Oklahoma Football: Sooners lead Preseason All-Big 12 team, Brendan Radley-Hiles named Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year

The votes are in, and seven Oklahoma Sooners have earned preseason Big 12 honors. Six different OU players — RB Rodney Anderson, OT Bobby Evans, OG Ben Powers, WR Marquise Brown, TE Grant Calcaterra and PK/P Austin Seibert — were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team, while freshman DB Brendan Radley-Hiles was voted Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

Complete team and list of honorees

Seibert is on the team as both a placekicker and a punter, which I absolutely love. Big Seib has been working his butt off since 2015 to pull double-duty for this team, and I’m glad he’s being rewarded for it. His double-inclusion gives OU a conference-leading seven spots on the team, with the Sooners edging out West Virginia (4), Oklahoma State (3), Iowa State (3) and Texas Tech (3).

After the departures of Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph, West Virginia quarterback Will Grier was unsurprisingly voted preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Grier threw for 3,490 yards while also recording 34 TD passes and 12 interceptions as a junior in 2017. On the defensive side, TCU DL Ben Banogu took home the honor after being named Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year and an All-Big 12 First Team selection last season.

Many were wondering who would take the running back spots on this year’s preseason team, with Anderson, Oklahoma State’s Justice Hill and Iowa State’s David Montgomery all having solid cases. However, the Big 12 appears to have sacrificed the fullback spot in order to make room for a third running back, so all three ended up making the team. I was sort of looking forward to some “controversy” and a bunch of whining, but whatever.