Assessing 2011's most intriguing players, in no particular order. Today: Junior Oklahoma defensive tackle Jamarkus McFarland.
? Typecasting. McFarland was the kind of recruit whose courtship gets covered by the New York Times and hobnobs with Heisman winners and sends spurned fans on the warpath when his commitment doesn't go their way —�a top-shelf prospect, in other words, who arrived in Norman at the perfect moment to inherit the mantle of a long line of top-shelf Sooner tackles: Like both of Bob Stoops' previous defensive tackle stars, Tommie Harris and Gerald McCoy, McFarland was touted as an explosive, disruptive type who can beat offensive linemen into the backfield while still possessing more than enough bulk (in McFarland's case, 280 pounds as an incoming freshman) to hold up against the run. He would get his feet under him during an apprentice season behind McCoy, then slide into the void as the resident irresistible force in the middle of the line when McCoy left for the draft after his second straight All-American campaign in 2009.
Technically, that's still possible, though his failure to break out —�or even crack the regular starting lineup —�last year as a sophomore effectively shoved the hype into the freezer. Instead, the demand has shifted from "irresistible force" to "immovable object": The run defense was one of the weakest links of last year's Big 12 title run, and with the up-tempo offense shouldering most of the responsibility for making the Sooners the overwhelming favorites to open at No. 1 in the preseason polls, doing a better job clogging up running lanes is a top priority.
? Best-Case. Oklahoma plummeted from eighth nationally against the run in 2009 to 58th last year, struggling in one point or another against pretty much every variety of ground attack it came across: Air Force's traditional triple option ground out 351 yards and three touchdowns on well over 5.5 per carry in a near-upset in September; Missouri's spread went for 178 yards and two touchdowns in the Tigers' actual upset on Oct. 23; Baylor's spread broke off 237 and a pair of scores a month later. In the meantime, Texas A&M sent tailback Cyrus Gray straight ahead for 122 and a touchdown in the Aggies' upset on Nov. 6, which also included a 48-yard run by quarterback Ryan Tannehill on A&M's first snap to set up another score. Establishing the run is the surest way for opposing offenses to keep Oklahoma's own arsenal off the field and make inroads against a unit that yielded at least 24 points in half of OU's games.{YSPLMORE}
Obviously, someone in the middle of that line has to get better, and there are few better candidates in the entire Big 12 for a leap year than McFarland, who's hardly coming in cold with three starts and steady work off the bench in 20 games in two years. He's also listed above 290 pounds, putting him firmly in the "run-stopper" category. At minimum, McFarland's hitting the point of his career where he should emerge as a reliable (if unheralded) starter; at best, he'll be the breakout star of a line that reclaims its place as one of the most feared in the country.
? Worst-Case. Nothing McFarland has done the last two seasons suggests he's on the verge of spearheading a championship-caliber defense; as spring practice gets underway, he's not even on the verge of cracking the starting lineup, where fellow junior Stacy McGee remains entrenched even after being cited for marijuana possession in February. McGee started all but three games ahead of McFarland last year, with nearly identical production in terms of tackles, tackles for loss and rushing the passer. Defensive tackles don't play on paper�— especially in Oklahoma's scheme, where they're generally charged with occupying blockers to free up the linebackers and secondary to make most of the plays —�but the fact that McFarland was only a part-time bit player on a unit that finished 58th against the run doesn't say much for his prospects of ever being anything else.
Listed alphabetically by school.? KEENAN ALLEN, Cal
? MARCUS COKER, Iowa
? TYRANN MATHIEU, LSU
? DEVIN TAYLOR, South Carolina
? DARRELL SCOTT, South Florida
? SHAYNE SKOV, Stanford
? Fun Fact. Over-the-top, high-dollar recruiting tales are heavy enough on rumor and conspiracy theory that they seem more like something out of a contrived movie — say, The Program or Caligula Goes to Studio 54 — as a matter of course. But between bestselling recruiting tales like The Blindside and Meat Market and Willie Williams' Miami Herald recruiting diary and the random Facebook postings of Mississippi State prospects and pretty much everything that happened at Colorado under Gary Barnett, we know that the reality can be every bit as interesting as the fiction, and McFarland's notorious account of a party with triumphant Texas fans for a high school English assignment, of all things, remains a titan of the genre:
But the best summation of his experience might have come from a paper he wrote for his English class comparing Oklahoma and Texas. The paper, "Red River Rivals Recruit," includes a description of a wild party hosted by Longhorns fans at an upscale hotel in Dallas after the Oklahoma-Texas game on Oct. 11.
"I will never forget the excitement amongst all participants," McFarland wrote. "Alcohol was all you can drink, money was not an option. Girls were acting wild by taking off their tops, and pulling down their pants. Girls were also romancing each other. Some guys loved every minute of the freakiness some girls demonstrated. I have never attended a party of this magnitude."
He continued: "The attitude of the people at the party was that everyone should drink or not come to the party. Drugs were prevalent with no price attached."
McFarland later contended parts of the paper were "spiced up" (though after that he also said "I stand by this story" as presented in the paper), but even if he fabricated it out of thin air, the evocative prose and uncompromising commitment to verit� storytelling ensures his place as a recruiting immortal.
? What to expect in the fall. It's a make-or-break season for McFarland, and for Oklahoma: The Sooners have the goods to deliver a national title after a decade of repeated disappointments with the championship on the line, and notable improvement against the run is a critical part of the equation. McFarland is a critical part of their chances of improving against the run. With his potential and two seasons in the rotation under his belt, he's in position to emerge as a reliable stalwart over the next two seasons.
In the big picture, though, the early trajectory of his career suggests his place is as a cog in the system, not a driving force: He's not going to keep OU from going anywhere, but it's fair to say by now that he's not going to be one of the guys who leads them there, either.
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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.
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