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Oklahoma football: Three Sooners among 50 best in the game right now

By Chip Rouse

The Student Athlete Name, Image and Likeness Rights Act that was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt last Friday would allow college athletes, such as OU quarterback Spencer Rattler, to cash in on their fame. However, athletes will not be permitted to use the school's logos in advertisements or marketing.rattler
The Student Athlete Name, Image and Likeness Rights Act that was signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt last Friday would allow college athletes, such as OU quarterback Spencer Rattler, to cash in on their fame. However, athletes will not be permitted to use the school's logos in advertisements or marketing.rattler /
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Three Oklahoma football players are among the 50 best in the college game right now, according to Pro Football Focus.

The PFF College 50, which was published on Tuesday, is a ranking of the 50 best players currently playing college football.

It is described by the editors of PFF as “a product of evaluating every player on every play of each season to produce an unrivaled data base of stats, grades and information.” The ranking is not about how valuable players are, according to PFF, but rather how good they are, regardless of position.

Oklahoma not only placed three players in the top 50, but two in the top five, including Sooner quarterback Spencer Rattler, ranked No. 1 overall.

"“Rattler is the best player returning to college football and should be the favorite for the Heisman Trophy when the 2021 college football season kicks off on Aug. 28,” PFF says."

Redshirt junior linebacker Nik Bonitto is ranked No. 4 overall in the PFF College 50. PFF writes:

"Bonitto may be the most underrated player in all college football…Among all Power Five edge defenders since we began grading college seven years ago, Bonitto ranks in the top five in all three metrics (pass-rush grade, pass-rush win rate and pressure rate generated)."

The third Sooner player to make PFF College 50 is junior running back Kennedy Brooks, who hasn’t played a down of college football since the 2019 season. Brooks is No. 42 in the ranking. He opted out of the 2020 season because of COVID-19 concerns, but he gained more than 1,000 rushing yards in both 2018 and 2019.

Alabama and Ohio State each placed four players in the Top-50 ranking. Oklahoma, Georgia, LSU and Notre Dame had three each.

Only 18 out of the 50 players are offensive players, the remaining 32 are defensive players.

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