My kingdom for a quarterback. That must be Bob Stoops’ thinking as the 2007 season draws near. All the other pieces are in place for a serious run. Even the graduation of tailback Adrian Peterson doesn’t leave the gigantic question mark that the coach finds at quarterback. With Peterson hurt much of last season, Allen Patrick filled in for five starts and chalked up 761 rushing yards, four touchdowns and the longest run of the year by a Sooner back — 65 yards in the Oklahoma State game. He also abused Texas A&M for 173 rushing yards. Patrick is back in ’07 along with Chris Brown, who started two games and ran for six scores as a freshman last fall.

Acrobatic 6'4" wideout Malcolm Kelly averaged 16 yards on 62 catches last year with 10 touchdowns. Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson join Kelly in the wide receiver corps for a third straight year, and tight end Joe Jon Finley is back for his senior year with a career worksheet showing 39 catches and six scores to date. The offensive line is a team strength with three full-time starters back from last year and junior college All-America tackle Phil Loadholt joining in.

On defense, the Sooners will field one of the best and deepest secondaries in the nation with cornerbacks Lendy Holmes, Marcus Walker and D.J. Wolfe, and safeties Reggie Smith, Nic Harris and Darien Williams all back. They combined for 13 interceptions with two returned for touchdowns last year. The tackle position is stocked with three of four regular performers back from the ’06 squad, plus Gerald McCoy, the top prospect among last year’s incoming freshmen. Curtis Lofton, Demarrio Pleasant, Ryan Reynolds and juco All-American Michael Reed comprise a first-rate group of linebackers.

Now, about quarterback. Junior Joel Halzle is the only candidate with any game experience at all, and he attempted a grand total of two passes. Redshirt freshman Sam Bradford and true freshman Keith Nichol are the other candidates. Nichol, one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks coming out of high school this year, could be a surprise.

Miami visits Norman for Game 2 of 2007. This year’s Texas game on Oct. 6 should be for the Big 12 South title.

Notes:
» Oklahoma’s 2006 conference championship was the 40th in its history, including a record fourth in the Big 12.

» The Sooners were the only team in the Big 12 to play Division I-A opponents exclusively in 2006.

» The OU football program boasts 71,000 season-ticket holders.

2007 Schedule
S.       1    North Texas
S.       8    Miami
S.     15    Utah State
S.     21    at Tulsa
S.     29    at Colorado
O.       6    #Texas
O.     13    Missouri
O.     20    at Iowa State
O.     27    Oklahoma State
N.       3    Texas A&M
N.     10    Baylor
N.     17    at Texas Tech
                 #Dallas, TX

Read the entire Oklahoma preview by ordering your Athlon Sports 2007 College Football Regional and National magazines today!

Also coming to AthlonSports.com this summer:
– Top 25 Heisman Hopefuls
– Live chats with Athlon editors
– Conference-preview videocasts.

Follow the entire 2007 football season on AthlonSports.com where we preview every game from every conference in Division I-A and recap the weekend’s BCS action in conference notebooks.