It’s that time of year when the NFL makes public those who have been invited to prance and pose their way around a bunch of middle-aged men with beer bellies and too-tight nylon shorts. Surprisingly, invitees almost never say no.

In its infinite wisdom, the NFL got its hands on the MU depth chart and decided to invite nearly all the senior starters. Tigers who will be at the combine: Danario Alexander (of course), Sean Weatherspoon (of course), Kurtis Gregory (not a surprise), and Jared Perry (say what?). Took me by surprise, but Toothpick apparently showed enough to get invited. As one of those easy-to-root-for guys, I’m thrilled that Perry will get his shot. I was holding out hope that Brian Coulter might get the call, but not surprised he didn’t.

Without further ado, here are your Big 12 invites:

Baylor (2): WR David Gettis, C J.D. Walton.
Colorado (1): TE Riar Geer
Kansas (2): WR Kerry Meier, S Darrell Stuckey.
Kansas State (2): WR Brandon Banks, TE Jeron Mastrud.
Missouri (4): WR Danario Alexander, G Kurtis Gregory, WR Jared Perry, OLB Sean Weatherspoon.
Nebraska (4): S Larry Asante, LB Phillip Dillard, C Jake Hickman, DT Ndamukong Suh.
Oklahoma (5): RB Chris Brown, TE Brody Eldridge, TE Jermaine Gresham, CB Brian Jackson, OT Trent Williams.
Oklahoma State (4): CB Perrish Cox, OT Russell Okung, QB Zac Robinson, RB Keith Toston.
Texas (6): DT Lamarr Houston, DE Sergio Kindle, QB Colt McCoy, LB Roddrick Muckelroy, WR Jordan Shipley, OT Adam Ulatoski.
Texas Tech (2): G Brandon Carter, CB Jamar Wall.

Let’s see – no Reesing or Bradford. I don’t expect Reesing to play in the NFL, but I thought he’d get invited to the combine. Chase Daniel did. Bradford is either an oversight for this list or has already told the NFL he wasn’t coming.

Three players each from from NU’s and UT’s mighty defenses were invited.

Last year I composed a similar post and broke it down by team while noting that 39 Big 12 players were invited, 25 from the South and 14 from the North. This year sees 32 Big 12ers going, 19 from South and 13 from North. Closing the gap, people. South better watch out!

For what it’s worth, here are the number of players from each Big 12 school to be invited the last two years:

OU – 13
UT – 11
MU – 10
NU – 10
TT – 7
OSU – 6
A&M – 4
KSU – 4
KU – 2
BU – 2
CU – 1
ISU – 0

Thoughts?