2005 Oklahoma Football Season Preview

NORMAN, Okla. -- SoonerSports.com will preview the upcoming 2005 football season with a detailed series leading up to the start of preseason practices.

The Sooners officially report on August 3 with the first practice slated for August 4.

2005 Season Preview
Draft day was a “10” for Oklahoma, as in 10 Sooners being selected by NFL franchises. So brilliant was the accomplishment, unmatched by any other school, that it overshadowed an even larger number, 17.

Seventeen is the number of players with starting experience returning for Oklahoma in 2005. When Bob Stoops and his staff scan the field in August, they will see most of the positions filled by players who have filled them before.

Schedule | Roster | Tentative Preseason Depth Chart | Quick Facts

Moreover, recent recruiting success points to the fact that Oklahoma will again be stocked with a talented roster. At a time when some schools might look ahead with a degree of concern, the Sooners approach the coming season with anticipation.

The question looming now isn't so much “how” but “who.”

The fact that OU can withstand the departure of a Heisman winner, an Outland winner and several other honorees and still be mentioned among the nation's elite programs underscores Stoops' impact and blurs even more the memory of how things were in the few years before he arrived.

It also sets before this program a challenge, something that has inspired the best from the Sooners in the past.

When it comes to scheming an offense, Oklahoma's staff knows a thing or two about flexibility. Two years ago, the Sooners operated primarily from the shotgun with a quarterback so hindered by knee surgeries that he couldn't take a snap under center. One year later, the team was often in power sets.

There could be more tweaking on the horizon. OU must replace a quarterback that won the Heisman Trophy, then repeated the following year as a finalist (Jason White).

The Sooners must also replace an Outland Trophy winner (Jammal Brown), a two-time Rimington Award finalist (Vince Carter), the school's all-time leading receiver (Mark Clayton) and an offensive tackle who had more career starts than any other player on the team (Wes Sims).

The well is far from dry, however. Oklahoma returns a number of key components in players like Adrian Peterson, Travis Wilson and Davin Joseph to name just a few.

Despite the departure of some of the greatest players in school history there is a group ready to duplicate and perhaps exceed the achievements of their predecessors.

Next Preview
SoonerSports.com will highlight the OU quarterbacks on Monday, July 25.

2005 OU Football Preseason Central

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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