Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma football: Two days till 2022 season kickoff — No. 2 Derrick Strait

By Chip Rouse

28 Oct 2000: Defensive back Derrick Strait #2 of the Oklahoma Sooners takes off running after intercepting quarterback Eric Crouch's pass of the Nebraska Cornhuskers for a second quarter touchdown at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners won 31-14. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr/ALLSPORT
28 Oct 2000: Defensive back Derrick Strait #2 of the Oklahoma Sooners takes off running after intercepting quarterback Eric Crouch's pass of the Nebraska Cornhuskers for a second quarter touchdown at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners won 31-14. DIGITAL IMAGE. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr/ALLSPORT /
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The countdown has now reached two days before the official start to the 2022 Oklahoma football season. In recognition of that, we continue our series featuring former Sooners with a jersey number equivalent to the days remaining before the return of OU football.

Today, the spotlight is on former Oklahoma All-American defensive back Derrick Strait.

Strait was part of Bob Stoops’ 2000 recruiting class in the head coach’s second season at Oklahoma. It was a great season to be a Sooner as the 2000 Oklahoma team finished a perfect 13-0 and won the program’s seventh national championship.

Ironically, Strait was born in Austin Texas, in the heart of Texas Longhorn country, yet he elected to cross the Red River and head to OU to play college football. He hit the ground running his freshman season, starting in all 13 games for the Sooners at right cornerback. He was credited with 62 tackles, fourth most on the team and was named Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year.

No. 2’s 15 pass deflections his first season at OU was the second most on the team and the fourth most at the time in a single season by a Sooner defender.

Two highly memorable plays that season by Strait were a pass breakup in the end zone on a fourth-down play, saving what could have been a game-winning touchdown and preserving a 12-7 OU win and the Sooners’ undefeated season. In the national championship game against No. 3 Florida State, the freshman OU cornerback deflected a possible touchdown pass from Heisman-winning FSU quarterback Chris Weinke in the fourth quarter that could have changed the direction of the game.

As impressive at Strait’s introductory campaign to Sooner football was, it only got better in subsequent seasons. His sophomore season in 2001, Strait was a second-team All-big 12 honoree by the Associated Press. His junior year, he was a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist and a consensus All-Big 12 selection.

By his fourth and final year at OU, Strait was again first-team All-Big 12, a unanimous All-American First-Team selection and winner of both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the best defensive player in college football and the Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in college football.

After four outstanding seasons at Oklahoma, Strait was selected in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He played three seasons in the NFL for three different teams (Jets, Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers). He also played one season in the Arena Football League and two in the Canadian Football League before retiring from professional football.

Strait will go down as one of the all-time great defensive players to play for Oklahoma. He played at a great time in Sooner gridiron history. OU was 48-6 over the four years Strait was a starter at the back end of the Sooner defense and played on two Big 12 championship teams in addition to a national championship squad.

Few have had it much better, and Oklahoma was the beneficiary of all of it.

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