Everything you want to know about spring football and the state of things up to now..

[Conan]

Here's the link. Enjoy

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/feature/featureIndex?page=spring2006


PS... any article with an [IN] icon next to it is a subscription article. Just let me know what it is that you want posted here and I'll do that if you can't access the page you want.

 

[GoSooners]

Conan..Good spring football info. Of course my interests are with the Big 12. I can tell you that 3 of the players they talked about and who stand out with me and I think are going to be the biggest surprises this season in the Big 12 are DB Reggie Smith of OU, who might just be the best OU DB since Roy Williams. He really had a breakout spring practice. I agree with their assesment. A Jim Thorpe award is probably in his future.
As I stated here a couple weeks ago after their spring game, I thought Jordan Shipley of Texas was one of the best wide receiver prospects that I've seen for awhile. He's scarey good after he gets his hands on the ball. And another player that scares the bejeebers out of me is QB Stephen McGee of Texas A&M. I've already seen this kid up close and personal last season when the Aggies came to Norman. McGee almost singlehandley dismantled the OU defense in that remarkable comeback in the second half. I thought it was a fluke until he did the same thing to Texas defense the next week. This kid is the real deal. He was one of the 10 most sought after highschool QB's in 2004. He'll have a breakout year if the Aggies can keep the other teams offenses off the field long enough for McGee to operate.

 

[Conan]

Good feedback GS....

There seem to be so much information to soak up it's overwhelming but July is the slowest month in Col FB as far as news and other misc. developments go. Fall practce is in full swing in Aug. and that's a long time to wait. Meanwhile I plan to go through all this info and try to soak up all I can. Let's hit the ground running this fall.

 

[Insiders]

Conan

Great information from you as always.
GoSooners is right on tip top of one of the best Sooner defensive players as usual as well.
Look for the Sooner QB to have a outstanding year passing and "running" this year as well.
Did i mention that Adrain Peterson has learned to catch the ball? Well look for some swing passes out of the backfield to this kid, who byt the way tries to run over anything that is between him and the goal line. This could prove to be Bad for the injury problems that always occur dureing the long season. ( surely hope not)
Sooner defense is going to be outstanding this year and the first game with UAB "could" be one that UAB has a real tuff time with field postion and as Go Sooners has mentioned Stoops will send AD right, AD left, AD in the flat.
Looking very much forward to the upcomeing college football season with ALL the good information here at the Rx.

Also hope the GoSooners can put us ALL on a team like he did last year with those Texas totals.....whew!! they were Blistering on the winning percetage as i won them ALL but one!

 

[Conan]

That's a good point Insiders about that totals run. I think I only picked 2 totals last season but got them both. I forget about them too often. There have been some interesting changes in WC teams that should make totals an interesting game this year. I think there will be plenty of opportunities.

 

[GoSooners]

Conan..Something else I forgot to add; Remember that article you posted here about scouting the best defensive line prospects according to ESPN Todd McShay? I thought it was very unusual that he didn't mention any of the OU DE's in his top 25 players. Yet Brett Edgerton in his ESPN spring football article thinks that OU's defensive end tandem of Birdine, Ah You, Thibodeaux and Williams make a strong case for being the best in the country. These are 4 players who are going to be rotating with each other. And any of these guys would start for any team in the country. I have a strong feeling by the end of ther season that McShay will be adding a few players from Big Red country to his top 10 list. I guarantee you these guys are really really good. At least 2 of them will go in the first round next year. I agree with Insiders about UAB. I think minor league teams like that are going to have a hard time scoring anything on this defense. They aren't strong enough to run against OU's massive defensive line. And UAB will be breaking in a new QB, so in all likelihood will also have a hard time passing on OU on top of being pressured by those talented ends. As you can tell I'm really excited about this OU defense. They aren't getting the publicity the OU offense is. But they will when the season starts. It's the best I've seen here since the 2000 NC year.