Oklahoma football: Who are Sooners’ top 2021 NFL Draft prospects?
By Chip Rouse
For 13 consecutive years, at least four Oklahoma football players have been selected in the NFL Draft.
LSU blew away all schools, much like it did in winning the 2019 national championship, delivering a total of 14 players in the 2020 NFL Draft. Thirteen is the most Oklahoma has produced in any one year of the draft (1988), but OU stands out in another way pertaining to the NFL’s annual draft party of top college talent.
Oklahoma is the only school that has had at least four draft selections in each of the last 13 draft, a total the Sooners matched this year to extend the streak.
Looking ahead to the 2021 NFL Draft and Oklahoma’s best prospects to turn the page on their collegiate careers and find their place on NFL draft boards a year from now, there’s a good chance the Sooners will extend their draft streak to 14 in 2021.
According to the mock draft website draftsite.com, Oklahoma will have at least five picks in next year’s NFL Draft.
Lincoln Riley, however, told The Oklahoma City Oklahoman recently that next year’s Sooner draft class has the potential to be similar to the 2019 class, in which Kyler Murray went No. 1 overall and 10 OU players were selected.
The two best 2021 draft prospects are center Creed Humphrey and running back Kennedy Brooks, if they decide to declare early, which is very likely. Both will have one more year of eligibility after this season, but barring injury, I would be very surprised if either player returns for the 2021 season.
According to Draftsite’s most recent mock draft projections, Humphrey, who will be another in a lengthy list of Sooner offensive lineman taken in recent drafts, is an early second-round selection. Kennedy is projected as a third-round pick. The multi-sport mock draft service has Humphrey as the 37th overall pick, going to the Carolina Panthers. Kennedy is projected going to the Atlanta Falcons with the 81st overall selection.
Both Humphrey and Brooks probably would have been draft picks in this year’s draft, but by coming back for another college year they hope to improve their draft number.
A couple of defensive players, defensive end LaRon Stokes and cornerback Tre Brown, both seniors, are good draft possibilities a year from now. Stokes was the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year in 2019. Both are projected picks in the draftsite 2021 mock draft.
Other potential draft selections from the 2020 OU football roster include offensive lineman Adrian Ealy, an All-Big 12 Second Team selection a year ago, defensive end Ronnie Perkins and defensive lineman Jalen Redmond, who is only a redshirt sophomore but could decide to declare for the draft after this coming season. Perkins, however, faces a potential carryover suspension of five games to start the season.
UCLA graduate transfer Theo Howard joins a relatively young group of OU wide receivers in 2020 and has the potential to be an NFL draft selection. He suffered an Achilles injury this offseason, though, and it is not known how many games he might miss to start the season or if he will be able to play at all in 2020.