At 6-3/200lbs, Dezmon Briscoe may be the cream of the crop in Big 12 receivers.
Oklahoma plays at Kansas on Saturday October 24th. The Jayhawks don’t necessarily scare me as a whole but Dezmon Briscoe sure does. The number of highly talented receivers in the Big 12 conference is insane and Briscoe may be the best of the bunch. Like Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant and the Longhorns’ Jordan Shipley, Briscoe has chemistry with a returning quarterback and will be the go to guy in a high octane offense.
Last year, as a sophomore, Briscoe caught 92 passes for 1,407 yards and 15 touchdowns. He averaged 108 receiving yards per game by cracking the 100 barrier seven different times. He caught touchdowns passes in 10 of the Jayhawks’ 13 games and was one of two players, nationally, to gain 200-plus receiving yards in a game more than once (more than this in a minute). His 92 receptions and 1,407 yards were both Kansas school records. In the final regular season game Mark Mangino decided to allow Briscoe to return kickoffs against the Missouri Tigers. In return he gave the Jayhawks 195 yards on 7 returns for an average of 27.85 yards per return.
Despite leading the conference in receiving yards per game, Briscoe was only named to the All Conference Second Team. Could it be that provides him the motivation to produce even better numbers in `09? He’s already listed as a return man on the preseason depth chart and the schedule isn’t a juggernaut either - Kansas’ first six games of the season at Northern Colorado, at UTEP, Duke, Southern Miss, Iowa State and at Colorado. Only injury, a mercy rule or Mark Mangino having a compassionate heart for his opponents the size of his…well you know can keep Dezmon Briscoe from leading the nation in receiving after those first six games.
By the time Oklahoma comes to town in late October the Jayhawks should be sitting on a 6-0 record and Briscoe on a plethora of records, which brings me back to last season. Do you know what else Dezmon Briscoe was noted for in 2008? On October 17th he torched Oklahoma’s defense for 269 yards and two touchdowns on 12 receptions. His 269 receiving yards were a Kansas single game school record and the most recorded by a receiver in the NCAA in 2008. Yep, we’ll definitely need to keep an eye on him in `09.