Oklahoma football: National media swarms Norman for OU pro day

With more than 100 media credentials handed out and both the NFL Network and ESPN planning live broadcasts from Norman tomorrow, Oklahoma football pro day is a chance for the Sooners to show off not only a deep 2019 draft class, but also the state of the program to current and future recruits.

Thanks to a swirling interest around potential top pick and reigning Heisman winner Kyler Murray, the Sooners will have the interest of the entire football world to themselves for most of tomorrow. all 32 NFL teams are sending representatives as 13 former Sooners show their stuff and make their case to play at the next level.

Murray, who didn’t participate in workouts at the combine, will be weighed and measured again (hopefully ending the silly conspiracy theories running around about his height and weight) as well as participate in running and throwing drills as teams continue to mull over selecting him.

Surrounding that, 12 other Sooners will go through drills including Rodney Anderson, Amani Beldsoe, Curtis Bolton, Marquise Brown, Bobby Evans, Cody Ford, Carson Meier, Ben Powers, Dru Samia, Austin Seibert, Marcelias Sutton and Myles Tease. Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Joel Blumenthal will also participate in drills.

Here are some of the top storylines going into pro day

Kyler Murray

This one is obvious. It’s why everyone is watching so closely. Murray’s size is the only thing standing between him and being a consensus top five pick. Murray’s quick release and accuracy have long been selling points, along with his blazing speed.

Quantifying all of those skills with a testable score directly in front of scouts from every NFL team will go a long way toward dispelling any doubts about where he should stand in the 2019 draft class quarterback pecking order. It could also change the narrative, putting to bed a lot of the silliness that has been running wild through the national media for the past few weeks.

Rodney Anderson

The Sooners’ running back would probably be a borderline first-round pick if it weren’t for a series of unrelated injuries that plagued his college football career. Anderson has been snakebitten by freak accidents, but has one of the best skillsets of any draft-eligible running back. Still recovering from an ACL injury that cost him most of his junior year at Oklahoma, he was only able to participate in the bench press testing at the combine.

If he’s healthy enough to perform some of the running drills, he could get a chance to show off his freakish athleticism and remind NFL teams just exactly what they would be getting by spending a draft pick on the Katy, Texas product. He’s drawn comparisons to James Conner, another sleeper running back who has gone on to make a major impact with the Pittsburgh Steelers.