Draft Day Facts

The National Football League will begin its annual draft of college players Saturday. Draft day has been been fraught with Sooners over the years. Several recent OU All-Americans including Tommie Harris, Teddy Lehman, Derrick Strait and Brandon Everage are among those being mentioned by draft experts this year.

Last year, four Sooners were selected, including Andre Woolfolk, who went in the first round to Tennessee. Some forecasts project Harris as a first-round pick. If that occurs, he will become the first Oklahoma interior defensive lineman taken in that round since Tony Casillas went as the No. 2 overall pick to Atlanta in 1986.

Here are some NFL Draft tidbits on OU ...

* There have been 31 previous first-round picks. That number goes to 32 if you count Brian Bosworth's first-round, first overall pick in the 1987 supplemental draft.

* Ten Sooners that were coached by Bob Stoops have been drafted -- three int he first round, one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh. Fourteen other Stoops-coached players signed free agent contracts.

* Here's a breakdown by position of the Stoops-coached players drafted into the NFL ... three defensive backs, two linebackers, one quarterback, one running back, one offensive lineman, one defensive end and one tight end.

* The highest pick among the Stoops-coached players was Roy Williams, the eighth-overall pick by the Cowboys in the 2002 draft.

* Tommie Harris is trying to become the first Sooner defensive lineman to be drafted since Kelly Gregg went to the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 1999 draft.

* The last OU defensive lineman to go in the first round was Tony Casillas, the second overall pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 1986.

* The best year for Sooners in the draft, by numbers during the Stoops era, was last year when four were picked.

* Over the years, 301 Oklahoma players have been drafted, including Bosworth's supplemental pick.