter, said Schmidt had informed him that the Mosier Center had been made available to Kelly, but scouts asked Kelly to run in the Everest Center and Kelly agreed.

Said Schmidt, "All the NFL teams got together and told him, 'We want to see you run on the surface you're going to play on.' He agreed to that with those guys."

Kelly's chief complaint was that he had been training exclusively on AstroTurf and suggested Schmidt broke his agreement to let him run in the Mosier Center. He said he recently ran 4.50 and 4.47 on a firmer surface in Atlanta.

"You play somewhere for three years, you give 'em all you got, every summer, every winter, and all you ask for is an hour and a half to have it like you want to have it," Kelly said. "And people got a problem with it."

Said Stoops, "The general managers and the (scouts) wanted to see him timed (on) a surface that's very similar to what they timed on at the combine, which is our indoor."

Kelly was unable to run at the NFL Scouting Combine because of a thigh injury he sustained during early preparations for the Fiesta Bowl. Stoops said Kelly practiced "five or six plays" before the game, and he got in for just one series.

That turned out to be another major complaint by Kelly on Wednesday.

"At the bowl game, people were questioning was I trying to not play so I could leave early for the draft and all that kind of stuff," Kelly said. "I was told by the staff I had a thigh bruise. I told them it felt a lot worse than that. 'No, it's not that bad; go out there and run; it's all in your mind; it's not a thigh tear, it's just a thigh bruise.' Kept trying to run; never did get any better. Didn't play in the game, so I finally went out there training and it never got any better. I went and got an MRI and I've got a thigh tear.

"So what if I would have went out there and tried to play in the bowl game and went out there and tried to run full speed? Then where would I be right now? Nowhere. Sitting at home, still rehabbing. Back here for another season. You know what I'm saying?"

OU senior associate athletics director for communications Kenny Mossman, who also didn't attend pro day, said Wednesday that Kelly's thigh bruise was reassessed and diagnosed as a thigh strain within 48 hours of the original diagnosis, and he was not allowed to practice while resting the injury.

Said Stoops, "Whether it was a strain, a tear or a bruise, the way you treat it is, he was inactive."

Asked if he felt let down by OU, he said, "I wouldn't say the whole coaching staff, but certain people, yeah. . . . And they know who they are."

Kelly said in February that he was told by a scout if he could run 4.55 or faster at his pro day, he could be a top 15 pick in the NFL Draft on April 26. He felt confident because as a freshman he said he had run 4.52 in the Everest Center. He acknowledged he weighed 205 pounds then, as opposed to 227 now. He has added some 12 pounds of muscle since training at CES Sports in Atlanta and said he felt faster, but the extra weight ultimately may be what slowed him down.

Even if Kelly had run in the Mosier Center, Schmidt said scouts add .10 to .15 to a player's 40 time if they deem the track too fast, such as AstroTurf.

Kelly said he had been told more than once by scouts that they wouldn't add time, regardless of the surface.

"So that's what I get listening to everybody else," he said.

Kelly's results in the 40, broad jump, vertical jump and three shuttle drills were almost identical to those of tight end Joe Jon Finley. Defensive backs Reggie Smith and Marcus Walker also ran through the drills.

The skills portion of Kelly's day -- catching passes and running routes -- looked "very good," said NFL.com senior writer Gil Brandt. Kelly caught passes thrown from former Nebraska Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch.

Afterward, Kelly visited with scouts from the Buffalo Bills ("Don't worry about your times," said one, "just don't get any bigger") and was taken to Will Rogers Airport by scouts from the Cincinnati Bengals, for whom Kelly is interviewing Thursday. He'll also visit Minnesota and Pittsburgh in the coming days.

John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com

RED / WHITE GAME TIPS

Kickoff: 1 p.m. Saturday

Tickets: Advance tickets are $5. OU students with a valid OU ID and children age 5 and under get in free. Sooner Kids Club members also get in free with ID. On game day, tickets are $10. Tickets are also available at SoonerSports.com or from the athletics department ticket office on the west side of the stadium. Phone orders will be accepted at (405) 325-2424 or at (800) 456-GoOU. Gates open at 11:30 a.m. Entry will be available through Gates 1, 5, 7 and 12. Fans should have tickets in hand or arrive early to avoid long lines.

Seating: Fans can sit in the lower bowl seating area. The upper decks on both sides will be closed. Disability seating will be available in the south end zone.

Concessions: Concessions will be available on east and west sides. No food or drinks allowed through the gates, although empty, personal size water bottles are permitted.

Giveaways: A limited number of 2008 schedule posters and schedule magnets will be available at Gates 1, 5, 7 and 12.

Parking: Most lots surrounding the stadium will be open and free of charge. For more information about disability parking services, call (405) 325-3311.

Prohibited Items: Same policy as regular season. Except for items for medical conditions or child care, all backpacks, professional detachable long lens cameras and video cameras, large cases for binoculars or other items, fanny packs and large purses (larger than 10 inches by 10 inches) are prohibited. Only those items required for medical or family needs will be permitted.