Last year, when Rhett Bomar was dismissed and Paul Thompson slid in at quarterback at the last second, it made two-a-days one big adjustment period for the Oklahoma offense. Then-sophomore receiver Malcolm Kelly was as productive as ever, though, and now is among the Big 12’s elite receivers as a junior. Again, Oklahoma has an unsure quarterback situation with two-a-days right around the corner, but Kelly is as confident as ever. He took some questions from KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene in Monday’s Big 12 Media Day session.
Ryan Greene: What’s it like for a receiver going into a season where you just don’t know, it could be any one of three guys who’s going to be the starting quarterback. What’s it like for you preparing for a season with that going on?
Malcolm Kelly: It’s just every day during 7-on-7 in the summertime, getting reps with every last one of ’em, catching balls from every last one of ’em. And you would think it’s hard, but after going through what we went through last year when you think you’ve got one guy and you go in for the team meeting and you find out it’s somebody totally different, that makes the transition a whole lot easier, now that you know who it’s going to be – it’s going to be one of those three guys.
RG: Did what happened before last season prepare you guys pretty well for the battle that’s going on now?
MK: Like I said, everyone just wrote us off. As soon as that happened, everybody assumes we ain’t gonna be nothing, and we’re going to lose this many games, and we came in and we still grinded for it. Then (Adrian Peterson) still got hurt, everybody wrote us off again, said we were going to start losing again. And we’ve got guys to come in. We’ve got enough players on the team. I’m not bigger than this team. If I get hurt, somebody can come in and fill the role just as good. We’ll always have guys that can play, that’s not really a concern.
RG: It seems like wide receiver is the ‘it’ position for the Big 12 this year. A lot of big name receivers. What do you make of the field of the receivers in the conference going into this season?
MK: It is a lot of big name guys, a lot of guys getting a lot of pub, they’re very deserving of the pub they’re getting. (Oklahoma State’s) Adarius Bowman and (Texas’) Limas Sweed are two, because we’re all big guys, but they’re all very capable of making plays, and I tip my hat to them – they’re all real good receivers.
RG: Where do you rank yourself with all these receivers?
MK: I knew you were going to ask me that. I don’t know. I feel like I’m just as good. The stats are all about the same. You guys can rank them how you want to. Whoever makes the plays between the lines is what matters to me.
RG: Is it hard that the Boise State game keeps getting re-hashed?
MK: Not really, that was last year. I ain’t really worried about it. When people look at you, they don’t look at last year. By the time the season rolls around, they’re not going to be talking about ‘Oh, you lost to Boise State.’ They’re going to be saying ‘Oh, you just lost the first game.’ If we lose the first game, that’s what they’re going to be saying. We have to worry about this season, winning these games, because last season doesn’t really do anything for anybody.
Media Day Q&A with…Kansas’ Aqib Talib
Media Day Q&A with…Kansas’ Brandon McAnderson
Media Day Q&A with…Missouri’s players on Arrowhead and expectations
