Door opens for Sooners' incoming WRs

May, 10, 2012
May 10
1:24
PM ET
Oklahoma signee Durron Neal (St. Louis/De Smet Jesuit) had about 20 phone calls and text messages Wednesday. For Sterling Shepard (Oklahoma City/Heritage Hall), the news didn’t hit his phone until Thursday morning, and he said he has already talked to several people.

In other words, the highly touted group of receivers for the Sooners know they’re going to have to grow up in a hurry.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops announced Wednesday night that four players have been indefinitely suspended for violating team rules. Receivers Jaz Reynolds, Trey Franks and Kameel Jackson were included in that group.

Click here Insider for the rest of Bob Przybylo's story.
The Atlantic Coast Conference’s television contract extension with ESPN, announced Wednesday, is the first of three major conference deals expected to be finalized in the next few months.

The ACC contract was extended after the addition of new members Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh last September. The shifting of schools as part of conference realignment also led to changes in the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference that has those existing deals in play, too.

The ACC deal is worth $3.6 billion over the next 15 years, according to The Associated Press. That puts the ACC behind only the Big Ten and Pac-12 in terms of the average revenue per school, per year by one measure (viewing all current contracts divided between conferences’ 2012-13 membership.)

SportsBusiness Daily has reported the Big 12 has verbally agreed to a new contract with ESPN and FOX for its first-tier rights for $2.6 billion over 13 years. That would bring the per-year average for the Big 12 to $200 million and the per-school, per-year average to $20 million. The SEC is expected to reopen its contract talks with ESPN following the addition of the University of Missouri and Texas A&M.

ESPN had no comment on any of the deals, which vary in what slate of rights are included, but a spokesman did say that the network is in regular contact with its business partners.

With all of the shuffling and extensions, it can be hard to keep up. Here’s a listing, according to information from The Associated Press, SportsBusiness Daily, SportsBusiness Journal and Adweek, of where things stand now. The Big 12 extension is not included because it has not been finalized. Also, per-year averages and per-school, per-year averages are straight averages and do not take into account actual variances by year as stipulated in individual contracts.

(Read full post)

Video: Top 20 roundtable -- Kansas State

May, 10, 2012
May 10
1:00
PM ET
video
"College Football Live's" panel of experts preview Kansas State's upcoming season.
What are you looking at, Jar Jar Binks?
NFL draft expert Mel Kiper Jr. broke down his top-five prospects at each position among juniors and seniors entering the 2013 draft.

You'll need ESPN Insider to see both (here are the juniorsInsider) (and here are the seniorsInsider), but here's a taste of what you can find among the seniors.

Quarterbacks
Fullbacks
Receivers
Offensive tackles
Centers
Inside linebackers
Cornerbacks
Punters

HornsNation links: Freshman LB Q&A

May, 10, 2012
May 10
10:26
AM ET
From Max Olson Insider: With his confidence and ability, sophomore cornerback Darrion Johnson has earned rave reviews from his coaches. Now things are picking up on the recruiting trail.

More from Olson: Class of 2012 linebacker Tim Cole talks about what position he’ll play for the Longhorns and whether he’ll play as a freshman.
Colleague Travis Haney kept an eye on the ever-changing national championship odds, and three Big 12 teams made big moves during the spring.

Oklahoma and West Virginia made big moves up the scale.

Oklahoma began the spring at 18-1 and has since moved to 10-1.
Those wondering whether OU would locate playmakers likely noted the spring emergence of receiver Trey Metoyer, a vertical threat from Texas who spent last fall at a Virginia prep school. He could make junior Kenny Stills' life much easier as the No. 1 receiver.

Mike Stoops' imprint has already been seen on a pass defense that was woeful in the losses to Texas Tech and Baylor. For one, all-conference-level talent Tony Jefferson moved from linebacker to free safety, a more natural position.

I could see it for Oklahoma. Last year, there was so much pressure on the preseason No. 1 Sooners. This year, they're still supremely talented, but the expectations aren't as high. OU will kick off the season around the top five, which makes a run to the title still a possibility with one loss. Even coach Bob Stoops admitted to me this spring that there's less pressure this time around, but still a very talented team. The big question for me is can Landry Jones play well for 13 games. He hasn't done it yet in his career, but the time is now. He can look otherworldly at times, but very average at others.

Meanwhile, West Virginia has moved from a 50-1 to 30-1.
What's will be interesting is seeing how West Virginia -- and TCU, in a similar-but-different sense -- adjust to the week-in, week-out challenges of the new league. In the Mountaineers' case, travel will be part of that game. At least one Big 12 peer thought those variables would preclude either of the newcomers from winning the league in year one.

Additionally, no one's really talking all that much about defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel leaving to rejoin Rich Rodriguez in Arizona. There's a sense that the 3-4 installed this spring by new coordinator Joe DeForest will work well in the Big 12. DeForest should know, since he was previously at Oklahoma State (where he coached with Dana Holgorsen).

I could see WVU winning the Big 12, but the national championship? Not happening, and that defense is the reason why. It's not ready yet. You win in the Big 12 with offense, yes. But you win big in the Big 12 with a great offense and a defense to match. That's how Oklahoma and Texas have done it over the years, and even last year, Oklahoma State took advantage with turnovers and nearly reached the title game.

WVU's floor is very, very high. I'd be very, very surprised if they won fewer than nine games, but in a new league, it's hard to imagine them going 12-0.

Kansas State, however, has taken a big step back this spring, according to oddsmakers. They've dropped from 25-1 to 150-1.
Perhaps the correct means of approaching this is to question who would ever see K-State as a 25-1 in the first place. Maybe Vegas realized what many already knew: The Wildcats, grinding out seemingly every game, were extremely fortunate to win 10 in 2011. Take out blowouts of lowly Kent State and Kansas, and the remaining eight victories were all by single digits, by an average of 4.5 points a game.

For me, the troubling sign from 2011 wasn't so much the close wins. Coach Bill Snyder does what he need to in order to win games. The playbook was limited in the first few games.

What makes me worry most about K-State? Losing to Oklahoma at home by 41 points. How many championship teams do something like that?
This time last year, we broke down which Big 12 players would most likely reach the benchmarks for their positions in 2011.

The benchmark for running backs is clearly 1,000 yards. Here's what I wrote about the Big 12's 1,000-yard rushers.

It's time to revisit those projections.

Forty-seven players in college football topped 1,000 yards rushing last season. I ranked the Big 12 backs in order of the likelihood they'd hit 1,000 yards, not how many yards I projected them to reach. The Big 12 had five of them. Here's who I picked to do it:
[+] Enlarge
James Sims
John Rieger/US PresswireJames Sims numbers in 2011 were very similar to those from his freshman season in 2010.
1. James Sims, Kansas -- As a true freshman in 2010, Sims didn't play in the opener, but it was clear as the season went on that he's the Jayhawks most consistent runner. Kansas is deep at the position, but Sims figures to get the biggest share of carries for a team with big questions at quarterback. The Jayhawks averaged nearly 40 rushing attempts per game last year. I don't see that number dropping this year. Sims got just 168 of those 470 carries, and he still managed 742 yards.
Final 2011 yardage tally: 727 yards

Thoughts: Sims simply didn't improve his production as expected from his true freshman year in 2010, even though his carries jumped from 168 to 182. I thought he'd get a few more touches, but the production wasn't there, and Kansas was limited in how often it could run the ball, considering some of the lopsided losses it suffered.
2. Cyrus Gray, Texas A&M -- Gray and his teammate in the backfield, Christine Michael, should both have very good years. I like both of them to clear 800 yards, and it's possible they both hit 1,000 yards, but there's only so much offense to go around. Ryan Tannehill and Jeff Fuller, along with the rest of the talented receiving corps, will have to get theirs. Considering the way Gray closed the season, he's likely to start out with the biggest share of carries.
Final 2011 yardage tally: 1,045 yards

Thoughts: Right on the money for Gray. Yes, Christine Michael was injured, which allowed Gray to grab a few more carries, but remember, Gray didn't play in the final two games of A&M's season. Still, a strong senior campaign.
3. Joseph Randle, Oklahoma State -- Randle will also be in split backfield along with Jeremy Smith, but he showed plenty of pop as a true freshman last year. Only DeMarco Murray caught more passes as a running back last year, so he may clear 1,000 yards of offense without doing it on the ground. But the Cowboys run an Air Raid system with a commitment to the run, so the touches should still be there for Randle with Kendall Hunter gone to the NFL.
Final 2011 yardage tally: 1,216 yards

Thoughts: Nailed the upside on Randle. Unlike Sims, he took a huge step forward as a sophomore, in part because of his featured role. Randle finished second in the Big 12 in rushing, and added 24 touchdowns, too.
SportsNation

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5. Roy Finch, Oklahoma -- Finch has the talent to do it. No doubt. But there's no getting around doubting his health. A stress fracture in his foot caused him to miss almost half his freshman season, and the Sooners are mindful of that with a good group of backs behind him that might sap a few carries. Finch will have to hit a few big runs to get to 1,000, but if he gets hurt again, perhaps true freshman Brandon Williams or Brennan Clay could step in.
Final 2011 yardage tally: 605 yards

Thoughts: Whiffed on this one. Finch inexplicably couldn't get on the field early in the season while walk-on Dominique Whaley dominated before breaking his leg in a win over Kansas State. In Finch's defense, after he started getting touches, he topped 83 yards four times in five games late in the season. He also averaged 5.45 yards a carry.

In 2011, I missed out on three of the five rushers. Baylor's Terrance Ganaway rumbled to 1,547 yards rushing and led the Big 12. Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein led the league in carries and rushed for 1,141 yards and 27 touchdowns.

Missouri running back Henry Josey took advantage of the injuries to two backs ahead of him on the depth chart and had a breakout year, rushing for 1,168 yards before suffering a catastrophic knee injury against Texas. He likely won't return in 2012, and just underwent an additional surgery earlier this week.

How would you grade my projections?
Four Oklahoma players have been suspended indefinitely for violations of team rules, which could leave the Sooners with just one receiver on the roster for the season opener who has caught a pass.

Coach Bob Stoops announced the suspensions late Wednesday night.

Receivers Jaz Reynolds, Trey Franks and Kameel Jackson and reserve safety Quentin Hayes are the players involved.

No details of the suspensions were made public, but the most troubling aspect? Two of the suspended players have been disciplined before.
This isn't the first time Reynolds has run into trouble with Stoops. Reynolds was suspended twice in 2010, including once after he made insensitive comments on Twitter following a campus shooting at the University of Texas.

This isn't the first time Stoops has punished Franks, either. After starting OU's first two games last season, Franks was suspended two games for what Stoops termed multiple violations of team rules. Franks ended the season with 22 catches for 196 yards.

Jackson, a true freshman last season who started for the Sooners in the Insight Bowl, tweeted earlier in the week that he was transferring from OU.

That's got to be frustrating for Stoops, but there's no doubt it's just as frustrating for quarterback Landry Jones, who's about to embark on an important season for his own career.

He's not getting much help from his teammates.

This story should be interesting to watch, and will have a big impact on the Sooners' Big 12 and national title hopes. Oklahoma was already a narrow favorite in the Big 12, but will the suspensions make way for another contender -- West Virginia, Kansas State, TCU, Texas perhaps? -- to grab the role of favorite come fall?
The Big 12's going to look a lot different in 2012.

Texas A&M and Missouri are out.

TCU and West Virginia are in.

The cosmetic differences are obvious. TCU and West Virginia are the first non-founding members to join the Big 12, which began in 1996, and they join it as the league is undergoing plenty of less tangible changes.

Over the past decade, a crimson and burnt orange ceiling has capped the rest of the Big 12, keeping expectations measured for teams that didn't have "TEXAS" or "SOONERS" emblazoned on the front of their jerseys.

Colorado knocked off Texas in 2001 and Kansas State upset the Sooners in 2003, but every other Big 12 title since 2000 had been won by one of the Red River rivals.

Oklahoma State, though, brought an air of hope across the rest of the Big 12 in 2011. It outplayed preseason No. 1 Oklahoma and Texas for the entirety of a 12-game season in the first year of the league's new round-robin schedule.

Well, there goes the neighborhood.

The Big 12 is a two-team league? Think again.

Or should you?

The Big 12 feels different these days. Oklahoma State provided hope to the Kansas States and Texas Techs of the Big 12, but just as quickly as that window of hope arrived, Oklahoma and Texas would love nothing more than to slam it shut.

For the time being, both teams have the ability to do so in the next two seasons.

Oklahoma went from preseason No. 1 to Insight Bowl winner with a late-season swoon in 2011, but that swoon simply doesn't happen if Ryan Broyles' knee remains intact against Texas A&M and Dominique Whaley's leg doesn't get rolled up and broken at Kansas State.

OU beats Baylor. Season-ending Bedlam is still a toss-up, but the mental edge in a close game could come back into play for the Sooners, and that window never creaks open.

Texas? The Sooners have been flying solo as the Big 12's resident national powerhouse since the Longhorns went from national title game participant in 2009 to 5-7 punchline in 2010.

The Longhorns, though, are finally establishing the power running game they wanted since 2010, as Manny Diaz has spliced together the nastiest group of defenders in the Big 12 that has the personnel to state a case as the nation's best by season's end.

Oklahoma and Texas have continued to recruit top-tier talent, and their stranglehold on the Big 12 has loosened only slightly. One year without a title is one year without a title.

It doesn't change the fact that OU and Texas still have the most talent, from starters to benchwarmers, of any team in the Big 12.

That doesn't always equal wins, but it does equal a higher probability of wins. Oklahoma has proved that with seven Big 12 titles since 2000. Texas' renewed sense of purpose and more careful recruiting has helped the Longhorns begin to rebound from the 2010 disaster.

Last season was a big win for the little guys.

This season could be the year Oklahoma proves it was a little blip in Big 12 history. The Sooners will rebuild in 2013, but Texas could take its turn and win its first Big 12 title since 2009 with a team built for big success in 2013.

The Big 12 feels different, but is it really?

Just like always, that's for Texas and Oklahoma to decide.

Video: Big 12 games to watch

May, 9, 2012
May 9
3:00
PM ET
video
David Ubben says Oklahoma at West Virginia, Kansas State at Oklahoma, Texas at West Virginia and Texas vs. Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl are four games to watch in the Big 12.
Tags:

Big 12, video

With the spring in the Big 12 over, it's time to hand out some awards.

Best newcomer: Brandon Moore, DT, Texas. Moore and offensive lineman Donald Hawkins were the first two juco transfers at Texas since 2002. This spring, Moore showed why, and Hawkins should start on the offensive line. Moore, a 330-pound force in the middle of the defense was reportedly "unstoppable" this spring. Conditioning may be an issue, but that could get better over the summer. If he's busting up offensive lines, Texas' defense is going to be terrifying. Honorable mention: Blake Jackson, WR/TE, Oklahoma State, Dayne Crist, QB, Kansas

Biggest shocker: Wes Lunt, QB, Oklahoma State. OSU OC Todd Monken said himself he'd be "shocked" if Lunt came in and won the QB job. Well, consider him shocked. Junior Clint Chelf didn't distance himself from his competition, and Lunt learned enough to surpass dual-threat J.W. Walsh and win the job. Chelf and Walsh don't sound like they're itching to transfer, which is a welcome sign for OSU's coaches, but Lunt could begin a storied career in Stillwater this fall, even if there are growing pains in the immediate future.

Best quote: Todd Monken, OC, Oklahoma State. Monken got the Sooners fired up with his take on how quickly things can change for a quarterback when it comes to confidence. "It didn’t take long when ol’ (Oklahoma receiver Ryan) Broyles went down and (OU) started running the dozer to think, 'Do we have our guy?' That didn’t take long," Monken said. "Landry Jones went from like, 'I’m the man,' to all of a sudden, 'I haven’t thrown a touchdown pass, I'm fumbling it over my head at Oklahoma State. I gotta go back and see my quarterback guru." Monken later apologized, and even though he made an example of a rival player, it wasn't explicit criticism. Out of line? Maybe. Definitely not what Mike Gundy wanted to hear. Above all, though, it was fact. Even Oklahoma fans who watched the Sooners in 2011 would admit that. It's the truth. Nice move to apologize, and Oklahoma can call it disrespect if it wants. I'll call it what it is: the truth.

Second-best quote: Glenn Gronkowski, FB, Kansas State. On the light-hearted side of things, the youngest of the Gronkowski boys explained his family slogan, "Get Gronk'd" on his bracelet ("It basically just means beasting as much as possible. It's about beasting and going as hard as possible at all times and in everything you do.") and what it was like growing up with his older brothers, notably New England Patriots' TE Rob Gronkowski. "We'd just break stuff, man. We were into WWE when we were little. One time, we got an old table and pulled it out into the living room. We got Rob and choke-slammed him through it. That thing broke right in half." Mrs. Gronkowski, you are a saint.

Biggest black eye: TCU drug scandal. TCU had a squeaky-clean image before this spring, but there's no doubt the newcomers picked a bad time to have it end. Not the best first impression. Four players were arrested in a campus drug sting, including former All-American linebacker Tanner Brock, who would have been the team's top defender. There's some debate about how widespread the problem was, but the impact, scope and attention of the scandal were a bigger problem for the schools than players at Baylor and Iowa State being under investigation for sexual assault. Isn't that a problem in itself?

Best spring-game performance: Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State. Klein was going up against second-teamers, sure. Other K-State quarterbacks have put up crazy numbers in this game, but Klein bested them all with an eye-popping stat line. He completed 47-of-56 passes for 480 yards and six touchdowns, though he threw an interception on the final drive with the game tied at 42. Most impressive? He called all the plays, as K-State QBs traditionally do in the spring game. Honorable mention: Charlie Moore, WR, Oklahoma State

Best viral video: Charlie Weis, Kansas. Weis allowed media access to one open practice, and at the end, ripped into his team for not being enthusiastic enough while celebrating what was supposed to be a game-winning field goal to beat TCU and go 3-0, he told them. "I can tell you guys aren’t used to winning. ... Winning a football game is not supposed to be an uncommon occurrence. I know that’s a novel concept around here," Weis yelled. "When you win a football game, there’s supposed to be a celebration that looks like a celebration. And that was a pile of crap." Was it legitimate? Was it a media stunt? I don't care. It was compelling.
Another spring has come and gone in the Big 12. In this league, it's a long one. Texas Tech kicked things off on February 17, just two weeks after signing day.

Kansas and Kansas State didn't wrap it up until spring games on April 28.

Through it all, we learned a lot. Here's a taste.

Texas is inching much closer to contention: The offense? Well, it's still a work in progress, though David Ash showed some solid progression during the spring. But the defense? It's leading the way for the Longhorns' road back from the 5-7 implosion in 2010. Quandre Diggs and Carrington Byndom might just be the two best cornerbacks in the Big 12, and Alex Okafor and Jackson Jeffcoat are probably the two best defensive ends. Great coverage and a great pass-rush? Sounds like a good start to slowing down Big 12 offenses. Add in junior college man-child Brandon Moore, and solid linebacker play with Jordan Hicks, Demarco Cobbs and Steve Edmond, and the Longhorns have a unit that can help them get back into title contention.

Only one team doesn't know who its quarterback will be: Baylor hardly had a competition to replace RG3. Kansas replaced Jordan Webb with transfer Dayne Crist. Oklahoma State pulled the trigger on a youngster. Texas hasn't officially named him, but Ash has all but sewn up the job in Austin. That leaves Iowa State, which has sophomore Jared Barnett and senior Steele Jantz competing for the job for a second consecutive fall. Anything could happen there.

Mike Gundy has guts: Oklahoma State said goodbye to a mature, big-armed passer in Brandon Weeden, who won 23 games in two seasons. However, the reigning Big 12 champion again will have a big arm at quarterback. Gundy made the league's gutsiest move this spring, handing the reins to 18-year-old Wes Lunt from Illinois. He's one of just six players in the Big 12 from Illinois, and he's a decade younger than Weeden. Robert Griffin III was the league's last true freshman to start a majority of games, but Lunt might be the first to win the job in the spring.

There's a new sherriff in town: The Big 12 knew Chuck Neinas was a quick fix at the commissioner spot, but the league made a quick move in pegging Stanford AD Bob Bowlsby as the new commissioner to replace Dan Beebe, who was fired in September. The Big 12 is likely to cash in on a nice TV deal shortly after Bowlsby takes over, but he'll have to help reconnect a league that must work through some possibly divisive issues like expansion in the near future. He'll also need to manage the relationship between Texas, who he referred to as an "800-pound gorilla," and the rest of its Big 12 brethren. The relationship sounds good now, but over time, issues could arise.

Charlie Weis is making sure KU looks nothing like its 2011 team: Kansas has undergone the biggest change of any team in the Big 12 this offseason. New coach Weis saw a lot of problems at KU, and went about fixing them quickly. He welcomed six Division I transfers, including three from Notre Dame, which included his new quarterback, Crist. He also saw gaping holes along the defensive line and tried to fill them with junior college players and high schoolers who will be challenging for playing time in the fall. Kansas will look a lot different, but will it be better?
Sent from one of my four iPads? This guy sounds amazing.
video
David Ubben says Baylor QB Nick Florence, OSU WR Josh Stewart and Texas RB Joe Bergeron are three players to watch in the Big 12 this year
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