More preseason stuff

The Big 12's Fourth Estate released more preseason conference stuff today. Specifically, they picked offensive, defensive and newcomers of the year, as well as preseason all-conference teams.

Offensive player: Colt McCoy, Texas (No argument here, as long as he stays healthy)

Defensive player: Reggie Smith, Oklahoma (Not Ian Campbell? He was defensive player of the year last year...by the Houston Chronicle.)

--This guy once called me mouthy in an intramural basketball game. I shut up immediately.--

Newcomer of the year: Sam (Flippy Cup) Keller, Nebraska (Certainly the most hyped, although he went 3-4 in 2005 and is supposedly in a fight for the starting position...)

--Nice toss kid!--

First Team Offense:
WR--Adarius Bowman, Oklahoma State
WR--Limas Sweed, Texas
TE--Martin Rucker, Missouri
OL--Tony Hills, Texas
OL--Duke Robinson, Oklahoma
OL--Matt Slauson, Nebraska
OL--Anthony Collins, Kansas
C--Cody Wallace, Texas A&M
QB--Colt McCoy, Texas
RB--Jamaal Charles, Texas
RB--Mike Goodson, Texas A&M
PK--Garrett Hartley, Oklahoma
KR--Perrish Cox, Oklahoma State
Hmm, 13 players, three of them from the North. No Wildcats, which I can't argue with at this point.

First Team Defense:
DL--Ian Campbell, K-State
DL--Frank Okam, Texas
DL--Chris Harrington, Texas A&M
DL--James McClinton, Kansas
DL--Derek Lokey, Texas
LB--Bo Ruud, Nebraska
LB--Alvin Bowen, Iowa State
LB--Jordan Dizon, Colorado
DB--Reggie Smith, Oklahoma
DB--Aquib Talib, Kansas
DB--Marcus Watts, K-State
DB--Marcus Griffin, Texas
P--Matt Fodge, Oklahoma State
PR--Reggie Smith, Oklahoma
Fourteen players, seven from the North. Two Wildcats, more than any other North team, only behind Texas. Like I said yesterday, I'm pretty excited about the defense this fall.

Preseason predictions carry the approximate value of a warm bucket of piss. For what we know right now, this seems like a pretty good forecast by the writers. Of course, fans of every team disagree, because they see their teams' potential and other teams' flaws. I happen to think James Johnson could be one of the better running backs in the league, and I'd like to think Josh Freeman could be one of the better QBs. But we'll have to see how the big guys up front do...

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At least the Big 12 writers seem to be somewhat informed. I had the misfortune to waste five minutes reading collegefootballnews.com's preseason predictions today, here are some of the lowlights:

Coach on the Hot Seat: Dan Hawkins, Colorado
--Are you kidding me? It's his second year, and all he has to improve on is a 2-10 record. Dear God, how hard can that be? He is not on the hot seat, unless he continues the proud Colorado tradition of getting into trouble with the NCAA.

About Missouri: "The defense should be far better"
--Uhh, ok. They return five starters on defense. On a defense that was seventh in the league in conference games in overall defense. I'll be surprised if they're better, much less far better.

Five games the Big 12 better take very, very seriously: Oklahoma at Tulsa
--What the hell is OU doing playing at Tulsa?

Top Offenses:
11. K-State
--Well, we were a stellar ninth in the league last year, return most of the offensive line, the quarterback, two running backs, and Jordy Nelson at WR.

I'm not a genius. But at least my predictions are internally consistent.

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In other news today, Nebraska wide receiver Maurice Purify got a one game suspension for his legal troubles. To recap, his legal troubles included:
--Assaulting another dude at a Lincoln bar
--'Accidentally' hitting the dude's girlfriend (that charge was dropped as part of the plea deal...would have been difficult to prove anyway)
--Failure to comply when police were trying to cuff him
--DUI one month after all that trouble

Boy, I bet he learned his lesson, and learned it just in time to travel to Winston-Salem, N.C., and return to Lincoln for the invasion of the Condoms.

Oh, but I forgot. There is a little more to the punishment. Purify is also prohibited from making "any appearance in a drinking establishment that primarily serves alcohol." (Redundancy, anyone?) That's gonna narrow his entertainment options in Lincoln.


--Rousing game of Scrabble, anyone?--

Have a great weekend everyone.