Bob Stoops finally let the cat out of the bag today at the weekly OU football luncheon when he stated that the Sooners star TE Jermaine Gresham will be entering the NFL draft.
"No, Jermaine will not be coming back next year," Stoops said.
Most Oklahoma fans have realized that Gresham's announcement of departure since his injury early this season has been inevitable. But, what probably shocked the media more than anything today was the direct nature that Stoops used when breaking news about Gresham's plans.
TBB believes that this is clearly the right decision for the young TE for multiple reasons. The injury that Jermaine suffered was simple and should have no future lingering effects on the knee. But, there could be lingering effects on Gresh's reputation as a durable player. At a position like TE this is even more of a factor than most. If Gresham were to come back another injury would easily damage his reputation and probably classify Jermaine as a guy who couldn't deal with the physical demands of the NFL.
Also, Gresham has personal reasons to enter the NFL and make money for his family. For a player like Sam Bradford, a real money situation at home doesn't exist. If Bradford suffered a career ending injury tomorrow there would be no consequence other than the end of his football career. And as much as we at TBB hate to speculate it's already known that Jermaine's family is in some kind of need of the money that the talented TE will be receiving after completing his contract.
What is interesting about this particular situation is that Bob Stoops has told "The Boomer Blog" personally that the only player that he has ever advised to leave early was Sooner Alum Roy Williams. TBB believes that although outside factors are clearly at play here it's not to say that Bob Stoops didn't believe that Gresham might have been so talented that he was above the competition level of the NCAA.
We at "The Boomer Blog" wish Jermaine Gresham the best in the NFL draft, as well as with his career in the NFL.
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