De'Mond Parker

[rhombic21]

My childhood hero, and one of the most under-rated Sooners of all-time when people talk about great runningbacks:

Youtube for the impatient (http://youtube.com/watch?v=oc_TAY44IWg)

Zshare for better quality (http://www.zshare.net/video/2097378d4f630c/)

You put that guy on a Stoops coached team, and let him play behind an offensive line like the ones we've had since 2003, and he wins a Heisman.

[King Crimson]

he would have had to win the Heisman in 99, a year he chose not to play for a Stoops coached team. i'm a big fan of De'mond, but he made his choice.

[rhombic21]

he would have had to win the Heisman in 99, a year he chose not to play for a Stoops coached team. i'm a big fan of De'mond, but he made his choice.
But can you blame him for making it? OU was horrible during that time, and I don't think anybody could have anticipated Stoops turning it around that quickly. Plus he had a daughter that he wanted to support. De'Mond had been mentioning that he had financial pressures which would probably lead to him going pro even before Blake was fired.

[King Crimson]

OU was horrible, yes. and like i said, i'm a big fan of De'mond.

[rhombic21]

If he had stayed in '99, I think he could have been a Heisman candidate, and OU probably wins at least 2 or 3 more games.

And he would have been a first round draft pick and ended up in a situation where he could have gotten more playing time (though his size probably would limited him as an NFL RB regardless).

[critical_phil]

De'Mond had been mentioning that he had financial pressures....


speaking of pressures, he also loved self-medicating his glaucoma pressures. i think that was a factor too. that, and you have to go to class to be a student-athlete.


there is no doubt that he was talented. i just don't think he was too bright.

[Rhino]

It's a shame DeMond is always overlooked when Top Sooner RB lists come out. If only he'd been on some non-horrible teams.

His performance in the 97 RRS is still one of the greatest individual performances I've ever seen. 291 yards rushing and 3 TDs. And he had something like three 60+ yard rushes called back (imagine that).

[Big Red Ron]

speaking of pressures, he also loved self-medicating his glaucoma pressures. i think that was a factor too. that, and you have to go to class to be a student-athlete.


there is no doubt that he was talented. i just don't think he was too bright.This is a bit of a misconception. I actually crossed paths with him at OU. He was not stupid but he did have a stutter worse than Jimmy Volmer's. A really nice guy. He just didn't talk much.

[rhombic21]

speaking of pressures, he also loved self-medicating his glaucoma pressures. i think that was a factor too. that, and you have to go to class to be a student-athlete.

there is no doubt that he was talented. i just don't think he was too bright.
My understanding is that those problems were pretty indicative of the entire team during that era. Scary to think about what he could have been if he'd have received some coaching that challenged him to push himself. I had to sit through a ton of games from that era in order to make that video, and the biggest thing that I saw was that even during that era, we had a pretty substantial amount of talent. No doubt in my mind that if you put Stoops in charge of those teams, even if you left the coordinators and ran the exact same schemes, we are a top 25 team during that era. There was just no discipline, organization, or accountability.

[47straight]

To assemble some of the thoughts expressed here before:

Demond stays another year through the 99 season.
As a result, Quentin Griffin is able to redshirt the 1999 season.
As a result, Quentin Griffin is eligible through the 2003 season.
As a result, we win the Sugar Bowl against LSU.

I know the last bit is a stretch, but I do think that little things can ripple.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I don't remember him as I was suffering through '90's SHOCK. I temporarily came out of it when we went to the whatever bowl and barely lost to Mississippi at the end of Stoops' first year. Then, when we beat the holy snot out of the whorns in '00, I was revived.

[birddog]

and 100% of those runs were called back for holding.

[olevetonahill]

Does any one know what hes doing Now ?
I wish hed of stayed , But I still wish him lots of luck .

[william_brasky]

Great vid.

Shame on those talking smack on De'Mond. Does that make you feel better about yourselves? The kid played his a$$ off for the Sooners, and this is how you speak of him. So awesome. :rolleyes: With friends like you, who needs friends. :mad:

[CincySooner]

To assemble some of the thoughts expressed here before:

Demond stays another year through the 99 season.
As a result, Quentin Griffin is able to redshirt the 1999 season.
As a result, Quentin Griffin is eligible through the 2003 season.
As a result, we win the Sugar Bowl against LSU.

I know the last bit is a stretch, but I do think that little things can ripple.

but do we win it all in 2000 if Griffin had no experience? Its weird to what-if.

[stoopified]

he would have had to win the Heisman in 99, a year he chose not to play for a Stoops coached team. i'm a big fan of De'mond, but he made his choice.
True dat,but still imagine him running on that team.Imagine him catching flat passes from Heupel and breaking into the open field.Also imagine Q being a senior in'04.Makes me wanna cry.

[King Crimson]

amazing how an unwarranted grey spek can include two misspellings and a wrongly gilded possessive pronoun....in 5 words.

nice work moron. whoever you are.

[The_Red_Patriot]

and 100% of those runs were called back for holding.

So true and he did it under the lame *** playbook of Dick Winder and Blake. Winder's offensive plays where horrible.

[The_Red_Patriot]

De'Mond was one of my favorites along with James Allen growing up.

The 96 Texas game made James Allen probrably one of my all time favs. He won the game that day with the way he ran.

Here is the play that still gives me chills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bGYy1lXdB4

[olevetonahill]

So No one knows what hes up to Now ?

[MiccoMacey]

Great vid.

Shame on those talking smack on De'Mond. Does that make you feel better about yourselves? The kid played his a$$ off for the Sooners, and this is how you speak of him. So awesome. :rolleyes: With friends like you, who needs friends. :mad:

This needs to be said more often.

[Big Red Ron]

So No one knows what hes up to Now ?I'm not sure but I'd guess he made more money, in his couple of years in the league than anyone talking **** about him will make in their entire lives.

I saw him take over a game in GB, one TD was a really sweet long play 40-60 yard TD and when he got to the end zone he was waving his feet, cuz they were hawt. ')

Too bad about the knee and the pot. Seems like there may be some kind of NFL jinx on our RB's in the NFL. Seems like Steve Sewell was the only one that didn't get a career ending knee injury.

[olevetonahill]

Hey BRR I sent ya some thanks spek .:D
But does anyone Know what hes doing Now ?

[toast]

De'Mond Parker's once-promising career is filled with 'what ifs'

By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer
8/27/2006


'


De'Mond Parker has a succinct way to describe his National Football League career.

"Outta sight," said Parker, "outta mind."

Unfortunately, that description also works these days for the four tumultuous years Parker spent at the University of Oklahoma.

This summer's media fad has been to rank the greatest running backs in OU history. Adrian Peterson is the culprit for this craze; the Sooner junior is flirting with history at a school loaded with it.

A preseason Heisman Trophy candidate, Peterson could hold several school rushing records by the end of this season. And with the NFL beckoning, 2006 figures to be Peterson's last year at OU.

The interest in Peterson's dynamic talent has stirred debates and created lists. Seemingly everyone with a speck of OU football knowledge has produced an all-time list and decided where Peterson ranks on it.

The so-call experts seldom include Parker. That's sad. More importantly, it's dead wrong.

Remember Bum Phillips' comment about former Houston running back Earl Campbell? Asked if Campbell was the greatest back he'd seen, the ex-Oilers' coach said: "He may not be at the head of the class, but whatever class he's in it doesn't take long to call the roll."

One could make a serious case that Parker belongs in a similar class at OU. After all, he remains the only Sooner to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season three times.

So why has the former Tulsa Booker T. Washington standout quickly faded from memory even though he's been gone from Norman less than 10 years?

The primary reason is that Parker had the misfortune of being a Sooner during one of the most turbulent periods in OU history.

He was a redshirt freshman in Howard ***************'s one disastrous season. He then played three years for John Blake, who took the program to its lowest point in history.

"We had good players," Parker said. "But the coaches we had didn't put the right players in the right positions."

Blake's three-year circus took its toll on the 5-foot-10, 190-pound Parker. Things got so bad in Parker's junior season that OU changed quarterbacks seven times in one game, and scrapped the offensive scheme (Wishbone) it had worked on all spring and fall after the first game.

That incredible buffoonery resulted in a 12-22 record. It cost Blake his job and convinced Parker he needed a fresh start.

"We couldn't pass the ball, so I took a real beating my last year," Parker said. "Our coaches weren't the brightest guys."

Now 29, Parker returned to Tulsa after a short-lived professional career. He works a construction job while contemplating his future and wondering what might have been had he remained at OU for his senior season.

Tired of the pounding he took in 1998, Parker declared for the NFL draft after his junior season. He gave up his eligibility when he signed with super agent Leigh Steinberg just a few days before OU hired Bob Stoops to replace Blake.

Parker remains filled with regrets about his OU career. He's particularly sorry he didn't play his senior season for Stoops. He remains convinced that one season under Stoops would have ensured he was a first-round draft pick.

"I'd have made millions," Parker said. "I would be set for life."

With a baby daughter to support and disillusioned by his OU experience, Parker thought some NFL team would take him early in the 1999 draft. Instead, he waited until Green Bay selected him in the fifth round.

Even in hindsight, it's difficult to fault Parker's decision to leave OU early. He had no idea Stoops would turn OU around so quickly.

"If I could do it all over again, I would have definitely stayed in school," Parker said. "But I was young, and didn't know any better."

Done in by poor coaching at OU, he was further affected by bad advice. Agents convinced him he was ready for the NFL.

After all, he had ripped off a Red River Shootout series record 291 yards against Texas as a sophomore. That staggering total could have been well over 300 yards if several runs (including a 65-yarder) hadn't been nullified by penalties.

Disappointed that he didn't go until the fifth round, Parker signed a three-year deal with Green Bay for $725,000. He planned to prove himself his rookie season and then strike it rich with his second contract.

That goal appeared on track when Parker became a starter when Dorsey Levens was injured. In his second start, Parker rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Chicago Bears.

His 1999 season ended two games later. Returning a kick off against Tampa Bay, Parker tore an anterior cruciate ligament when a Bucs' defender rolled over his knee.

"After I got hurt," Parker said, "things spiraled down for me. "

His rehabilitation limited him to the final eight games of his second season. Green Bay then shocked him when he was cut in 2001.

"The Packers thought I had lost too much speed and quickness," said Parker, who ran a 4.3 40-yard dash at OU. "So they didn't keep me around."

Parker bounced from Detroit to Buffalo and finally Toronto of the Canadian Football League. When Toronto put him on the practice squad before the start of the 2004 season, Parker called it quits and headed to Tulsa.

"By that time I was so discouraged and down on the game that I just wanted to come home," Parker said.

Parker has continued to follow OU. He was keenly interested in Stoops' first season, when the Sooners went 7-5. He's convinced that had he stayed, he could have helped OU beat Notre Dame and Texas, two games the Sooners led before faltering.

Stoops certainly wanted Parker to return. Had that happened, Stoops wouldn't have been forced to bring Quentin Griffin out of a redshirt season late in 1999. That move proved costly in 2003, when the Sooners desperately could have used Griffin as a fifth-year senior.

"I would have loved to play for coach Stoops," Parker said. "But those guys (agents) were telling me I was going to be a first-round pick.

"And I was tired of the whole situation in Norman. I was tired of losing and tired of getting my butt kicked every game."

Parker also kicked plenty of backsides, even though he played on bad teams. That's why he deserves his place among OU's best-ever backs.

How would Billy Sims or Joe Washington fared with the mediocre offensive lines Parker played behind? What would Parker have done in coach Barry Switzer's lethal Wishbone offense?

While we'll never know those answers, Parker isn't finished with the Sooners or football. He hopes to return to OU in the second semester to finish work on the degree he needs for a career as a strength and conditioning coach.

Parker's also convinced he can still play the game. Always on the slim side, Parker has sweated off 15 pounds working construction this brutally hot summer.

"I'm in good shape, but I need to gain some weight," Parker said. "I didn't play that much (in pro ball) so I still have fresh legs.

"Whether it's in the Arena League or wherever (NFL Europe), I'm very confident I can still play."

Just as some of us are confident he should never be out of sight or out of mind. When the roll of OU's greatest running backs is called, De'Mond Parker's name should never be absent from anyone's list.

[opksooner]

The play at 5:13 of the youtube vid looked like the "swinging gate"................

....or something!

[King Crimson]

while there is no way to know, in addition to ND and Texas the Tech game was another game we coulda/shoulda/woulda have won.

D just didn't have the beef to hold a lead. both ND and UT stuck it down our throats in the second half after Heupel and Leach were done trickin' dey azz.

[olevetonahill]

Thanks Toast , thats what I wanted to read . Does anyone Know if hes completed his degree yet ?
Antoher ? since hes been out of school this long does he get to finish on his ship ?

[schlanker]

If he would have stayed in '99 we would have beaten Notre Dame and Texas. All we needed was a running game to keep our defense off the field and run the clock down at the end of the game.

[Jello Biafra]

If he had stayed in '99, I think he could have been a Heisman candidate, and OU probably wins at least 2 or 3 more games.

And he would have been a first round draft pick and ended up in a situation where he could have gotten more playing time (though his size probably would limited him as an NFL RB regardless).


no doubt. i actually called the animal after stoops took over and said if demond was listening, he needed to reconsider because if he has a 200 yard game against ND he would be able to sign his own check.


with parker, we would have beat nd and won the bowl game that year. if we would have had kabba man......!!!!! we would have had like close to......9 or 10 more catches for the 99 season.


i was at the osu and cal games on that video. i nearly came out of my skin.....8-12 illegal prodedures MINIMUM a game not including the facemasks, holding and whatever else...

[OUstud]

Great video, brings back childhood memories. But how many of those highlights were ultimately called back?

[Jello Biafra]

Great video, brings back childhood memories. But how many of those highlights were ultimately called back?


prolly more than alot....

[LittleWingSooner]

If you put back the holding yards, I'm sure DP has at least 1 2,000 yard season if not 2.

[rhombic21]

Great video, brings back childhood memories. But how many of those highlights were ultimately called back?
Actually, only one of those runs was called back, it was one of the long runs against Texas.

The thing about that video is that it easily could have been another 4 minutes long. I didn't even have access to clips from 3 of his better games ('96 SDSU, Tulsa, Kansas), and I cut out a bunch of 15-20 yard runs because of space issues.

[Jello Biafra]

('96 SDSU, Tulsa, Kansas), and I cut out a bunch of 15-20 yard runs because of space issues.


i remember watching that game on tv and wondering how bad it would be if we didn't have him....or actually had some defensive skills.

he was a running machine in that game.

[Taxman71]

I have always put DeMond in the same group as AD, Joe, Billy, Greg, the other Billy, Owens and Gaddis. It is too bad he played for the worst coaches in history and had multiple pressures to go pro early. He would definitely be a Heisman candidate for a Stoops team. Reminds me a little of McFadden at Arkansas last year.

I would love to have seen him catch a shovel pass from Heupel in Notre Dame stadium against those big, slow Irish on a wet thick grass field.

[KingDavid]

Two things kept him from a Heisman IMHO:

1) Lack of supporting cast, including coaching; and (again, only IMO)
2) I think he lacked a true top gear when he was in the open field. I know he ran a 4.3 forty, but he always seemed to get run down on the really long runs. It probably goes back to discipline and coaching: the 4.3 was all talent; the lack of the finish after 40 yards on the field: conditioning.

I completely agree that if Parker plays for Stoops, we win at least two more games and Demond wins the Heisman.

Who ended up winning that year, anyway?

[rhombic21]

Ron Dayne won in '99.

[KingDavid]

massive spek to Rhombic for the vid and Toast for the detective work on Parker's post-football doings.

what a feel-good story it would be if he somehow clawed his way back onto the field - even arena league.

[KingDavid]

Ron Dayne won in '99.

That was a pretty awesome season. He would have been tough to beat. But Parker's style had more flash and media appeal. He would have taken the trophy if he was within a couple hundred yards of Dayne, I think.

[rhombic21]

If we assume that OU had beaten ND @ ND and won the Texas game, and that Parker had been the star in both of those games, then OU is the national story midway through the season at 6-0, and Parker is probably the most exciting player in America.

Seriously, imagine this offense with Parker at HB:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjD7aJIuXBg

[StoopTroup]

His performance in the 97 RRS is still one of the greatest individual performances I've ever seen. 291 yards rushing and 3 TDs. And he had something like three 60+ yard rushes called back (imagine that).
I went to that one...

He looked better than Ricky Williams that day...

I really thought Demond would have a better Pro career.

I can't blame him for making the decision to forgo his Senior year...

However...I'm sure Demond as well as all of us will always think what if when it comes to him staying for Bob Stoops and Company...

The thing is...AD had 1,000 yard season before breaking his collarbone and AD made it look easy...

[oumartin]

dent really care for his comment he made after leaving OU that he never wanted to play there. Or something similar to that.

[freshchris05]

Two things kept him from a Heisman IMHO:

1) Lack of supporting cast, including coaching; and (again, only IMO)
2) I think he lacked a true top gear when he was in the open field. I know he ran a 4.3 forty, but he always seemed to get run down on the really long runs. It probably goes back to discipline and coaching: the 4.3 was all talent; the lack of the finish after 40 yards on the field: conditioning.

I completely agree that if Parker plays for Stoops, we win at least two more games and Demond wins the Heisman.

Who ended up winning that year, anyway?


Remember he had asthma and was always in and out and getting out the oxygen tank on the sidelines.... Whenever i watched that video i was thinking that the whole time haha... man it always seemed like he was one guy and a flag away from a touchdown...

[Pricetag]

I thank God that De'Mond didn't follow his buddy R.W. McQuarters to OSU after *************** ran him out of his office. It could have been really bad.

[OUMonster]

Regarding the play against CU in '98 shown at 0:30 in the youtube vid, it's still amazing that DeMond was flagged for excessive celebration / unsportsmanlike conduct on that play for high stepping into the endzone. I remember the boos coming down for like 5 minutes after that.

[MiccoMacey]

"He hopes to return to OU in the second semester to finish work on the degree he needs for a career as a strength and conditioning coach."

I hope he gets it...and puts those detractors behind him. People who don't know if he was good in class or not shouldn't open their mouths.

[CatfishSooner]

De'Mond = Da Mon

[Taxman71]

True. Hindsight is always 20/20. If you were a 22 year old father, played 3 seasons for a far-below .500 team in which you got the heck beat out of you on the field, a new unproven coaching staff was taking over and everyone told you that you were a 1st rounder with an initial contract in seven figures.....would you have stayed? Highly doubtful.

By the same token, Ryan Minor should have left early as it likely cost him millions (ignoring whatever he made in baseball obviously).

[John Kochtoston]

So true and he did it under the lame *** playbook of Dick Winder and Blake. Winder's offensive plays where horrible.

I don't mean to threadjack, but I'd have to disagree with this slam on Winder. With the exception of the Diamond "T" goal-line offense, our O under Winder was pretty decent when Blake stayed out of it. When Boo started listening to Joe Dickinson and not Winder, however, things went downhill in a hurry.

[OKC-SLC]

I've said it here before--that OU/UT game where De'mond and Ricky combined for close to 600 yards was some of the greatest rushing the ball i'll ever see. Who was it--Chris Blocker?--one of our wideouts during that time--we used to say he had one hand and one hook for a hand. He couldn't catch but could hold the sh*t out of some jersey when blocking BEHIND Parker.

[goingoneight]

Imagine Tommie redshirting. Imagine AD being 100% last season. Imagine Bomar with a brain... oh, what could have been.

[MojoRisen]

Right there- and we should learn from that --- I want some hitting mo FO's on DFENSE..... hIT and there is no tomoorrow

[rhombic21]

I don't mean to threadjack, but I'd have to disagree with this slam on Winder. With the exception of the Diamond "T" goal-line offense, our O under Winder was pretty decent when Blake stayed out of it. When Boo started listening to Joe Dickinson and not Winder, however, things went downhill in a hurry.
As I watched some of those old games, I was impressed with some of the schemes that they had. As far as the plays go, it was a decent design. The problem came in the fact that the players were undisciplined, especially in terms of blocking, and they had horrific QB play (part of which was related to the fact that they played musical chairs so much at QB that they were never able to establish any sort of rhythm). Even in '98, I think that they could have had a pretty decent offense if they had just left Brandon Daniels in at QB, and just let him mature at the position by giving him simple reads and turning him loose to scramble with it if nothing was open (and run a lot of designed QB runs).

I think the problem was that Blake wanted to run option, and so he fell in love with athletic guys like Daniels and Moore, but then he didn't have the patience to realize that neither of those guys were going to be able to drop back and throw the ball from the pocket 25 times a game with any success. It's fine to play with those kinds of guys, as long as you realize that they aren't going to beat a lot of people passing the ball, and taylor your offense accordingly. Meanwhile, it seemed like the OC's scheme really called for more of a pocket passer, with maybe a touch of athleticism to OCCASSIONALLY run some option (and even then, most of the time they were predetermined pitch backs).

Also, the offensive line wasn't very good, particularly at pass protection. Or avoiding procedure penalties.

The major thing that killed the offense was the penalties. Especially when you don't have a very good thrower or especially good pass protection, overcoming long yardage penalties is virtually impossible. And then the really killer ones were the needless penalties that eliminated huge plays, and weren't even relevant to the action.

[LittleWingSooner]

Winder was a decent coordinator and has proven that over the years. But those teams just weren't well coached on many levels. It all starts with the head coach and Boo Blake may have liked his kids, but he couldn't coach them.

Also the strength and conditioning program is night and day compared to that of 10 years ago. In recent years I've seen a lot of complaining about Schmitty's program being too hard on players which has hurt us on game day. But the truth is that it's been the players more than the workout program. The players haven't been as dedicated as they were in 1999-2003. But with the 90's players and a Schmitty type workout program those teams win games also.

[King Crimson]

Regarding the play against CU in '98 shown at 0:30 in the youtube vid, it's still amazing that DeMond was flagged for excessive celebration / unsportsmanlike conduct on that play for high stepping into the endzone. I remember the boos coming down for like 5 minutes after that.

i gave up on Blake for the final time during that game. not for any justifiable analytical reason but that we lost to a mediocre CU team in Norman....and i took a pile of BS from my buddies here in Colorado. we went form 1988 to 02? without beating CU.

additionally, i ended my OU gameday tradition of making chile verde since i got tired of eating it and watching us lose.

[okienole3]

Winder was a decent coordinator and has proven that over the years. But those teams just weren't well coached on many levels. It all starts with the head coach and Boo Blake may have liked his kids, but he couldn't coach them.



No he wasn't and no he hasn't.

[44BluesExplosion]

After watching the video, I came away with 2 reminders:

1. Parker had one of the best first steps that I have ever witnessed. Very, very quick.

2. I've never in my life seen blocking as inefficient as ours was back then... In many of those highlights, Parker would have been better off if the OL had just simply fell down on the snap of the ball. Stoops taught a lot of those kids how to finish a block so that their RB didn't put a face mask on their backs.

[sooneron]

If he had stayed, we probably would have won the ND and UTerus games, BUT he would not have won the Heisman. You can't do it if you're OC calls about 12 running plays a game.

[Taxman71]

After watching the video, I came away with 2 reminders:

1. Parker had one of the best first steps that I have ever witnessed. Very, very quick.

2. I've never in my life seen blocking as inefficient as ours was back then... In many of those highlights, Parker would have been better off if the OL had just simply fell down on the snap of the ball. Stoops taught a lot of those kids how to finish a block so that their RB didn't put a face mask on their backs.

I recall Stock McDougle being the butt of many radio jokes due to his frequent false starts in 1998.....only to become a first round draft pick after Stoops and staff arrived.

[DUCKHUNTDAVE]

Marcus Dupree was better. :D