NORMAN — The NFL Draft (April 25-27) is just weeks away, and that means one thing for Tyler Guyton.

He's getting closer to hearing his name called... and in all likelihood, it'll be on Day 1.

The Lone Star State native began his career with a couple of seasons at TCU, then transferred to the Sooners prior to the 2022 season. Guyton started 14 games in his two-year OU career and was an honorable mention to the All-Big 12 team in 2023.

Guyton has been projected as a high draft pick since early last season, with most experts tabbing him as a first-rounder at the moment. His strong showings at both the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine in the last few weeks have only elevated his stock.

He took part in position-specific workouts during Oklahoma's Pro Day on Tuesday as he continues to work towards the ultimate goal of being drafted. OUInsider caught up with his father, Alvin, to discuss Tyler's path to the NFL and his two seasons as a Sooner.

(Editor's note: The interview has been edited for length and clarity).

“(He's) keeping football first, making sure he’s on point going into these interviews with teams. He’s staying healthy on and off the field. And he’s keeping the main thing the main thing. Thinking about football, understanding… has been the main focus.

“He’s been doing a lot, but he’s able to breathe and kind of keep things to a minimum. I know I haven’t been going anywhere but work and home lately just due to the fact that each time I stepped out, people have had some comments. ‘I heard about your son’ and things like that. Just try to keep that stuff to a minimum and get to the finish line."

“I talked with one team and we didn’t even talk about football. We just talked about life and everything going on in the world and stuff like that. It wasn’t even a conversation like football. More of a like get-to-know situation. Other than that, on the football side for me it’s been pretty mild. I’m assuming it’s going to tune up here in the next couple weeks. Other than a conversation with a team, it’s been pretty mild.”

“Yeah, but he’s really just blessed to have the opportunity to be in this position. We go back to our first time stepping on OU’s campus about five years ago. My middle son was over there, he was here for a visit to Randall (University). I had always heard about the Heisman Trophy statues here on campus. When we were leaving Randall, we were like, ‘Man, I’ve gotta ride through Oklahoma one time.’ I’ll never forget it when we were leaving, (Tyler) was like, ‘I wouldn’t mind going there.’ He literally said that as we were turning going down right here, passing by the statues. He said, ‘I wouldn’t mind going here.’ He ended up here. The power of thought and prayers, it’s amazing. You sit back and watch… this experience, where he wanted to be, it just makes it even better than it was.”

“It’s totally surreal. I still think about it. When we were up here, my car, it was wrecked. We drove all the way from Austin in a wrecked car just to make a visit up here. It was tough times back then. It was rough… Soon as we got back to Austin, it broke down. We were able to get here and back. I was like, wow. You see things change in the future. Just to be standing here now after I’ve looked at stuff like this on TV over the years, this is a real moment. It really is.”

“We try to not even worry about stuff like that when we’re going through the whole process. Now it’s getting closer. There were some discussions over the weekend about what do we want to do. We’ll hammer it out as it gets a little closer. We’ll probably be back in Austin somewhere. The NFL has offered to throw a party in Detroit, but we don’t really want to do that. So it’ll probably be in Austin. We’ll play a couple games of Madden leading up to the draft then we’ll sit back and watch, see what happens.”

“I think the (Baltimore) Ravens are his go-to team because he likes Lamar Jackson, but we usually have a rule. (You pick between three random teams). That’s who he played with. Don’t tell anybody, but I put it on him last night. I beat him 30-8 by halftime. Get off the sticks. No second half. You’re done. I sent a guy to spy him, and I was just snaring him… Please bring it up to him. He’s gonna be livid. Don’t get me wrong, he’s really good. But sometimes he catches me on the wrong day.”

“He learned hard work pays off. I know after the first spring when he got here, he was like, ‘This place is different.’ I said, ‘What do you mean by that, son?’ (He said), ‘It ain’t nothing like it was at TCU.’ He’s like, ‘These coaches, man.’ They’ve won 14 conference championships in the Big 12. It’s not by being lackadaisical or like everyone else. They’re different. So when he decided to come out, I was like, ‘That’s a good move to Oklahoma. I don’t know if you’re gonna play. There’s always some dogs up there.’ But it’s a great school. And I knew he was one of those dogs.

“It worked out incredibly well. Granted, when we left TCU they go to the national championship game. Nobody saw that coming. But outside of that, he waffled on that for so long after the coaching change at TCU. He didn’t get into the portal until January 10 of that year. He came up here on the 13th or something. He took one more visit to (Houston)… But he said I already know where I wanna go. ‘Let (OU offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh) know you’ll be up there.’ I think he posted it before we even left Houston. The people at Houston were really nice. Great campus. Great football program. But he had his mind made up once he came. It was probably the second time we had ever been here.”

“He learned from the best. We didn’t know that going in. We just knew OU kicked out some high-quality O-lineman. Once we got to meet the reason why, we understood. It’s the coach. Bill Bedenbaugh is the guy. He knows how to push him. He knows how to praise him. He has a formula that’s just working. I’m surprised he’s still here."

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