5) Brandon Weeden, senior QB, Oklahoma State
Sometimes in a player's career, everything just seems to mesh up. And that's what happened to quarterback Brandon Weeden in 2010. Take a quarterback matured by extra age — the then-26-year-old Weeden was a former second-round draft pick for the New York Yankees — add in a dynamic offense run by a high octane coordinator and sprinkle an offense laden with playmakers, most notably the Big 12's best receiver since Michael Crabtree.
All those ingredients led to Weeden's explosive junior year — his first as a starting quarterback since 2001 — where he came out of nowhere to earn first-team All-Big 12 honors. A backup to long-time starter Zac Robinson his freshman and sophomore years, Weeden earned the starting job, then went out and completed almost 67 percent of his passes for 4,277 yards and 34 touchdowns to 13 interceptions.
His performance was enough to help Oklahoma State earn a three-way tie for the Big 12 South crown. Now the Cowboys enter 2011 as a potential top-10 team and a threat to win the Big 12 outright, in large part thanks to Weeden, an accurate player who has the arm to make all the throws.
2010 Stats: 342-for-511 for 4,277 yards and 34 touchdowns to 13 interceptions
No. 6: Oklahoma LB Travis Lewis
No. 7: Texas DT Kheeston Randall
No. 8: Iowa State OL Kelechi Osemele
No. 9: Texas A&M RB Cyrus Gray
No. 10: Oklahoma State OL Levy Adcock
No. 11: Texas A&M WR Jeff Fuller
No. 12: Texas LB Keenan Robinson
No. 13: Oklahoma DE Frank Alexander
No. 14: Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill
No. 15: Oklahoma DB Tony Jefferson
No. 16: Texas LB Emmanuel Acho
No. 17: Oklahoma DB Demontre Hurst
No. 18: Baylor WR Kendall Wright
No. 19: Oklahoma OL Ben Habern
No. 20: Oklahoma State OL Lane Taylor
No. 21: %%MATCH_42%% State LB Jake Knott
No.22: Oklahoma State S Markelle Martin
No.23: Missouri DL Brad Madison
No. 24: Missouri WR T.J. Moe
No. 25: Texas Tech OL Mickey Okafor
No. 26: Missouri TE Michael Egnew
No. 27: Texas A&M CB Coryell Judie
No. 28: Texas DB Kenny Vaccaro
No. 29: Oklahoma DE/LB Ronnell Lewis
No. 30: Texas A&M RB Christine Michael
No. 31: Kansas OL Jeremiah Hatch
No. 32: Texas Tech OL Lonnie Edwards
No. 33: Missouri DE %%MATCH_47%%
No. 34: Oklahoma WR %%MATCH_52%%
No. 35: Texas WR %%MATCH_55%%
No. 36: Texas DE %%MATCH_43%%
No. 37: Kansas State DB %%MATCH_48%%
No. 38: Oklahoma OL %%MATCH_56%%
No. 39: Texas Tech RB %%MATCH_50%%
No. 40: Baylor OL Philip Blake
No. 41: Missouri LB %%MATCH_49%%
No. 42: Texas DL Alex Okafor
No. 43: Texas A&M DL %%MATCH_44%%
No. 44: Kansas RB %%MATCH_57%%
No. 45: Texas Tech S %%MATCH_54%%
No. 46: Iowa State CB %%MATCH_45%%
No. 47: Kansas State S %%MATCH_53%%
No. 48: Baylor DE/LB %%MATCH_51%%
No. 49: Kansas State DE %%MATCH_46%%
No. 50: Kansas DE Toben Opurum