Super Sam leads the All-Big 12 team
Today, the league released its All-Big 12 team and Sam Bradford led the way as the preseason offensive player of the year. In all, eight Sooners made the team, the most of any Big 12 school. OSU had 5, Texas had 4 and very surprisingly Baylor was fourth of any Big 12 team with three players, not including having the pick for newcomer of the year in DT Phil Taylor, a transfer from Penn State.
Quickly, here’s a look at the team:
OFFENSE
WR Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State
TE Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma
OL Russell Okung, Oklahoma State
OL Trent Williams, Oklahoma
C Chris Hall, Texas
OL Adam Ulatoski, Texas
OL Brandon Carter, Texas Tech
WR Dezmon Briscoe, Kansas
QB Sam Bradford, Oklahoma (Off. player of the year)
RB Kendall Hunter, Oklahoma State
RB DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma
PK Alex Henery, Nebraska
KR Perrish Cox, Oklahoma State
DEFENSE
DL Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska (Def. player of the year)
DL Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma
DL Jeremy Beal, Oklahoma
DL Sergio Kindle, Texas
LB Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri
LB Joe Pawelek, Baylor
LB Travis Lewis, Oklahoma
DB Darrell Stuckey, Kansas
DB Jordan Lake, Baylor
DB Dominique Franks, Oklahoma
DB Earl Thomas, Texas
P Derek Epperson, Baylor
PR Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State
Analysis: My preseason ballot was very similar to the final team, which makes me comfortable about my selections. I’ll get to those in a second. There was no one from OU that deserved to make the team that didn’t, in my opinion, with the possible exception of Chris Brown. But where do you put him? Kendall Hunter has to be on the list. So that would mean Brown would have to replace Murray. Personally, I voted for Brown over Murray, and here’s why: Murray is more of an all-purpose player than a running back. He returns kicks, punts, catches passes in addition to running the ball. Brown, meanwhile, is strictly a running back, and a terrific one at that. He had better rushing numbers than Murray last year. If there was an all-purpose slot on this team (like there is on the postseason team) I would’ve put Murray there. Plus, Murray is coming off surgery, while Brown has been healthy.
Anyway, here’s what my ballot looked like:
OFFENSE
WR Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State
TE Jermaine Gresham, Oklahoma
OL Russell Okung, Oklahoma State
OL Trent Williams, Oklahoma
C Chris Hall, Texas
OL Adam Ulatoski, Texas
OL Brandon Carter, Texas Tech
WR Dezmon Briscoe, Kansas
QB Sam Bradford, Oklahoma (my Off. player of the year)
RB Kendall Hunter, Oklahoma State
RB Chris Brown, Oklahoma
PK Alex Henery, Nebraska
KR Jordan Shipley, Texas
DEFENSE
DL Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska
DL Gerald McCoy, Oklahoma (my Def. player of the year)
DL Jeremy Beal, Oklahoma
DL Colby Whitlock, Texas Tech (I originally voted for Tech’s Brandon Williams, but then he declared for the NFL’s supplemental draft for some reason)
LB Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri
LB Sergio Kindle, Texas (he was chosen as a DE, but I had him as a LB; if I had to pick another LB, I would’ve gone with either OSU’s Andre Sexton, OU’s Keenan Clayton or Baylor’s Joe Pawelek, who was the one voted to the actual team)
LB Travis Lewis, Oklahoma
DB Darrell Stuckey, Kansas
DB Jordan Lake, Baylor
DB Dominique Franks, Oklahoma
DB Perrish Cox, Oklahoma State
P Derek Epperson, Baylor
PR Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State
I chose OU WR Cameron Kenney as my newcomer of the year, because I think he’s going to catch more than 40 passes this season from Bradford. But I can see why Phil Taylor was selected as well. The Suh-McCoy argument is sort of a toss-up, and I went with the homer pick. I thought that C. McCoy had a chance to beat out Bradford for Off. Player of the Year, but Bradford prevailed and more voters agreed with me.
-JT
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