Jr. Georgia,Sr. Pitt and Jr. Oklahoma sports news

These aren't necessarily the top pro prospects, and they might not even be among the most talented players, but they're going to be the most influential
and most productive stars of the 2010 season. These will be the difference makers, the playmakers, and the award winners. In other words, these are

the players everyone will care about.

WR A.J. Green, Jr. Georgia

If Alabama’s Julio Jones isn’t the top NFL receiver prospect in college football, it’s Green, who has been the more consistent of the two stars but without as much fanfare. Despite being the target of every secondary after a breakout 56-catch season, he still made 53 grabs for 808 yards and six touchdowns despite missing three games. At 6-4 and 207 pounds with around 4.5 speed (although he has been reportedly clocked faster), he has the right blend of talents to go along with the smarts and the makeup to revolve a pro passing attack around. If someone can get him the ball on a regular basis, he’ll carry the offense at times and he has the talent and ability to force safeties to rotate over to him on every play.

DE Greg Romeus, Sr. Pitt

The program caught a huge break back in January, when Romeus opted to return for his senior year rather than turn pro. One of the game’s best pass rushers, he’s been All-Big East the last two seasons, making 43 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and a career-high eight sacks in 2009. An unheralded 220-pounder coming out of high school, he’s now a 6-6, 270-pound force off the edge, with the long arms to obstruct the quarterback’s vision.

WR/PR Ryan Broyles, Jr. Oklahoma


The Sooners needed a No. 1 target to emerge from the pack going into last year, and they really needed a player to settle things down once Sam Bradford went down and with Jermaine Gresham out. Broyles stepped up his game and became terrific with a team-leading 89 catches for 1,120 yards and 15 touchdowns for the offense, while averaging a tremendous 15.87 yards per punt return. A steady speedster, he was dominant at times with three, three-touchdown games including a 13-catch, 156-yard, three touchdown effort against Stanford in the Sun Bowl. The problem is his size at a wispy 5-11 and 178 pounds, and he could have problems staying healthy. He was knocked out of the Miami game and missed the Baylor game the week after, but he’s tough, fast, and has a knack for always coming up with the key catch. Along with possibly being the nation’s top receiver, Broyles is one of the nation’s elite returners averaging 15.9 yards per punt return and 20.2 yards on his four kickoff returns.