Pre-Spring Big 12 Rankings
The Big 12 will once again have a new look heading into the 2012 season. Missouri and Texas A&M are now a thing of the past while West Virginia and TCU are set to take their place. The Big 12 may be missing some tradition this year with the departures, but that doesn’t mean things are going to be any easier on the field.
Here’s a look at how things look in the Big 12 with spring football set to kick into high gear.
1. Oklahoma – The Sooners should once again open the season as the favorites in the Big 12 if for no other reason than they return the best quarterback in the league in senior, Landry Jones. That being said, the Sooners still have big shoes to fill this spring in trying to replace Ryan Broyles production at wide receiver. The talent is there with Kenny Stills and Jaz Reynolds returning along with newcomer, Trey Metoyer, who should give a big boost to the Sooners’ receiving corps.
The 15 practices this spring will be big for the Sooner defense trying to acclimate itself to new defensive coordinator, Mike Stoops, who makes his return to Norman. He’ll be on the lookout for guys to replace defensive ends Ronnell Lewis and Frank Alexander along with linebacker Travis Lewis. Nothing against former defensive coordinator Brent Venables who was a good coach in how own right, but Stoops return should provide immediate dividends for OU.
2. Kansas State – The Wildcats will try to build upon their 10 win season in 2011 this spring and will have plenty of familiar faces returning to help the cause led by quarterback Collin Klein and linebacker Arthur Brown. The Wildcats have 18 returning starters from last year’s 10-3 team, second most among Big 12 teams.
Like Oklahoma, the Wildcats will also have a new defensive coordinator with Tom Hayes set to take over for the departed Chris Cosh who is now at South Florida. Hayes was the team’s secondary coach in 2011. Hayes will inherit a defense that finished fifth in the conference giving up 394 yards a game in 2011 but struggled with the best offenses giving up 50 or more points to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M.
3. Texas – The Longhorns are already well underway with spring practice and the early reports coming from Austin are that quarterback, David Ash, is the early front-runner to be taking the snaps for the Longhorns in 2012. How Ash (along with Case McCoy or Connor Brewer) develop this spring will go along ways in determining if Texas is all the way back following two sub-par seasons.
With coordinators Bryan Harsin and Manny Diaz returning for the second straight season, Texas will be able to spend the bulk of the spring fine-tuning their packages rather than installing new entirely systems like they were forced to do a season ago. So, is Texas really back? That remains to be seen, but all signs look to be pointing in the right direction.
4. West Virginia – The Big 12 newcomer will provide yet another high-powered offense for the league’s defensive coordinators to try and figure out how to stop. Dana Holgorsen is back in the league and brings with him quarterback Geno Smith who figures to be one of the best signal callers in the Big 12 this season.
With last year’s defensive coordinator, Jeff Casteel, now on Rich Rodriguez’s staff in Arizona, the Mountaineers will turn to former Oklahoma State assistant Joe DeForest and former Pitt defensive coordinator, Keith Patterson, to run the defense. Replacing Castell won’t be easy and making that transition will be key this spring. The Mountaineers should benefit from Holgorsen’s and DeForest’s previous experience in the league making the transition much smoother than it might otherwise be.
5. Oklahoma State – The Cowboys are fresh off a 12-1 season and Fiesta Bowl victory but replacing Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon will be no small task. Junior Clint Chelf, redshirt freshman, J.W. Walsh, and freshman Wes Lunt all will get a long-hard look this spring as the Cowboys try and find a new trigger man to run Todd Monken’s spread offense.
On defense, Oklahoma State will be trying to replace ends Jamie Blatnick and Richetti Jones and improve a unit that was solid, but far from great, in 2011. They should be helped by junior college transfer, Calvin Barnett, who brings with him high expectations at the defensive tackle position.
6. TCU – The Big 12′s other newcomer should provide plenty of good storylines entering the 2012 season. How will they transition to the Big 12 after dominating the Mountain West in the recent past?
The Horned Frogs offseason was marred by the recent arrests and dismals of four players including linebacker Tanner Brock and defensive end D.J. Yendrey. The focus this spring will be trying to move past the dismissals while trying to find replacements at the same time. TCU has the fewest number of returning starters of any team in the league with 11.
The good news is that TCU does return last year’s starting quarterback, Casey Pachall, who broke school records with 228 completions and 2,921 yards passing. They also return their top three rushers who combined for over 2,300 yards rushing in 2011.
7. Baylor - The Bears are coming off the best season in school history but will have entirely new look in 2012. Gone are Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin and the team’s leading rusher and receiver in Terrance Ganaway and Kendall Wright.
Senior Nick Florence figures to be the guy that will replace RGIII running the Bears offense. This will be an all-important spring session for the Bears as they get accustomed to Florence running the show while trying to find playmakers to put around him.
The Bears will also be trying to improve a defense that gave up over 37 points a game in 2011. This will be coordinator Phil Bennett’s second season in Waco and they’ll need to find a way to slow down offenses in the Big 12 with their own offense figuring to much less explosive in 2012. How much the improvement the Bear’s can show on defense will go a long ways in determining what type of success Baylor has on the field this fall.
8. Iowa State – The focus for Iowa State will spring will revolve around replacing offensive coordinator, Tom Herman, who left to take the same position on Urban Meyer’s staff at Ohio State. Paul Rhoads tabbed last year’s wide receiver coach, Courtney Messingham, to be the new play caller in Ames.
His first order of business will be deciding if Jared Barnett will indeed by the starting quarterback in 2012. Barnett took over for Steele Jantz last season but then was replaced himself by Jantz during the team’s 27-13 loss to Rutgers in the Pinstripe Bowl. Redshirt freshman, Sam Richardson, should also get a look this spring, as well, at the quarterback position.
On defense, the Cyclones will continue to build around two of the league’s best linebackers, A.J. Klein and Jake Knott, while trying to replace one of the Big 12′s best cornerbacks in Leonard Johnson.
9. Texas Tech – We all know Texas Tech’s offense is good. Whether or not the Red Raiders return to a bowl game will largely be determined by how much their defense can improve. Art Kaufman takes over as coordinator and is the third defensive coordinator in Lubbock in Tommy Tuberville’s three season. Texas Tech also turned to the junior college ranks in recruiting to shore up the holes on defense bringing in seven defensive JC players. If a few of those guys can answer the bell, Tech could be in for big improvements in 2012.
10. Kansas - The Jayhawks figure to look nothing like the Kansas teams of the past two season with Charlie Weis set to take over. Whether or not that results in more wins remains to be seen.
Weis brought in former Notre Dame quarterback, Dayne Crist, to run his offense which should help smooth the transition. Kansas’ offense may very well be in good hands, but Dave Campo has big, big, holes to fill on defense. The Jayhawks’s defense was downright awful last season giving up 43.8 points per game How much improvement can they have in one season? The good news is they can’t be much worse.
With Weis now at the helm, a lot of eyes will be on Kansas this spring and into the fall to see what type of success Weis can have in Lawrence. Things didn’t end well during his previous head coaching stop in South Bend and he claims to have learned a lot from what went wrong at Notre Dame. How much he learned probably won’t be evident, however, for a season or two as KU continues to restock the cupboards on the recruiting trail.
