We’re continuing our countdown of the Big 12's top 25 players from the 2012 season. Here's more on my criteria for the list. You can take a peek at how the preseason list looked here.
The official list is locked away in a vault in an undisclosed location, but we'll be revealing one player a day moving forward.
On with the show ...
No. 18: Landry Jones, QB, Oklahoma
2012 numbers: Completed 367 of 555 passes (66.1 percent) for 4,272 yards, 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
Most recent ranking: Jones was ranked No. 2 in our preseason list of the Big 12's top 25 players.
Making the case for Jones: Jones is one of the league's biggest names, but never quite reached the potential he showed during his breakthrough sophomore season. Jones threw for a whole bunch of yards, but comparing the value between positions is always difficult. He's definitely one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but he also racked up his yardage on more passing attempts than any quarterback in the Big 12.
Jones was just seventh in the Big 12 in passer rating, behind guys like David Ash and Seth Doege at Texas and Texas Tech, respectively. He grew into his leadership role and carried the Sooners to another 10-win season, but when the Sooners faced elite defenses, Jones looked very average. K-State slowed him down significantly. He was held without a touchdown pass against Notre Dame in a 17-point loss and produced just one touchdown in a blowout loss to Texas A&M, though he did have his highest completion percentage of the season in that game.
Jones had to deal with an almost entirely new receiving corps and played well this season to grab yet another spot on our postseason list of the Big 12's best players.
The rest of the list:
No. 19: Lache Seastrunk, RB, Baylor
No. 20: Jake Knott, LB, Iowa State
No. 21: James Sims, RB, Kansas
No. 22: Aaron Colvin, CB, Oklahoma
No. 23: Josh Stewart, WR, Oklahoma State
No. 24: Nick Florence, QB, Baylor