Sr. Floridac,Jr. Georgia and Sr. 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.

C Mike Pouncey, Sr. Florida

Pouncey looks like his brother both on and off the field, Pittsburgh Steeler and first round draft pick, Maurkice, but he’s not quite the same talent. That’s not a slap; he’s still really, really good and could end up earning All-America honors moving from guard to center. The 6-4, 310-pounder is a pounding blocker who blasts away for the ground game and he’s among the SEC’s most physical blockers. He’s still not a finished product in the middle in place of his brother, and he has to be more consistent with his shotgun snaps, but he’ll be more than fine and should be on the short list of Rimington Award candidates if he stays at center. There’s a chance he could move back to his right guard spot where he helped protect Tim Tebow’s blind side (and moved to the left side when Tebow got hurt and the right handed John Brantley was in), and he’s talented enough to play tackle if desperately needed.

OLB/DE Justin Houston, Jr. Georgia


In the new defensive scheme, the former defensive end will be turned loose as an outside linebacker. One of the SEC’s premier pass rushers, the 6-3, 259-pound junior made 7.5 sacks and 15 tackles for loss along with 39 tackles in a full-time role after missing the first few games of last season due to a suspension for violating the team’s drug policy. He’s going to have to do more against the run now that he’s playing with his hand off the ground, but he’ll also get a head start and more space to move to fly into the backfield on every play.
LB Travis Lewis, Sr. Oklahoma

Lewis has been a tackling machine and has emerged as the next great Oklahoma linebacker. He followed up a tremendous 144-tackle 2008 by leading the team with 109 stops, a sack, and 9.5 tackles for loss in his second straight All-Big 12 season. At 6-2 and 232 pounds he has good size and tremendous sideline to sideline range from his weakside spot, and while he could stand to do a bit more against the pass, he has few problems staying with receivers. A tremendous high school running back, he has been timed at 4.34 in the 40 and has phenomenal weight room strength. Able to play any position in the linebacking corps, he'll produce no matter where he lines up.

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.