I'm feeling a bit cocky today. Cocky enough to shout out, Boomer Freakin' Sooner! Why, Gcoach, why are you feelin' so doggone giddy and cocky today? OK, I'll tell ya! Hey, you asked the question and now I gots ta respond!

It isn't the Sooner Women's Basketball team that had a great run cut short when the Paris sisters ran into a better team...at least on that night. I will say this however...Ashley took the training bit a little more seriously than Courtney did...and she looked better at the end of the year. Courtney couldn't get up and down the floor to be effective when she really needed to be. But...you certainly can't knock the career she had at OU. Good luck to her in the WNBA in Sacramento where PaPa Bubba can hang out at every game. What luck!

It isn't the Sooner Men's Basketball team that got as far as it could riding on one guys backside. Inconsistent play from everyone but Blake Griffin meant the Sooners were riding a one man rollercoaster and if someone else (or else's) didn't step up everynight they were pretty much done. And...they were. But the kid is a monster stud and I'm actually lookin' forward to watching him in the NBA...which will shock most anyone that knows me...'cause I don't watch basketball...as a rule...unless there is a Sooner involved. I told my dad the other day that he probably shouldn't expect much from the Sooner Men's BBall team next year and...sadly...he hung his head and agreed with me.

It isn't this past College Football NC game in which my Sooners left too many points in the red zone in the first half because...DeMarco Murray wasn't playing...Wilson calls too many running plays in a row (same play, same formation)...takes the ball out of Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford's hands...and keeps Jermaine Gresham out of the endzone for a third time...or fourth? It isn't because the coaching staff calls a different game at every...BCS Bowl Game they get to...than the game they call all season long.

But...it does have to do with the football team.

Here is why I am so doggone giddy! Here is why I'm happy to shout Boomer Freakin' Sooner!

I went and dropped in on College Football News Scout.com site and looked up an article that had to do with the potential top 250 draft choices in 2010 in the NFL. I know it is a long way off but I wasn't looking at what was available this year...that has already been beat to death and I'm not looking forward to Mel Kiper's rambling on and on about this kid or that kid or this team and that team. I'll get my ear full of that soon enough. I was looking at wo was left around college football enough to keep it interesting and I stumbled upon something. Something that...for a Sooner fan anyway...is kind of interesting. I'm not going to lay out all of their criteria in determining this because...well...quite frankly...I don't know it. I'm not going to scroll down the list of 250 because there are some who...quite frankly...I couldn't care less about. What they do though that interested me is break them down by position and in some cases identify them as "Franchise Stars" or "Franchise Prospects" or "Probable NFL Starters" and "The Best of the Rest." Here is what interested me about OU this year and the players they have on campus.

QB - FRANCHISE STAR #1 - Sam Bradford

RB - FRANCHISE STAR #4 - DeMarco Murray

TE - FRANCHISE STAR #1 - Jermaine Gresham

OT - FRANCHISE PROSPECT #2 - Trent Williams

DT - FRANCHISE PROSPECT #1 - Gerald McCoy

DT - FRANCHISE PROSPECT #6 - DeMarcus Granger

RB - PROBABLE NFL STARTER - Chris Brown (number 5 on list directly behind Murray)

DE - PROBABLE NFL STARTER - Austin English

OLB - PROBABLE NFL STARTER - Travis Lewis (3rd year sophomore)

OLB - BEST of the REST - Keenan Clayton

Ten Sooners expected to make some kind of impact on an NFL team near you...in 2010.

So what can we Sooner fans expect this year? Concern floated around Norman that Bradford wouldn't have anyone to throw the ball to now that Juaguin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson have gone. Well, that ain't quite true. Look for a kid named Ryan Broyles or a kid named Adron Tennell to step it up this year and provide Bradford with another group of receivers to get the ball to with regularity. These guys, along with Gresham, and a few others will keep Bradford loaded with targets this fall. Behind Murray and Brown, Mossis Madu, Jermie Calhoun and Justin Johnson are supposedly ready to help out. However, with Murray and Brown sitting out the Red-White game a couple of weeks ago Madu was clearly the better runner as the other two struggled to hit holes...well...the few that were provided...and didn't help the running game grade out very high. The offensive line has the aforementioned Trent Williams on it along with a few guys who didn't play in the Red-White game but have high expectations placed upon them. Guys like Stephen Good and Jarvis Jones. So the Sooner offense may not be as productive as they were last year when they went point crazy...(Alas, except when they really needed it) but me thinks they are still going to be pretty damned good. Bradford only played three series in the Red-White game but moved the ball effectively behind his new O-Line. The line struggled but...it was Spring ball...and not Fall practice. Based on what I saw...they need work but I think they'll be ready.

Defense stole the show. Granger, and Mccoy and English, Ryan Reynolds, Quentin Carter, Keenan Clayton and Brandon Crow didn't dress...and the defense dominated. Starting cornerbacks Dominique Franks and Brian Jackson put on quite a show. Look for guys by the name of Jayden Bird, Ronnell Lewis and Tom Wort to push for playing time at linebacker this year if Austin Box, Ryan Reynolds and others can't stay healthy. Bird wrapped up Johnson on one play and literally hurled him on the ground about 10 yards at the sideline. The hit and hurl caused a reprimand from Bob Stoops but you have to love the tenacity these three...freshmen...true freshmen brought out on the field. The last OU linebacker who didn't redshirt was Curtis Lofton who became a consensus All-American. Defensive Coordiantor Brent Venables said that if these three keep playing the way they are playing they may see some time this fall. Not my call on redshirting them...but if they can make OU better...now...well...we'll see, eh Brent! 

What does this mean for the Sooners and the upcoming college football season? Maybe a lot and maybe nothing. I've always been a "play 'em on the field" kind of a guy and that ain't about to change. Of course, that will probably ramp up some comments about the OU - Texas game last year but if it does...it is what it is...just remember...3 way tie...tie breaker in that case agreed upon by every team in the Big 12...so...it is what it is. But if we have so much talent ready to explode into the NFL in 2010...and we have so much talent waiting to make their mark...then I say expectations are high...and well they should be. So...on the field...if they all play to their apparent capabilities...avoid the critical injuries...Reynolds knees and Murray's missed Bowl games the past two years...why shouldn't these guys take the Sooners to another NC? If they do all of that then...the only thing standing in the way would be...the coaching staff again not doing what got them there in the first place...in another BCS bowl game. Personally...all of the tools are there...so...BOOMER FREAKIN' SOONER!!!

Unfortunately...the wait is too long...and thats the bottom line...