Player who surprised you the most this year ?

[boomermagic]

I'm talking pleasantly now...

Travis Lewis !!!!!!

[soonermagic14]

I'd have to agree....He's going to be a great player

[Boomer.....]

agree

[SouthFortySooner]

Loadholt- false starts were minimal.

[The Maestro]

I think 50 TD passes with 8 INT's and about 3 of those not being his fault certainly surprised me.

[boomermagic]

I think 50 TD passes with 8 INT's and about 3 of those not being his fault certainly surprised me.




Maybe I should have said
Defensive player but yeah Sam is G R E A T no doubt but anything the guy does doesn't SURPRISE me anymore..

[Hot Rod]

Yeah, Travis has my vote as well. He stepped in that area where were reallly hurting this year.

[TXBOOMER]

Agree...Lewis...

Kicker situation was a shock.

[soonerfan28]

The CB's. They both played well.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

I would have to say Manny(I think Lewis is the no-brainer)...I didn't think he had the size to be a true #2

[BoulderSooner79]

Beal wasn't a total surprise since he showed signs at the end of last year. But I was pleasantly surprised that Beal was a consistent disruptive force. F. Alexander came through as well once he got on the field.

[Dan Thompson]

I liked Alexander because that is my middle name and my grandson is named Alexander.

[ouleaf]

I agree, it has to be Lewis. That guy was all over the field all year long for us. I definitely like the upside of Frank Alexander as well. I felt he outplayed English, even after English came back from injury. English was probably my most disappointing player after the year he had last season. Also gotta love the O-Line as a unit. They protected Sam very well all season.

[Sooner_09]

Alexander surprised me the most. Outplaying the Big XII's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year is impressive. We're going to be stacked at DE next year with Beal, Alexander, English and Washington

[primetime43]

Lewis would be my choice as well but Keenan Clayton suprised me a little. He has made huge strides since that home game against Washington.

[SoonerStud615]

Although I knew, and most everyone did as well, that Nic Harris was a great player, he impressed me by how out of his mind he played in big games; specifically Tech...he was a machine running at about 1000000RPMs

[ArkanSooner]

Gotta be Lewis. Some people might have expected him to be good, but his stats were just out of this world.

[auto]

Lewis and Alexander

[birddog]

don't forget broyles. i didn't think that dude would even see the field. he didn't have a huge role because we didn't need him to, but he did alot with very little.

lewis, no doubt.

[Hotrod3157]

Gotta be Lewis, the guy is just always around the ball. A close second would be Alexander he will be a beast next season.

[sooner2b09]

Lewis and Alexander are both freaks of nature.

[oubose]

Chaney, Lewis, Broyles, Madu and Bradford for sure! Hope we can have a few more surprises in this up coming year! I really miss our SOONERS on days like this.

Texas sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CatfishSooner]

^^^^^^^^^^ si...

[The Remnant]

Broyles and Madu.

[aero]

These posts are confirming what I've thought this year. Despite the superficial assessments from media who more than likely saw none of few of our games but instead based their opinion on stats that perhaps didn't reveal the reality, OUr defense was NOT a bad unit this year. In fact, I thought they were a pretty decent unit that played consistent for the most part and quite good a few games. The one weak spot, which was a bit of a surprise to me, was the lack of depth at MLB, but that's what injuries do to you. Although Lofton left, I really had no concerns because it seems like forever we've had capable to great LB's and I assumed someone would step in and we wouldn't miss a beat. That appeared to be the case until Reynolds went down. From that point on, it seemed the D was doing a good job of holding together but you always had this feeling the middle was where we would get burned. As for offense, I thought Brown did extremely well and Madu seemed like he should see more time, although with a healthy Murray, that's tough. I thought Clapp did pretty good for the most part when he got his snaps.

[stoopified]

Lewis

[OPSEC]

Lewis no brainer; but the quite one, B. Jackson, was the most impressive to me. A shutdown corner that is only going to get better. Too bad he cannot get taller, but it almost seemed like they never threw his way. They ran his way and he was more than capable of holding his own. Star in the making IMO.

[BornandBred]

It's unfortunate that our D relies so heavily on a strong MLB and that's the area where we had the most injuries. Reynolds was playing lights out until he blew his knee, then Box was filling in and playing very well when he went down. Balogun was solid, but never seemed reach full potential. With that small amount time he received, that's not unexpected. Juggling so many players and dealing with adversity and injuries is extremely difficult. So, my pick for surprise of the year...

Brent Venables

I've been a detractor of his for a long time. I used to say his schemes were weak and predictable. I'd say that he was a great LB coach and a suspect coordinator. Well, I think this year he made HUGE strides to becoming a much better coordinator. He mixed his blitzes up scheme wise, they did seem to still be predictable, but the opposing QB never knew WHERE the pressure was coming from. I think next year our D will be STOUT and I feel really good having BV at the helm for possibly the first time.

Oh yeah, and Lewis.

[soonerfan28]

Isn't B.Jackson like 6'1?

[tennsooner]

Isn't B.Jackson like 6'1?

Yes....but just imagine the beast he would be at like 6'7" :) ;)

[landrun]

Bradford. Seriously.

So much for that sophomore slump stuff. :D

[goingoneight]

Q. Chaney... one drop... all year long.


You can't argue with the 2008 offense too much other than making two critical catches in teh big game which just bounced off their hands unfortunately... but you can gripe that the designated "deep" guy should have been Chaney all year long. He was in the same mold as Malcom Kelly with better speed and blocking skills. He worked his way into a combine invite IMO.

[OU1988]

Lewis stepped up and was a stud from Game 1.

[Sooner70]

#34 Matt Clapp...just quietly does his job & does it well. I was surprised he wasn't used more effectively in different ways in the NCG with DeMarco being out. He's quite an athlete.....maybe the best on the squad.

[OU_Sooners75]

I love what Travis did. But....

I was very surprised with how Brian Jackson and Dom Franks played the corners this year.

I also saw signs of greatness from Austin Box when he was given the chance and time to play.

If OUr offense can do what they did this past season in 2009, and with what OUr defense has coming back, next year could very well be a very special season!

[BudSooner]

Gresham/Bradford/Nic Harris...hard to choose between the 3.

[Desert Sapper]

O: Broyles, no doubt. Kid is very special. A few more balls thrown his way and he's Mark Clayton, all over again. Hope he learned his lesson for good after his suspension and won't ever make any dumbass mistakes again.

D: Lewis. Wow, who saw that coming? This is the next OU Butkus winner. Hands down.
Alexander. He was lauded coming out of HS, but did anybody really expect him to come on this strong?


As far as D goes for next season, if we can find replacements for Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes, which won't be easy, this could be the best D we've seen in a generation.

[TheUnnamedSooner]

Broyles really surprised me this year. He is quick and can make plays.

Lendy, the guy would never quit on a play even if he got burned.

Then I was pleasantly surprised by all the guys coming back to try for a national title. Goes to show that money isn't everything to everyone.

[htownsooner7]

Gresham and Mccoy for coming back. Lewis, Alexander, and Franks made great strides as well.

[swardboy]

I thought Curtis Brown became more than a dependable short yardage runner, to one who could get the 10-20 yard gain without surprise.

[CaliBornSoonerBred]

I can't argue with Lewis, Dom, BJackson, Alexander, or Clapp at all because they all had great years. But the one we've all left out was Brody Eldridge. When he was injured, the run game suffered from his absence. He is very similar to Clapp in my eyes, they are gritty, hard workers who do their job quietly but do their job quite well.

[Sherpa]

Austin English. I thought he'd step it up.
Jimmy Stevens. Not what I was hoping for.

Sam Bradford. Despite a great FR year, I did have him slotted as the No. 1 NFL draft pick.