By John Shinn

Transcript Sports Writer

In Oklahoma’s locker room, Malcolm Kelly has some admirers. Run down the Sooners’ roster and nearly every player has a story of one of Kelly’s feats you had to see to believe.

“He’s a monster,” Sooner cornerback Marcus Walker said.

Walker should know. He’s had to go up against Kelly most days in practice. He gets a better view than anyone of all those leaping grabs, even while sandwiched between a pair of defenders.

But why is Kelly, entering his junior season, still trying to crack into the short list of college football’s elite wide receivers?

He’s had the best numbers of any two-year receiver in OU history. Kelly’s already caught 95 passes for 1,464 yards with 12 going for touchdowns. By any standard, he’s the kind of weapon an offensive can be built around.

Last season, he was a dominant player on a Sooner team that went 11-3 and a won a Big 12 Championship.

Yet he finds himself looking up at Oklahoma State’s Adarius Bowman and Texas’ Limas Sweed as the conference’s top pass catchers.

Perhaps it’s because receivers build their reputations as part of a tandem. Mark Clayton, OU’s last All-American receiver, had Jason White flinging passes to him for two full seasons and parts of a third.

Continuity has been fleeting in OU’s passing attack since White left campus. Kelly will be trying to establish a connection with a third starting quarterback when OU opens practice this week.

“It’s kind of crazy,” Kelly said. “You’d never think that would happen, but you just have to take it and run with it. I sit down and think about that some times. Three years, three different quarterbacks.”

Back in 2005, it looked like that would never be the case. Kelly, as a true freshman, broke into the starting lineup and established a connection with Rhett Bomar.

Many believed they were the future of OU’s passing game and the future wasn’t just bright, but white hot.

It didn’t work out that way.