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Oklahoma C Branson Hickman Lands on Preseason Watch List

The Sooners' transfer center from SMU arrived just after spring practice ended and has already found himself on the watch list for the Outland Trophy.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma center Branson Hickman
Oklahoma center Branson Hickman / USA Today
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Oklahoma wasn’t kidding around when they signed Branson Hickman out of the transfer portal from SMU.

Hickman is already on the preseason watch list for the Outland Trophy.

The watch list was announced Tuesday, and Hickman was among the 75 standout returning players who made the cut. The Outland is presented by the Football Writers Association of America and goes to the outstanding interior linemen — offense and defense.

The 6-foot-2, 301-pound senior from McKinney, TX, was brought in after spring practice to compete with redshirt freshman Joshua Bates, but his early returns would indicate that he’s a good bet to win the job.

Hickman, who started 33 games at SMU over the last three years, was named third-team All-American Athletic Conference in 2022 and received second-team All-AAC recognition in 2023., when he was also on the preseason Rimington Trophy watch list.

According to Pro Football Focus, Hickman showed drastic improvement as a blocker in his four years in Dallas, jumping from 52.7 as a freshman to 60.6 as a sophomore to 77.2 as a junior to 79.7 as a senior. Last year he graded at 74.8 or better in half of the Mustangs’ games.

Hickman is one of 14 centers on the list.

Oklahoma has a long, colorful history of Outland Trophy recipients.

Jim Weatherall won it in 1951 and was followed by J.D. Roberts in 1951, Lee Roy Selmon in 1975, Greg Roberts in 1978 and Jammal Brown in 2004.

Georgia landed four players on the Outland watch list, while Alabama, Ohio State and USC each landed three.

In all, the SEC is represented by 18 players on the Outland watch list, followed by 13 from the Big Ten and nine each from the ACC and Big 12.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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