By John Shinn
Transcript Sports Writer
Adrian Peterson ended weeks of speculation Monday by announcing he will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft.
“The last few days have been stressful,” Peterson said in a statement released by Oklahoma. “I’ve been pondering a lot of things and looking at it from all the different angles, weighing the good and the bad.
“In the end, I think I just realized that this is a business decision and that it is time for me to take that next step. It wasn’t easy. I haven’t been sleeping much. I just put it all in God’s hands.”
Peterson stands at No. 3 on OU’s all-time rushing list with 4,045 yards. He rushed for over 1,000 yards in all three seasons, including 1,071 with 12 touchdowns this past season, while only playing in eight games due to a broken collarbone.
Most mock drafts have him pegged as a high first-round pick.
OU coach Bob Stoops doesn’t doubt that will the case.
“I know this has been a trying time for him and he just needs to know that we support him whole-heartedly,” Stoops said. “Adrian has been a great individual player and a great teammate. His leadership and work ethic set a strong example, and he competed with everything he had. He has given us all a lot of great moments and has been fun to watch.
“Now, he feels it’s just time, and we support that. We hope and believe that he’s going to be a high pick. We’re excited to watch him move on and we expect that he will have a great and long NFL career.”
Durability appears to be the only knock against Peterson. He was held out or was extremely limited in four games in 2005 with an ankle injury, and the broken collarbone he suffered this past season put him on the bench for seven games.
Perhaps that is what caused Peterson to wrestle with the decision. Monday was the final day underclassmen could declare themselves eligible for the draft.
He and his family met with potential agents over the last two weeks, while Stoops tried to gather as much information as possible about where he would be selected.
“I got opinions from people I value like my dad and my mother,” Peterson said. “Coach Stoops gave me a lot of information that I needed. He presented both sides.”
Peterson said the hardest part was leaving behind goals he wasn’t able to accomplish at OU.
He was the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 2004, but the injuries prevented him from making another charge at college football’s biggest individual award.
The Sooners reached the BCS national title game in the Orange Bowl his freshman year. They lost to USC and haven’t been able to reach that stage since.
“There were some things that we didn’t accomplish,” Peterson said. “I didn’t really do all of the things I set out to do. “Those things, the guys and the love for college football were things I thought about.”
But they weren’t enough to pull Peterson back for a final season.
The NFL draft will take place April 28-29 in New York.
The Sooners have had at least one player selected in the first round the last five years. Peterson will very likely run that string to six years.
“Physically I feel like I am ready and the business aspect makes sense too,” he said. “There are a lot of people at Oklahoma I need to thank. I want to thank all of the people who supported me, including the fans. And I want to thanks the coaches, coach Stoops and especially my position coach, (Cale) Gundy.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
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