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Don Ursetti always has done his homework and stored it for instant recall in what must be a brain as deep as the Grand Canyon and as wide as the Mississippi River. That, or this all-Akron sports broadcaster has had Google surgically implanted.

I mentioned in a post that I intended to be Baker Mayfield-centric during the 2021 season—explaining all things Browns through a Baker lens in essays I’m calling The Mayfield Memorandum and numbering so that a reader can track them. They’ll be on my website blog with other sports and things beyond that interest me. I’ll repost them on Facebook for those who cannot be bothered to go to the source and want it served on that gold-plated social media platter that can be both dumb and delicious.

After Donnie sucked me in with a kind word, my boy dropped the hammer: “Just wondering,” he wrote, “where Baker stands in the hearts of Sooners everywhere? Is he Top Ten?” He asked me knowing that I am a native Oklahoman who thinks OSU stands for Oklahoma State University and laughs at those who believe OU is Ohio University. I cut my football eyeteeth on the Sooners, covered them with words as a journalist working in Oklahoma, and when I bleed it isn’t simply crimson but crimson and cream.

To egg me on, Donnie provided what he categorized as his “all-time Sooners Top Ten in alphabetical order.” I share it here for your entertainment and enlightenment—his list annotated with my brief player descriptions for those not Sooner-centric:

• Sam Bradford, QB, 2007-2009: 2008 Heisman Trophy winner
• Prentice Gautt, RB, 1957-59: Broke OU color line and more than a few tackles
• Tommy MacDonald, RB, 1954-56: Maybe as good and versatile as anyone ever
• Baker Mayfield, QB, 2015-17: 2017 Heisman winner and 3-time finalist
• Steve Owens, RB, 1967-69: Heisman winner ranked sixth-best running back
• Adrian Peterson, RB, 2004-06: Better pro statistics than as injured college RB
• Greg Pruitt, RB, 1970-72: Johnny Rodgers’ Heisman should have been his
• Lee Roy Selmon, DT, 1972-75: Best of the Selmon brothers thus best of the best
• Billy Sims, RB, 1975-79: One Heisman but worth at least two
• Joe Washington, RB, 1972-75: His shoes were silver but he was absolute gold

Donnie concluded his list with this challenge: “What say you?”

Having a shallower and narrower brain than The Great Ursetti, I had to think about this. But I did ask: Where are the O-Lineman? If there were this six great runners in the Ursetti Top 10 and two quarterbacks, someone must have been blocking for them to become such indelible figures who did in fact make every list of Sooner greats.

Though I will do so later in this post, I prefer creating lineups that include what has been great across the board of this envied football program over the seasons—offensive and defensive All-Sooner teams. I will fudge only a little but the teams may reveal when I grew up in Oklahoma (1950s, early ’60s), when I worked at newspapers in Lawton and Tulsa (1970s), and a touch of hometown (Nowata) prejudice for a great player:

Sooner All-Time Offense

• QB, Baker Mayfield, 2015-17: No national championships but a no-doubt No. 1
• RB, Billy Sims, 1975-79: His hometown Hooks, Texas, ain’t a big thing—but he was
• B, Billy Vessels, 1950-52: Could play RB or FB; Bud Wilkinson’s greatest back, he won a Heisman
• RB, Tommy McDonald, 1954-56: A little bundle of joy and brilliance at every level
• TE, Keith Jackson, 1984-87: “Mr. Clutch” to Mr. OKC columnist Berry Tramel
• T, Jim Weatherall, 1949-51: ’51 Outland Trophy winner set OU O-Line standard
• G, Buddy Burris, 1946-48: Prince of the Burris Sooners; a 3-time All-American
• C, Jerry Tubbs, 1954-56: Also a LB and fourth for 1954 Heisman; Impossible!
• (Alternative: Kurt Burris, 1952-54: The only Burris born in Nowata, OK, my home)
• G, Greg Roberts, 1975-79: Outland Trophy winner; as good as I ever saw
• T, Jammal Brown, 2001-04: My homer Lawton pick; protected QB Jason White
• WR, Mark Clayton, 2001-04: And so began this century’s run of great receivers
• WR, Ryan Boyles, 2008-11: Set NCAA receptions record and a forever standard
• (Wishbone Alternative: Tinker Owens, 1972-75: Few passes but did wonders with them; twice All-American)

Sooner All-Time Defense

• DL, Lee Roy Selmon, 1972-1975: The greatest of them all—either side of the ball
• DL, Tony Casillas, 1982-85: National champion 1986; twice Super Bowl winner
• DL, Tommy Harris, 2001-2003: A leader of the last OU national championship
• DL, Granville Liggins, 1965-67: Lighted NG path for Lucious and Dewey Selmon
• LB, Rod Shoate, 1972-74: If the Selmons didn’t get you, Shoate’s speed would
• LB, Brian Bosworth, 1984-86: Forget showmanship/controversies, he could play
• LB, George Cumby, 1975-79: Best switch ever—FB to predominant linebacker
• DB, Roy Williams, 1998-2001: As he proved to Texas, Williams could literally fly
• DB, Randy Hughes, 1972-74: Third line of the greatest defense ever; 14 INTs
• DB, Darrel Royal, 1946-49: Unbeaten ’49 QB who still holds INT record (18)
• DB, Bobby Boyd, 1957-59: Another QB/DB who impressed NFL as DB

Like all such OU lists, both The Great Ursetti’s and mine are subjective yet have one thing: They are filled, top to bottom, with great players. It is easy to find them among great programs like Oklahoma’s; the problem is separating them and parsing them for inclusion. I included on offense a couple of alternative choices that were both sentimental and supportable. Coach Bud Wilkinson considered center Kurt Burris, for instance, his best player and prompted Harold Keith, OU’s sports information director, to launch an improbable campaign for the Heisman Trophy, which interior linemen do not win. Burris didn’t win but he did finish a close second to Wisconsin fullback Alan Ameche. Wilkinson said Kurt Burris was “probably more deserving of the Heisman than any other man in the nation in any position.” When Bud Wilkinson spoke, I listened.

The inclusion of Tinker Owens as a wide receiver from the do-run-run wishbone era may appear fanciful because Owens caught year by year 1972 through 1975—only 22, 18, 18, and 12 passes. It should be pointed out, however, that during those four seasons he dropped only one (in a stunning loss to Kansas when quarterback Steve Davis—32-1-1—also had a bad day and lost for the only time in his career; I cover this in an essay on Davis and the Jack Mildren in Football, Fast Friends, and Small Towns.) Had Tinker Owens played in the current pass-happy era, his statistics would be the gold standard for Oklahoma and conceivably from sea to shining sea. One other point: there was never a better downfield blocker than Tinker Owens. Ask OU’s running backs.

To conclude, I offer my version of Donnie’s Top 10 Sooners list, plus one since American football is generally played with 11 on a side. An oddity may be noticed: This list includes a player not on my previous All-Time Offense because Baker Mayfield supplanted him, but in my opinion, and that of others, he is the “most important player in OU history.” Oklahoman Columnist Berry Tramel wrote that on the occasion of college football’s 150^th anniversary for which he created a list of greatest 150 Sooners “as judged on their time in college.” I consulted the Tramel list and one of 125 compiled the same year (2019) by Norman Transcript Senior Sports Columnist Clay Horning. Like the inestimable Don Ursetti, I did my homework but wrote this list from the heart.

My Sooner All-Time “Eleven”

(Runner heavy and in order of importance to me—except for the last entry)

• Baker Mayfield, QB
• The Selmons, DL: Lucious, 1971-73; Dewey, 1972-75; Lee Roy, greatest of all
• Billy Vessels, RB
• Billy Sims, RB
• Tommy McDonald, RB
• Joe Washington, RB, 1972-75: Quicksilver in those silver shoes
• Greg Pruitt, RB, 1970-72: Should have won Johnny Rodgers’ Heisman
• Steve Owens, RB, 1967-69: My Verdigris Valley Conference’s Heisman winner
• Rod Shoate, LB
• Roy Williams, DB
• Jack Mildren, 1969-71: Brought OU back to its essence as its first wishbone QB