Woodlng: Sproles tumbles from atop Big 12

Two out of three isn’t bad.

Here we are past the midway point of the Big 12 Conference football season and two of the preseason player-of-the-year picks are proving the media prescient.

Senior linebacker Derrick Johnson of Texas and Oklahoma freshman running back Adrian Peterson, the preseason defensive and newcomer selections respectively, definitely have not been jinxed by the hype.

Johnson is among the Big 12 leaders in tackles, tackles for losses and forced fumbles while Peterson, with over 900 yards rushing in six games, generally is recognized as the most talented freshman ball carrier in the country.

While Johnson and Peterson have sparkled, it’s doubtful Kansas State running back Darren Sproles will become, as predicted by the media, the Big 12 offensive player of the year.

Sproles, once considered a Heisman Trophy candidate, is having a decent season, averaging 119 rushing yards a game. But the senior from Olathe has scored only three touchdowns and his longest run is just 35 yards. Too, Sproles has had the butterfinger blues.

Sproles probably won’t even make first-team All-Big 12, and Peterson may have to settle for second team, as well. Only two RB slots are available and it’s impossible to overlook the fact Texas’ Cedric Benson and Oklahoma State’s Vernand Morency rank 1-2 respectively on the NCAA rushing chart this week.

Benson, now a senior, finally is delivering after three underachieving seasons while Morency, a junior who played second-fiddle to Tatum Bell last fall, has amply proved his performance against Kansas University last year wasn’t a fluke. With Bell hurt, Morency rumbled for 269 yards on 25 carries and scored three TDs in a 44-21 win over the Jayhawks.

Benson (988 yards) and Morency (980) surely will pass the 1,000-yard plateau this weekend. Peterson is close to four digits, too. He needs 99 yards against Kansas on Saturday.

In the July balloting, Oklahoma’s Jason White and Missouri’s Brad Smith received the same number of media votes at quarterback — a bit of a surprise considering White is the Heisman Trophy incumbent.

White won the Heisman because he was the quarterback of the No. 1 team — at the time — in the country. Texas Tech’s B.J. Symons, who led the nation in total offense, had to settle for second team and Smith for honorable mention.

Sonny Cumbie, this year’s Symons-Kliff Kingsbury clone at Texas Tech, leads the nation in total offense, yet only has about a slight chance of earning first-team All-Big 12 because he’ll be regarded as a one-dimensional, one-year phenomenon.

To tell the truth, the best quarterback in the Big 12 at the halfway point has been Reggie McNeal of Texas A&M. The Aggies are off to a surprising 5-1 start mostly because McNeal has developed into even more of a two-way threat than Missouri’s Smith. McNeal has passed for 1,325 yards and run for 454 — or 16 more yards than Kansas tailback John Randle.

Yet McNeal’s most startling stat column is interceptions. He has thrown 149 passes without a single theft. White, by comparison, has thrown 153 passes with four interceptions.

Oklahoma’s Mark Clayton and Nehemiah Glover of Texas Tech were the preseason selections at wide receiver. Clayton isn’t having a spectacular year, but he remains the league’s most dangerous pass-catcher.

Meanwhile, Glover could very well be usurped by teammate Jarrett Hicks, a sophomore who leads the Big 12 with 42 receptions. Glover is one reception behind, but Hicks has more than twice the yardage and leads the league with six TD catches.

On defense, preseason All-Big 12 defensive back Josh Bullocks has been outshone, curiously, by younger brother Daniel who shares the league lead in interceptions with Missouri senior Shirdonya Mitchell who filched only one pass all of last season.

The media’s preseason linebacker selections were UT’s Johnson, Nebraska’s Barrett Ruud and Missouri’s James Kinney. The league’s leading tacklers at this stage are Ruud, Johnson and … nope, not Kinney. Kansas junior Nick Reid shares the conference lead in tackles with Ruud and in tackles for losses with Johnson.

In other words, a strong finish conceivably could put Reid in a position to become only the second KU player to earn Associated Press first-team All-Big 12 honors. The lone Jayhawk accorded that lofty AP honor was defensive end Ron Warner in 1997.