Oklahoma football prime time at multiple positions on Mel Kiper’s 2022 draft board
By Chip Rouse
We’re a month removed from the 2021 NFL Draft and the selection of five Oklahoma football players. NFL analysts have already turned their attention to the top prospects a year from now.
For the better part of eight decades, Oklahoma football has been a prime breeding ground for NFL Draft picks.
That’s a natural byproduct of being one of the winningest college programs of all-time. The Sooners have had no fewer than four players selected in each of the last 14 NFL Drafts, and with a total of 402 players supplied to the NFL Draft since its introduction in 1936, OU ranks fourth all-time.
The most notable Sooner player who becomes draft eligible after the 2021 season is redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Rattler. The way-too-early 2022 mock drafts that have already begun to circulate have the latest in the growing family of recent outstanding Oklahoma quarterbacks as either No. 1 or 2 among eligible QBs in next spring’s annual NFL player draft. Rattler is also the leading preseason candidate for the 2021 Heisman Trophy, according to a number of college football experts.
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ESPN football analyst Mel Kiper Jr. is already hard at work looking ahead to the 2022 NFL Draft and who the top prospects will be. And Ratter isn’t the only Sooner he has on his radar for the next time the draft rolls around.
In an article for ESPN+, Kiper has identified the top 10 NFL draft-eligible prospects in 12 different position groups (eight on offense, six on defense and two on special teams). Oklahoma players are represented in six of them.
Kiper points out that these, of course, are very early projections and that a lot could certainly change between now and 11 months from now. But based on what we know now and expectations for the coming college season, this is what Kiper’s crystal ball is registering at present.
Regarding offensive prospects, Kiper projects Rattler as the No. 3 overall prospect behind two defensive players — Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux and LSU cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. — and No. 1 among quarterbacks.
He ranks Kennedy Brooks as No. 10 among eligible running backs; Jeremiah Hall and Brayden Willis as Nos. 1 and 2 among fullbacks/H-backs; and Austin Stogner as No. 4 among tight ends.
Notably, there are no Sooners on Kiper’s mock listing at the wide-receiver position, arguably Oklahoma’s deepest and most talented position group. There is a good reason for that, however, eight of the 13 wide receivers listed on the current OU roster are first or second-year players. Former five-star recruit Theo Wease, a junior this coming season, is the best among the Sooner uperclassmen at the position.
Oklahoma defensive players Kiper has on his top-10 list are Perrion Winfrey, No. 2 among defensive tackles, and Nik Bonitto, No, 4 at outside linebacker. Among placekickers, Kiper ranks Gabe Brkic, who is entering his third OU season, as the second-best kicker eligible for the 2022 NFL Draft.
These may be the best of the Oklahoma draft prospects at this point in time as we look ahead to the 2021 college season. If the Sooners live up to the high expectations for them in the 2021 season, it may just be scratching the surface of what it could be for 2021 and undoubtedly will be for years to come.