Oklahoma football: Two more Sooners selected in NFL Draft
By Chip Rouse
They had to wait it out for three days, but the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft made it worth the wait for two more Oklahoma football players.
Running back Rhamondre Stevenson was selected by the New England Patriots with the 15th pick in the fourth round and the 120th player overall. Seventeen picks later, also in the fourth round, defensive back Tre Brown became the fourth Sooner player taken in this year’s draft.
Brown was taken by the Seattle Seahawks with the 32nd pick in round four, the 137th player overall. He is the first Oklahoma corner back selected in the NFL Draft since Zack Sanchez was taken in the fifth round in 2016 by the Carolina Panthers and the highest OU player drafted at that position since Aaron Colvin was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth round in 2014.
Stevenson and Brown join Sooner teammates Creed Humphrey and Ronnie Perkins, both of who were second round selections (Humphrey by the Kansas City Chiefs and Perkins by the New England Patriots). With four draft selections in the first four rounds of the 2021 draft, Oklahoma has now had at least four draft picks in every NFL Draft for the past 14 years.
Rhamondre Stevenson: Big, tough and hard to bring down
The scouting report on Stevenson is big back (6-foot, 223 pounds) who is patient waiting for his blocks, has good balance, breaks tackles and is tough to bring to the ground, especially when he gets rolling downhill.
Stevenson had a big senior season for the Sooners, even though he played in just six games after sitting out the Sooners’ first five games because of a suspension for a failed drug test. The six games he did see action in, though, he gained a team-high 665 rushing yards with seven touchdowns. He also caught 18 passes for 211 yards.
In his two seasons at Oklahoma, Stevenson rushed for 1,180 yards and 13 touchdowns and averaged over seven yards per carry. In his final collegiate game, OU’s 55-20 blowout win over Florida in the New Year’s Six Cotton Bowl Classic, gained 186 yards on the ground.
Notably, Stevenson’s selection was six better than Oklahoma State All-American running back Chuba Hubbard, who led the nation in rushing in 2019.
Tre Brown makes up for lack of size with speed and overall athleticism
Brown played four seasons at Oklahoma. He made 33 starts in 51 career games and is credited with 141 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks, four interceptions and 31 pass breakups. He also returned kickoffs for the Sooners, averaging 21.9 yards on 55 kickoff returns.
He grew a lot in the four years he was at Oklahoma, said head coach Lincoln Riley about Brown in a release issued by the OU athletic department.
"“He came in as a talented guy and left as a guy who was much more technically sound. He made a lot of big plays and was a big factor in the special teams game as well, which I think had the interest of several NFL teams.”"
Perhaps the two most memorable plays in Brown’s OU career came in Big 12 Championship games against Texas in 2018 and Iowa State last year. Brown sacked Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger in the end zone for a safety midway through the final quarter that turned the tide in the game and helped preserve the Oklahoma victory,
Then in the Big 12 Championship game with Iowa State last season, Brown intercepted a pass by ISU’s Brock Purdy late in the game deep in Sooner territory to protect a six-point OU win for the Oklahoma’s sixth straight Big 12 title.