Pre-New Year’s Day bowl games don’t decide much, but the Alamo Bowl could help determine the future for Oklahoma State’s three offensive hotshots: Justin Blackmon, Brandon Weeden and Kendall Hunter.
Wednesday’s game against Arizona will be the swan song for Hunter, an under-recruited 5-foot-8, 200-pound running back who is seventh in the nation with 1,516 rushing yards this season and the fourth-leading rusher in Cowboys’ history (4,149 yards). The two-time All-American senior is projected as a second-to-third round pick next spring.
Blackmon, a redshirt sophomore and the nation’s leading receiver (151.4 yards per game, 18 TDs), could go as high as the first round if he decides to turn pro. Blackmon tied the NCAA record with 11 consecutive games with at least 100 yards and a touchdown — a mark he could’ve already broken if not for his one-game suspension in October due to a DUI charge, which also may have cost him a Heisman Trophy finalist nomination.
Weeden, meanwhile, might just be the next Chris Weinke. At 27, he’s on his second sports career, having been the New York Yankees’ top draft pick in 2002. In just his first full season at quarterback in Stillwater, he ranks among the top five in the nation in passing yards (3rd), passing yards per game (2nd), passing touchdowns (4th) and total offense (2nd).
Facing Arizona should help Weeden weigh a biological clock ticking darn near 30 versus his relative inexperience, but he has filed paperwork with the NFL Draft Advisory Board to find out what to expect if he enters the 2011 draft.
