Senior Day is special for a lot of players, but Saturday’s contest against Iowa State holds a little extra-special something for two OU seniors.

Tight end Trent Ratterree and deep snapper James Winchester came to OU with dreams of being Sooners and invitations to walk on. Four years later, both are on scholarship and starting for Oklahoma heading into their final game in Norman.

“It’s kind of crazy thinking four years have gone by so fast,” Winchester said. “It’s kind of bittersweet.”

Winchester said he’s been preparing for Saturday all season, making an effort to enjoy every moment of his senior year knowing that he — like everyone — eventually will have to move on.

Ratterree said the finality of the last home game hasn’t hit him yet.

“When I first got here, I felt like it would never end. It went faster than I thought it would,” he said. “You put a lot of work into something and then it ends, much like a lot of other things in life.”

Ratterree and Winchester would know about putting a lot work into playing. As walk-ons, neither had any guarantees he would ever see the field.

Ratterree said he didn’t worry about playing right away and put his effort to reaching the collegiate level of play. He was motivated by advice his brother gave him: Make it to where they have no choice but to play you.

“That’s the good thing about this place: It doesn’t matter how you come in — if you’re working your butt off, they’re going to recognize it and put you in there,” Ratterree said.

And Ratterree fully committed to working hard. He said he knew he had to push himself beyond his limits to reach where he wanted to be.

“If you set your mind to say, ‘I’m going to work until I actually pass out,’ you’re never really going to pass out,” he said. “But you have to go until you really physically can’t go anymore.”

Winchester said coming to OU always was always his dream, and it’s in his blood. His dad and sister were student-athletes at Oklahoma, so he said he never really thought he’d end up anywhere else.

When he got to Norman, he said he caught a break. OU’s deep snapper, Derek Shaw, was injured, and OU had a need Winchester could fill. As a punter in high school, Winchester dabbled with deep snapping when he’d practice punting with his dad, who also was a punter. His dad told him, “Stay with it and keep practicing it because it might be something you could use one of these days.”

When he heard Shaw was out, he practiced deep snapping all summer and earned the starting spot after the first three games of his first year. His start was a little rough — his first-ever collegiate snap sailed high for a safety against Tennessee-Chattanooga.

“Rough start at first, but I turned it around and got better from there,” he said.

Ratterree had to wait for his opportunity, which also came because of an injury. Jermaine Gresham suffered a season-ending knee injury before the start of the 2009 season, giving Ratterree his shot. He said he was in the right place at the right time, and he’s made the most of it.

He said his favorite plays of his career were a pair of catches for 38 yards and 36 yards against Stanford in the Sun Bowl — the latter just two yards shy of the end zone — and the game before, when his strip and fumble recovery saved a shutout against Oklahoma State. He also said he enjoys seeing his teammates make big plays, like Hanna’s 76-yard touchdown against Oklahoma State last year.

“When one of those guys does something good, I feel like it’s me, too — like a brotherhood type thing,” he said.

Winchester spent much of his career in the shadows with his accomplishments largely unnoticed. But against Texas last year, his forced fumble on punt coverage sealed OU’s 28-20 win on a national stage.

“As a deep-snapper, you’re not really noticed unless you do something wrong, so it’s kind of cool to get rewarded for doing something good,” Winchester said.

It didn’t hurt that his big, shining moment came during the Red River Rivalry, either.

“Any Sooner fan looks forward to that game. It’s huge — it’s OU-Texas. So to come up with a big play in that game was really special,” he said. “That’s something I’ll never forget the rest of my life.”

Because of what they’ve been through to get where they are and what they’ve accomplished, Winchester said Saturday will be extra special for him and Ratterree.

“I think it’s pretty special to look back and see what you accomplished through such hard work,” Winchester said. “To me, I think it adds a little bit more because of all the hard work and adversity we had to overcome.”