Oklahoma football: Two Sooners on AP Preseason All-America Team
By Chip Rouse
Add another layer of expectation on the broad shoulders of Oklahoma football quarterback Spencer Rattler.
It probably stands to reason that the player most experts and oddsmakers believe is the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy this season is also going to be a preseason First-Team All-America selection. That’s the way the Associated Press voters saw it as well, naming OU’s Rattler the quarterback on the AP 2021 Preseason All-America Team.
Sooner junior linebacker Nik Bonitto was also named to the AP Preseason All-America Team. He was a 2020 AP All-America second-team selection at the end of last season.
Rattler, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, is starting his second full season as the Sooners’ starting quarterback. He was the MVP of the Sooners’ Cotton Bowl win over Florida last postseason, and was an All-Big 12 selection last season and an All-Big 12 preseason honoree this season.
He is a candidate for a number of major national awards in 2021 and several NFL Draft experts project Rattler as the No. 1 overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft.
Bonitto, who hails from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, is the leader on a much-improved Oklahoma defense. He was second on the team last season in tackles for loss and quarterback sacks.
Six other Big 12 players were named AP Preseason All-Americans, including three from Iowa State (RB Breece Hall, TE Charlie Kolar, who is from Norman, Oklahoma, and LB Mike Rose). Other Big 12 players are RBs Bijon Robinson and Deuce Vaughn of Texas and Kansas State, respectively, and return specialist Phillip Brooks of K-State.