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Who he is: He came in as a tight end from Georgia (is Georgia becoming our new recruiting pipeline?) before switching to defensive tackle his first year. I’ll always remember him as “the guy who tried to end Ryan Broyles’ life seconds after the most amazing football play in school history” (see 0:07 mark below), you might remember him as an average to above-average defensive tackle.

What he does: He only had 26 tackles and 2 sacks last year but that’s fine with me as long as he’s clogging up the middle and not letting teams run between the tackles while they open up the outside. Bill Young sounds like he’s all in on the guy so I don’t see any reason for us not to be either. I even tabbed him as one of the five players OSU can least afford to lose.

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Who he is: A former two-star WR out of Dallas (I don’t know why I even reference stars anymore really), he put up a 14 | 135 | 3 line last year as a freshman. Those stats belie how ambitious his game is though, not to mention how excited Cowboy fans are about his future.

What he does: Harrison has a chance to be the next in a long line of Biletnikoff award dinner attendees. He made big time plays as a freshman (see below) and established himself as somebody you held your breath for every time a pass went his way.

Where he fits in: It’s not often that the third (or fourth or fifth) receiver is this important to a top ten team, but then again it’s not that often that your #1 is going to get double or triple teamed. Weeden has his top two guys set but I think there’s going to be a non-conference battle for slot number three. Who will he find a rapport with? Which receiver will step into his rhythm? My money’s on Harrison.

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Who they are: Before you send your email, yes, I am fully aware that there is nobody on the team named Caler Lavson. There is however a Caleb Lavey and a Tyler Johnson and since we’re not sure who’s going to be the starter yet (and the reality is that both of them are going to see a ton of time on the field) I decided to roll them up into one super LB.

Lavey is the highly touted prospect from Texas (it feels we’re starting to stockpile these) who got hurt in camp last year and returned by game #4 but never fulfilled expectations.

Johnson is the former baseball player (Weeden has someone to hang with!) who was originally committed to Tulsa but walked on last fall and, by all accounts, is a fearless hitter who doesn’t really know where to be all the time (Quinton Moore anyone? Yes? No?).

His minor league stats in case you were wondering: .244 | 42 HR | 185 RBI | 94 SB (h/t to Stillwater News Press for that)

What they do: Orie Lemon leaves a gaping void in the middle of the defense both figuratively and literally. Co-defensive coordinator Glenn Spencer thinks that can be filled with this Caler Lavson combo, “we can replace Orie’s production with those two guys.”

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In case you missed it on Tuesday I put out my first ten predictions for the 2011 season including one in which Justin Blackmon doesn’t lead this team in catches (you can kill me in the comments).

11. OSU will finish higher in both the AP and Coaches polls than they start – Yes, they’ve started in the top ten before, but this year feels different. It is different. That ’09 team was dazzling and electric, but this team is nasty. There’s a tangible difference.

12. Brandon Weeden will break the completion percentage record he set last year of .669 – Last year he shattered the former record, that had only been raised .1% in the last 22 years, by a staggering 2%. That’s going up again. 70% isn’t unattainable.

13. Four guys will top 50 catches this year – Last year only two did (Blackmon and Cooper). This year I think they’ll repeat and you can throw Randle and pick one from Anyiam, Moore, Stewart, and Harrison.

14. This year’s team will go for it on fourth down at least 20 times – Last year’s squad went 7-15 in such instances. I just think there’s a trust factor between the coaches and the offense that wasn’t there for the totality of the 2010 season. If the ball is past midfield and it’s not a tight game in the 4th, I don’t see Gundy not going for it.

15. Jeremy Smith will lead the team in total TDs – I think we’ve already established that I don’t see Blackmon having as big of a year as he did last year (not that anyone should be disappointed with something along the lines of 80 | 1,500 | 14) and I think Smith is going to get a ton of chances to punch it in. I also think he’s one of the five players OSU can least afford to lose.

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Welcome to a new series on what must take place for Oklahoma State to reach #1 in the polls this year. Who must win in order for the Cowboys to sit atop the college football world?

Here’s your full fan’s guide to who OSU fans should be rooting for this season.

We’ve looked at Boise St. and Stanford so far and now we’re heading east to look at Chief Osceola and his band of #5-ranked Seminoles.

The Noles have scrimmages scheduled with Louisiana-Monroe and Charleston Southern before OU comes to town on September 24. That game is (obviously) their best chance to lose all year and drop below Oklahoma State in the standings although the line (OU -3) is in free fall since Travis Lewis hurt his toe.

It should be noted that this is the first “one of these teams is definitely dropping below OSU in the rankings if OSU takes care of business” games we’ve looked at so far (the other is Oregon LSU but we’ll get to that later on).

If Jimbo’s squad can survive OU it has to go to Clemson, Wake, and Duke consecutively. You can’t be overly confident as a Seminoles fan in going to Death Valley seven days after playing the best team in the country even if (maybe especially if) you come away with the W.

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Who he is: He is part XLK (because he hasn’t panned out like we thought) and part Andrew McGee (for battling back from a potentially debilitating injury). He is different from who we thought he was going to be, but he also has a chance this season to reclaim some of the greatness that made him a top 75 player coming out of high school.

What he does: He’s the best quote on a team full of good quotes. He was also second on the team last year to Jamie Blatnick with 4.5 sacks (how about OSU returning its two leading sackers? Sackers? Sack-getters? Sacksters?). He also tossed in 34 tackles and, more importantly, played in every game for the first time in his career in Stillwater.

He’s not the athlete he once was (who would be after breaking their hip?) but he’s redefined himself as a defensive end by simply becoming stronger than everyone else (500 lb. bench press seems adequate, no?). I’m excited to see how that plays out on the field this year.

Where he fits in: His sacks last year came in blowouts: Washington State, Kansas, and Arizona. If OSU’s defense is going to be what it can be this year Richetti and Jamie Blatnick are going to have to transfer some of that weight room magic to the OU game and the Texas game and the Missouri game and the A&M game.

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