OU NFL Draft Prospects: Sterling Shepard Best of Sooner Draft Hopefuls
By Chip Rouse
Wide receiver Sterling Shepard heads the list of OU NFL Draft prospects who are likely to be selected in the annual three-day event that takes place at the end of this month.
A school-record 13 Oklahoma Sooners were selected in the 1988 NFL Draft, and 10 former Sooners were drafted in three other years. The names of Oklahoma players are not expected to be called that often in this year’s NFL Draft April 28-30, but it is a good bet that as many as six former Sooners will have something to celebrate when the draft takes center stage later this month in Chicago.
The first Sooner name likely to be called is that of Shepard, who CBSSports.com rates as the No. 8 wide receiver on the draft board and projects as a second- or third-round selection.
Shepard finished his career at Oklahoma this past season as No. 2 on the Sooners’ career pass-receiving list with 3,482 receiving yards and 233 career receptions.
In its NFL draft evaluation of the OU wide receiver, CBS Sports wrote: “Shepard is a nightmare to cover because he possesses the straight-line speed to beat defenders over the top, as well as the awareness and toughness to ‘body catch’ when necessary to protect the ball.”
Among the drawbacks that could hurt his NFL draft stock are his undersized frame (listed at 5-10, 195 pounds). This could limit the success he might have at the next level when having to go up against, bigger, stronger defensive backs.
Other former Sooner players to watch for as the days draw closer to this year’s NFL Draft are a pair of linebacker prospects, Eric Striker and Dominique Alexander, cornerback Zack Sanchez, defensive end Charles Tapper and offensive lineman Ty Darlington.
Striker, one of the best edge rushers in college football during his four-year career at Oklahoma, is rated by CBS Sports as No. 11 among the linebacker prospects available in this year’s draft and the No. 121 overall. He is a projected fourth-round draft selection, according to CBS Sports, which lists Striker as “a natural playmaker boasting terrific awareness, agility and closing speed.”
While Striker and Shepard completed their eligibility, Alexander and Sanchez elected to leave school a year early and declare for the NFL Draft. Projected by CBS Sports to go as high as the second or third round, it is easy to understand why the two OU player have chosen to bypass their final season at Oklahoma.
According to CBS Sports, Alexander, an outside linebacker at OU, is the third best available player at his position and No. 82 overall. Sanchez is believed to lack the size and strength to fit well in some NFL defensive schemes, but he is rated by CBS Sports as No. 10 at his position and is projected to go as high as a third-round selection.
Tapper, another four-year player for Oklahoma, also is projected to go in the second day of the draft, potentially in the second or third rounds. The book on Tapper touts him as possessing an NFL-ready frame with broad shoulders and long arms. On the downside, however, is the “inconsistency to his game, partly because he remains technically flawed,” according to the draft evaluation by CBS Sports.
Darlington was a player whose outstanding performance on the field was rivaled by his All-American status in the classroom. Darlington is listed as a center prospect, the primary position he played his final two seasons at Oklahoma. CBS Sports rates him as the No. 12 player in the draft at the offensive center position and No. 368 overall.
Six Sooners were selected in last years NFL Draft, which is close to what the number is projected to be this year, but only two of last season’s NFL draft picks out of Oklahoma went as high as the second or third rounds (NT Jordan Phillips, Round 2 by the Miami Dolphins; NT Geneo Grissom, Round 3, by the New England Patriots).
Since the first NFL Draft, in 1936, 373 Oklahoma Sooners have been selected as part of the draft process, the fourth most of any school, according to information provided by the Oklahoma Sports Information Department. Forty-three of those draft selections were first-round picks