(This is part 3 of a 3-part series on Sam Bradford's career at Oklahoma, a career that has led him to being a signature away from being the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft.  Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here.)

Before we start, a friendly reminder -  save your work often.  I'll leave it at that...

Let's funk it up with one of my favorite bands of all time:

And the obligatory Olivia Munn shot:

This just in: Olivia Munn is not ugly.  Makes it tough to focus on Sam Bradford after that, but such is my curse.

When we left pt. 2, Sam had just announced he would be returning for his redshirt junior season after winning the Heisman and coming up short in the championship.  But this year would be different.  Sam was seasoned.  Jermaine Gresham, arguably the best TE in college football, had also decided to return to Norman, along without standouts OT Trent Williams and  DT Gerald McCoy.  Oklahoma still had their running backs, Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray, to pound the ball.  They had talent all over the field on both sides of the ball.  But the clock had run up of 4 starters from Oklahoma's offensive line, and some were wondering if they could step up.

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(This is part 2 of a 3-part series on Sam Bradford's career at Oklahoma, a career that has led him to being a signature away from being the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft.  Part 1 is here.)

  First, let's get some funk going on in the background while we make this funky journey... Dazz, I'm looking at you...

  Perfect.  In part 1 of this series, we went chronicled Sam Bradford's rise from an above average high school QB prospect to the end of his red shirt freshman year.  Oh, and Olivia Munn.  That's a good starting point after the jump, methinks.

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(This is part 1 of a 3-part series on Sam Bradford's career at Oklahoma, a career that has led him to being a signature away from being the #1 overall pick in the NFL draft.)

  I know many NFL fans don't follow college football very closely, but if you never heard of Sam Bradford until the last couple of months, you missed a meteoric rise to the top of college football followed, of course, by a heartbreaking injury and the current tsunami of love we've been drowning under that shows no signs of abating.  Greatest opening sentence of all time.

  Today, let's look at how Sam Bradford got to this point and what happened during his fantastic voyage...fantastic voyage...aw yeah...

Come alooooong and riiiiiiide on a fantastic voyage!  It's going to be a funky summer for 3k at TST to remind all you kids of what old school really means.  And just to clarify, it doesn't necessarily mean pirate outfits and awkward swordfights.  Less pirates but more Sam Bradford after the jump.

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Reading the draft talk lately, you might be surprised to learn that the St. Louis Rams are doing their due diligence on players other than the four potential number one picks. Yeah, crazy, huh?

A team official was in Alabama yesterday for the National Champs' Pro Day. After taking diet notes about Mount Cody's secret to slimming down from 370 to 348 lbs, the Rams' representative spent some quality time with First-Team All American offensive guard Mike Johnson. Center drills, including shotgun and under center snaps, were post-workout test administered by the Rams. 

Though he was primarily Alabama's left guard, he has started at left tackle as well. Johnson has played all offensive line positions in his career thus far, except center. According to Johnson, many feel he projects as a center in the NFL, hence the snapping drills. 

CBS Sports and partner NFL Draft Scout have him pegged as a third round pick. Walter Football has him in the 4th round. 

Obviously, the Rams are and will look at lots of player between now and the end of April, but this is an indication that offensive linemen are on their mind. I can't speak much to Johnson's ability, other than having seen a pretty damn impressive Alabama run game a few times this season, but finding versatile linemen, at least a guy who can move smoothly between guard and center, would be a good player to have.

If you're not reading Rob Rang's draft blog over at CBS Sports, you're missing out on some real insight...and free of the aura of ridiculousness usually surrounding the ESPN draftniks. Anyway, this morning Rang takes a look at the upcoming schedule of college Pro Days and identifies key players who'll be on display and answering questions. What about some of the St. Louis Rams potential draft picks?

There's no bigger date on the pre-draft calendar than March 25, when Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford works out with the intention of solidifying his name in the conversation for first overall pick. The draft's other top QB, Notre Dame's spikey-haired Jimmy Clausen, works out on April 9 in South Bend. Ok, so about some other names of note...

TST readers may noticed plenty of conversation lately about the Rams need at tight end. One of the biggest names in the draft at that position, Arizona's Ron Gronkowski will fill in the gaps from his missed 2009 season on March 27. 

Some of the draft's other quarterbacks will be looking to boost their draft stock in the coming weeks as well. Today, Oklahoma State QB Zac Robinson will be looking to build on a strong combine performance. The biggest knock on Robinson, as I see it, is his accuracy, as in is he accurate enough down the field to find success in the NFL. 

Central Michigan's Dan LeFevour is banking on his March 24 workout to rebuild his value after it took a hit from his decision not to throw at the Combine. Colt McCoy will throw with the other Texas prospects in Austin on March 31. 

Another Texas player I'm interested in is DT Lamarr Houston, who is currently projected as a 2nd or 3rd round pick. His 4.85 time in the 40 at the Combine was decidedly un-defensive tackle like.

USC also hold their Pro Day on March 31. Plenty of names to keep an eye on here, but I'm most anxious to see how DE Everson Griffen's draft stock fares after getting a boost at the Combine. Could Griffen be available for the Rams at #33? 

Here's something draft related to chew on this afternoon, especially for you Suh fans out there. Coinciding with Senior Bowl festivities last week, NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock updated his prospect rankings for the top five players at each position, shaking up conventional wisdom in the process.  

The big news is that Mayock put Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy above Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh in his defensive tackle ratings. People have been taking it for granted that Suh represents a slam dunk for the best overall talent in the draft. And with good reason. However, McCoy has been getting lots of reconsideration from the chattering classes, and I suspect Mayock is only the first and most prominent member of the prospect talkers to put McCoy on top. At the very least, it's good conversation fodder.

And why does this matter for the St. Louis Rams? Well, it's been widely assumed that the Rams would pick Suh with their first overall pick in this year's draft, the lone spoil of a 1-15 season, except for a few thinking they'll grab a franchise quarterback. It stands to reason that McCoy would be high on the Rams, or anyone's, draft board. I can't help but wonder if the Rams might not even prefer McCoy over Suh since Spagnuolo likes to mix up his defensive line with players who can play DE and DT, something McCoy should be able to do with ease. 

On his quarterback list, Mayock has another Oklahoma player on top, Sam Bradford. Take the injury out of the equation and that's a spot on analysis. Our very own 3k had Bradford going first overall to the Rams in his most recent mock draft. For my money, I still think Bradford will put to rest most of the questions about his injured shoulder this spring; that might have been one of the most carefully managed injuries in sports history. 

Lots to think about and the Combine next month will muddy the waters even further. April can't get here soon enough.

  So we've gotten through three positions so far: QB, DT and WR.  In the poll from that WR board, your demand was voiced clearly: "feed me DE info."  So your demands shall be met.

  Before we start, I should point out this was the hardest board to compile out of the four.  The talent is pretty compact in the tiers.  What separates some of these prospects is generally either "effort" or "big game production", both of which can change entirely when they put on an NFL uniform.  I say can, of course, because prospects with the "inconsistent effort" tags can either become a workhorse or Alex Barron 2.0.  That being the case, the combine is going to play a huge factor in both this board and how this board gets spread across the entire field.  Enough caveats - board me!

 * For any newcomers, the format is ranking - name (* denotes underclassmen), school (scouting reports from Mocking the Draft, ESPN, Walter Football or Draft Countdown if available).  Also, I see Sergio Kindle (Texas) and Jerry Hughes (TCU) as NFL OLBs, so they're not here.  Neither are Adrian Clayborne (Iowa) or  Cameron Heyward (Ohio St.), since they have already stated they are returning to college football in 2010.

1 - Derrick Morgan*, Georgia Tech (WF)

  Morgan's stock has slowly risen past the other ends on this board to the point you could say with some confidence he is the consensus top DE.  That would have been nearly unthinkable at the beginning or even the midpoint of the college season.  The two big differences are effort and progression.  Morgan puts it on the field every play; he'll get the "high motor" tag that so many people hate to hear when Chris Long's name comes up.  In the four Georgia Tech games I watched, what stood out to me was the timing and power behind his first step.  He explodes into the offensive line before using a variety of moves and does so quickly.  That disturbed the OTs he faced more often that most anything else - the fact that tackles had to be strong enough to deal with his 6'4", 268 lb. frame but also quick enough to adjust to whichever maneuver he brings.  The biggest flaw in his game is dealing with the run.  Part of that may be that he played so quick to get penetration that by the time he tries to move laterally to get out of a block, he's got to undo what most other DEs wouldn't have done at that point (if that makes sense).

  Linguistic bungling aside, he's my top DE right now.   Nine followers after the jump. 

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  Well, it was a pretty lackluster college football season, ATC.  Still, as an NFL fan, I'm more than pleased with the talent coming out for this draft.  We've got months to get deeper into the prospects as we lead up to the 3-day spectacle, but for tonight, let's enjoy the upcoming defensive battle and see if there's anyone the Rams might be interested in who will be factors.

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