2007 Oklahoma Sooners football team

Preseason

On July 19, a preseason poll voted on by members of the media that cover the Big 12 was released. The Sooners were chosen to finish second in the Big 12 South behind Texas. They finished nine votes behind the Longhorns but 44 points above Texas A&M, the third team. This poll was released in anticipation of the Big 12 media day which began on July 23, 2007. Most publications had the Sooners ranked between five and ten in the preseason. Phil Steele's self-titled publication, which is considered by many to be the most accurate college football preseason prediction magazine, had the Sooners ranked number three in terms of how they would finish the year and how strong the team is going into the year. On August 2, 2007, Coach Bob Stoops announced at a rally that the names of players would be put back on the team's jerseys. They had been removed in a re-design before the 2006 season.

The 2006 season was the last for quarterback Paul Thompson. With his departure came the race for the next quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners. The three players in contention for the coveted spot included true freshman Keith Nichol, redshirt freshman Sam Bradford and junior Joey Halzle (the only one of the three with actual game experience). They competed throughout the summer and well into fall practice. On August 21, 2007, it was announced that Bradford would start the first game of the season.

NCAA violations

In 2006, the team and the fanbase were stunned when the returning starting quarterback, Rhett Bomar, was kicked off the team one day before the start of fall practice. Quarterback-turned-wide receiver Paul Thompson was converted back to quarterback and led the Sooners to an 11–3 season capturing the Big 12 Championship and competing in a BCS bowl game. However, the fallout of the Bomar scandal began to affect the team in 2007. On July 11, 2007, the NCAA announced a finding of "failure to monitor" the employment of student athletes and handed out penalties, most of which were extensions of punishments already set in place by the university.

The university announced that it would appeal the Infraction Committee's finding and the vacation of the wins from the 2005 season. University president David Boren released a statement that the university "[does] not believe that erasing the 2005 season from the record books is fair to the over 100 student-athletes and coaches who played by the rules and worked their hearts out for a successful season." The Sooners won the appeal to get back their wins from the 2005 season.

Recruits

National Signing Day was on February 7, 2007, and Oklahoma was set to sign many talented high school athletes from around the country. It ended up being a smaller class than usual due to the loss of only a few seniors. In addition to the seniors leaving, running back Adrian Peterson left early for the NFL Draft and three other players were set to be on medical redshirt for the upcoming season. There was some separation in Oklahoma's recruiting ranking by the two major recruiting websites. Scout.com ranked the Oklahoma recruiting class as the 30th best in the nation, while Rivals.com ranked Oklahoma as the 14th best. In the pre-season, incoming quarterback Keith Nichol was named one of the top-10 impact freshman for 2007. Below is a list of the recruits that signed their letter of intent.

Award watch lists and finalists

On July 13, 2007, the Charlotte Touchdown Club released their watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Sooner defensive back Reggie Smith was among the 50 players listed. In the previous season, Smith had 40 tackles and three interceptions as a defensive back, and was also the main return specialist for the team, returning an interception and a punt for touchdowns.

On August 28, 2007, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission released their watch list for the Lou Groza Award, awarded to the most outstanding place kicker. On the list was Oklahoma's Garrett Hartley. Hartley was a finalist for the award in 2006 after making nineteen of twenty field goals and going 49 of 50 on extra points. Tight end Brody Eldridge made the Mackey Award watchlist, safety Nic Harris was on the Jim Thorpe Award watchlist, and Malcolm Kelly and Allen Patrick were both on the Maxwell Award watchlist.

In the middle of the season, several more Sooners were added to various watchlists. Redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Bradford was added to the watchlist for the Maxwell Award, awarded to the nation's best player. Oklahoma has had two prior winners of this prestigious award, including Tommy McDonald and Jason White. Auston English was added to the watchlist for the Ted Hendricks Award, given to the nation's best defensive end. The Sooners had not yet had a winner of this award in its five-year history. Punter Michael Cohen was also receiving recognition, as he was added to the watchlist for the Ray Guy Award. Again, no Sooner had ever won this award, though Jeff Ferguson was a finalist in 2001.

Roster

The 2007 Oklahoma Sooners football team consisted of 106 total players. The class breakdown of these players was 18 seniors, 26 juniors, 21 sophomores, 17 redshirt freshman, 23 true freshman and one unknown. There were eight returning offensive starters and seven returning defensive starters from the 2006 team. Overall, 50 lettermen were returning from the 2006 team (25 on offense, 20 on defense and 5 on special teams). The 2007 team captains were Joe Jon Finley, Allen Patrick, Lewis Baker, Marcus Walker and Jacob Gutierrez. Finley and Patrick represented the offense, Baker and Walker represented the defense and Gutierrez represented the special teams.

Coaching staff

Compared to the previous year, the 2007 season saw no changes in the coaching staff. However, like the season before, Bob Stoops's name was mentioned as a possibility for some coaching vacancies, but he made it known he was committed to Oklahoma.

Scores by quarter

Statistics from: "Oklahoma Sooners – Cumulative Season Statistics". University of Oklahoma Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Archived from the original on December 7, 2009. Retrieved September 22, 2007. 

Postseason

As the 2007 college football season neared the end, many organizations began to announce finalists and winners of various post-season awards. Duke Robinson was named a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award, given to the nation's best lineman. He was one of 12 athletes recognized. Jermaine Gresham was named one of eight semifinalists for the John Mackey Award for the best tight end. Sam Bradford was named a finalist for the Manning Award, given to the nation's best quarterback. Gerald McCoy was named the Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. Oklahoma also had six players make the All-Conference First Team (the most of any school), six players on the All-Conference Second Team and seven players on the All-Conference Honorable Mention (these selections are made by the 12 [now 10] coaches in the league):

Duke Robinson and Curtis Lofton became Oklahoma's 143rd and 144th All-American when they were voted to the first team by the various NCAA-sanctioned organizations such as American Football Coaches Association, the Associated Press, The Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America and both were named consensus All-Americans by the NCAA. Curtis Lofton was also named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year by the AP. Sam Bradford and Gerald McCory were named to College Football News's Freshman All-America First Team with Bradford also being named Offensive Freshman of the Year while Jermaine Gresham and DeMarcus Granger were named to CFN's Sophomore All-America First Team. Bradford was also named as freshman of the year by The Sporting News.

2008 NFL Draft

The 2008 NFL Draft was held on April 26–27, 2008 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The following Oklahoma players were either selected or signed as undrafted free agents following the draft.