5 Best Oklahoma NFL Players
Oklahoma has won seven national championships and produced seven Heisman winners, which is a rate of star production almost nobody can match. These five Sooners are ranked on what they did in Norman, with weight given to award seasons and to the games that decided Big Eight and Big 12 titles. The list spans five decades and four positions.
1. Billy Sims
Running Back · 1975 to 1979
Sims won the 1978 Heisman after rushing for 1,762 yards at more than seven yards a carry, then finished second in the voting the following year. He was a full sized back with genuine sprinter speed, which meant one missed tackle usually turned into six points. He ran for 200 yards or more four times in his Heisman season and never had a game where the defense truly solved him. Detroit took him first overall in 1980 and he was immediately the best player on the roster.
2. Lee Roy Selmon
Defensive Tackle · 1972 to 1975
Selmon swept the Outland Trophy and the Lombardi Award in 1975 while anchoring a defense that won back to back national titles. He played next to two of his own brothers and was still the man opposing offenses built their game plan around. Coaches routinely double teamed him and he still finished with double digit tackles for loss as a senior. He went first overall to Tampa Bay in 1976 and eventually reached the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
3. Adrian Peterson
Running Back · 2004 to 2006
Peterson ran for 1,925 yards as a true freshman, which is still one of the great debut seasons in the sport's history, and finished second in the Heisman voting. He was 6 foot 1 and 215 pounds with breakaway speed and a stiff arm that ended plays. Injuries cost him chunks of his sophomore and junior years, but he averaged more than five yards a carry across all three seasons anyway. Minnesota drafted him seventh overall in 2007.
4. Baker Mayfield
Quarterback · 2015 to 2017
Mayfield walked on twice, at Texas Tech and again at Oklahoma, and finished his career as the 2017 Heisman winner with the highest single season passer rating in NCAA history. That year he threw for 4,627 yards and 43 touchdowns against six interceptions while running the most efficient offense in the country. He beat Ohio State in Columbus, went 3 and 0 against Texas as a starter, and never lost a game he did not have a chance to win late. Cleveland took him first overall in 2018.
5. Kyler Murray
Quarterback · 2017 to 2018
Murray waited a year behind Mayfield, then won the 2018 Heisman himself with 4,361 passing yards, 1,001 rushing yards, and 54 total touchdowns. He was the most dangerous scrambler in college football and still threw with real accuracy on downfield throws. He was also a first round Major League Baseball pick, which says something about the athleticism. Arizona made him the first overall pick in 2019, the second straight Sooner quarterback to go number one.
Who Just Missed
Tommie Frazier's rival Steve Owens, plus Josh Heupel, Roy Williams, Tommie Harris, Gerald McCoy, Trent Williams, and Orlando Brown Jr. all have real cases. Steve Owens won the 1969 Heisman and Roy Williams changed games from safety, so a top ten list here would still be loaded. The five above leaned on national awards plus sustained dominance.
Oklahoma by the Numbers
The Sooners have produced three number one overall NFL draft picks in the modern era and seven Heisman Trophy winners overall. Their strongest recent pipelines are quarterback and offensive line, with multiple first round tackles in the last decade. Historically the program's defensive line production, from Selmon to Tommie Harris to Gerald McCoy, has been just as reliable.
What Norman Does Differently
Oklahoma has spent the last two decades running some of the most advanced offensive systems in the sport, which means quarterbacks and receivers arrive in the NFL with a huge volume of reps against real coverage. The Red River Rivalry and Big 12 title games put those players in high leverage spots on national television every year. Scouts get plenty of tape of these players under pressure, which is exactly what they want.
Test Yourself on Oklahoma Players
Reading about them is one thing. Naming them on sight is another. CollegeGuessr shows you an NFL player and asks which college he came from. Build a streak, post your score on the Big Board, and see how your football knowledge holds up.