Under the radar: Oklahoma Sooners - ESPN (blog)

Time for the next team in our series examining one player on each Big 12 team who will enter 2012 with a profile that doesn't quite match his worth to the team.

In other words, they're coming in under the radar.

Next up: the Oklahoma Sooners.

Under the radar: CB Demontre Hurst

Sooners fans know Hurst well after he burst on the scene during spot duty in his freshman year in 2009. The rest of the league, though? Most are painfully in the dark on what Hurst has to offer.

Other corners like Carrington Byndom and Quandre Diggs at Texas, Brodrick Brown at Oklahoma State and Nigel Malone at Kansas State get a whole lot more press, but Hurst very well could prove he's better than all of them during his senior campaign in 2012.

Jamell Fleming took his talents to the NFL, but Hurst will be the team's top cornerback, with loads of experience to pass down to the team's younger players.

Hurst led the Sooners with 11 pass breakups last season, but earned just second-team All-Big 12 honors, his first appearance on the All-Big 12 squad. He returned his only interception of the season for a touchdown against Texas, but also recovered two fumbles. Hurst has all the pieces to be a shutdown corner in this league, and spent two seasons going head to head in practice against Ryan Broyles, one of the toughest players to cover in the history of the Big 12. He'll be teaching the Sooners' receivers a thing or two this summer and in fall camp, but Hurst is fast, and he's shown the instincts necessary to be a star since he stepped on campus. The Lancaster, Texas, native is under the radar a bit for now, but that'll change quickly for fans of the Big 12 as 2012 kicks off. If you think Hurst is under the radar among the league's wide receivers, you're sorely mistaken.