Season Preview - Offense
Last Saturday’s supposed opener against Chattanooga notwithstanding, OU opens its season in two days against a pretty decent Cincinnati team. Cincy went 10-3 last year with solid wins over Rutgers, South Florida and Connecticut.
OU’s offense remains almost completely intact from a year ago, when it ranked 19th in total offense in the NCAA. Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray are the headliners, and anyone who reads this knows plenty about them so I’m not going to waste any more space.
They key to OU’s success last year was its seasoned offensive line, and that won’t change in 2008. Against Chattanooga starting left tackle Phil Loadholt sat the bench while serving a suspension for being cited for suspicion of drunk driving over the summer. The rest of the line was constantly in flux, with players shifting in and out randomly. Again, it was a scrimmage. There’s nothing to get excited or depressed about that happened last week.
Anyway, left guard Duke Robinson is the best known lineman on OU’s team. He’s big and good, and has been projected to go surprisingly high in next year’s NFL Draft. I’m not sure he’s deserving of that level of accolade, but he is a really good player who is entering his fourth year as a starter. His biggest problem is penalties and, frankly, when a lineman’s biggest problem is penalties you’ve found a pretty special player.
Loadholt will start at left tackle for the second consecutive season. Big Phil is a suffocating pass blocker against bigger defensive ends, but tends to struggle somewhat against smallish, speedy counterparts. I guess that’s what happens when a guy is six feet nine, three hundred and fifty pounds.
At center is another four year starter in Jon Cooper. Cooper excels in leading the offensive line, and, again, in pass blocking. Cooper is the slightest lineman OU has, weighing in at around 290 pounds, and is probably the line’s weakest run blocker. Multiple leg injuries have seemed to sap some of his mobility and through his career he has focused more on controlling his man through technique than creating a push with sheer physicality. He’s a cut blocker extraordinaire.
At right guard will be Brandon Walker, who is entering his third year at OU after signing with the Sooners as a JUCO lineman from Kansas. Over his career Walker has consistently graded out higher than all other OU linemen. He was voted second-team All Big 12 last year by the league’s coaches. I expect he’ll deserve first team honors in 2008, but I doubt he gets them. Robinson and Loadholt get all the citations in Draft reports, etc. while Walker quietly goes about playing better than every other Oklahoma lineman.
For the third straight year, Trent Williams and Branndon Braxton are likely to split time at right tackle. Whichever guy starts is likely to be a week by week decision by James Patton, and I’m not sure it matters. They’re both solid players, and while Williams is probably the more talented guy not enough separates them to really make much of a difference. This position is the weakest link in OU’s line, but the fact the weak link is composed of two guys who have started both been starters over the course of the last couple years is telling about just how strong this group is. On paper, this is easily one of the best starting offensive lines in college football.
The backups aren’t too bad either, but aside from Brian Simmons, who regularly replaces Walker and Robinson when they get fatigued, experience in the second string is lacking. Corey Brandon, Donald Stephenson, Alex Williams, Jason Hannan, Stephen Good and Ben Habern are all talented players who have seen little if any game time between them, which is going to make next year’s line a question mark when the five senior starters depart the program.
Addendum: Jarvis Jones transferred in from LSU, where he played quite a bit at left tackle for the Tigers a year ago. Jones will have to sit out this year, but he’ll have three years of eligibility at OU after using his redshirt, and is a safe bet to start somewhere along the line over those three seasons.
Heading into the year wide receiver is the biggest uncertainty for this offense. Joaquin Iglesias and Manny Johnson return for their fourth year of starting together, but experience is thin behind them and Johnson has failed to have as great an impact at OU as many (me included) expected. Johnson had a great scrimmage though, and Iglesias is nothing if not solid, so it’s again a good sign that a relative weakness for OU would be a big strength elsewhere.
Against Chattanooga tight end Jermaine Gresham spent his time split out at wide receiver. This is going to create huge matchup problems for anyone OU faces, but I expect Gresham’s wide receiver time to be cut drastically against better teams, when Brody Eldridge will be lined up more often at fullback.
Quentin Chaney, the one bright spot in last year’s Fiesta Bowl debacle, still hasn’t emerged as a main target for Bradford, though it’s always possible at any given moment he’ll rip off a game or two that establish him as a go to receiver. The same can be said of Adron Tennell, who has battled knee injuries since last year but has the frame to replace Malcolm Kelly as a possession wideout.
A few freshmen are almost certain to eventually make big impacts at OU. Ryan Broyles in the slot has drawn comparisons to Mark Clayton (on the field, if not as a citizen). Broyles was redshirted last year basically as punishment for ripping off a few gallons from a gas station. That it appears he was suspended last Saturday isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of his character, which makes him the most likely to burn out and never contribute squat at OU.
The other two freshmen are big receivers Jameel Owens and Dejuan Miller. Owens has a fantastic set of hands and should become a very solid possession receiver at OU. I saw a few of his high school games, and it was always obvious he and Stacey McGee were the best players on the field (well, except when Muskogee was playing Union or Jenks).
I’m really excited about Miller. He’s a 6′6 kid who played running back in high school. Now, New Jersey isn’t the greatest state in the land for high school football, but combine his running back ability with his excellent track speed (state champion in the 200 meter dash) with his body type and it’s hard to not be intrigued.
James Hanna is another freshman who played Saturday. He’s a tight end though, and probably needs to put on another 30 pounds or so in order to become an elite player. The coaches obviously like him a lot if they’re pulling him out of redshirt this early.
At running back, DeMarco Murray is the star, obviously, and Chris Brown the unheralded, workmanlike horse who will rack up 60 yards or so and a touchdown every game. Brown is a very good inside runner, think Kejuan Jones with balance, who is one of the better short yardage specialists I can remember. He doesn’t wow with anything in particular, but he runs hard, he’s shifty and he has a bit of a burst, just not one on any level close to Murray’s.
Backing them up are Mossis Madu and Justin Johnson. Madu will probably get some time motioning to the slot or playing in a formation with Murray. He runs a lot like Murray, just with a little less speed and without the extreme elusiveness. He’s a very solid guy to have as a number three and a dangerous complement when on the field with Murray.
Johnson isn’t OU’s most talented freshman back. That’d be Jermie Calhoun. But Calhoun is apparently going to redshirt, likely because Johnson is also a capable special teams player while Calhoun is specifically a running back. During his recruitment, many considered Johnson to be more of a linebacker prospect than anything else, so it’s no surprise he’s the one to get the nod essentially due to his tackling ability. I still think Calhoun is the future at the position though.
Sam Bradford is great, and if he isn’t in the Heisman discussion toward the end of the year it will mean OU has had a disappointing season. He is going to throw for a lot of yards, a lot of touchdowns and not many interceptions, and he’s going to do it quickly, as OU has shifted to a no-huddle attack. The strides he needs to make are all on the road, and they’re all mental. I think Bradford will play much better away from Norman this year, due to maturity and a fairly weak away schedule.
Joey Halzle remains a liability at backup. Halzle was terrible for a quarter at Texas Tech last year before he picked up his play against a soft defense. His arm isn’t bad, and he has the athletic ability to be an ok college quarterback. I’d just like to see a backup who does something, anything, better than the starter. That way the offense can change a bit and maybe catch the defense off guard by utilizing more quarterback runs, rollouts, whatever. As it stands, Halzle is a poor-man’s Bradford, and OU is the same team, just worse, when he enters the game.
OU will be borderline great at fullback again. Brody Eldridge might be the best blocker in the Big 12, and though he’s going to play more at tight end this year, he can move back to fullback at any time. Simply put, when Eldridge plays fullback, heads roll.
Matt Clapp, a guy who is coming into his own as a back, and actually received a carry at tailback against Chattanooga, is the official starter. While he’s not the blocker Eldridge is, he’s a good runner and doesn’t have clubs for hands like Eldridge seems to. Clapp is the most dynamic fullback in the passing game OU has had since J.D. Runnels left to NFL obscurity.
Game Prediction: OU 41-21.
Season Preview: Defense
OU returns seven starters from a defense that finished second in the Big 12 a year ago in both total and scoring defense to Kansas, which played a relatively simple intra-conference schedule. Following the Fiesta Bowl collapse, Brent Venables’s 2009 unit figured to be his best as Defensive Coordinator until Curtis Lofton and Reggie Smith declared for the NFL Draft, so it’s no surprise the real questions revolve around the back seven.
OU signed two JUCO linebackers to immediately fill needs. Mike Balogun (hopefully a more stable version of Mike Reed) was the less ballyhooed prospect, but I think he has a better chance to start than J.R. Bryant due to his ability to play with technique in the middle. Balogun is likely to battle Ryan Reynolds for the right to replace the great Lofton. I don’t know if Balogun will win the job, but after watching Reynolds get wasted in pass coverage time after time last year I’m rooting for it. Reynolds is as technically sound a player as you’ll see, but major knee injuries have robbed him of the athleticism necessary to play at a high level in the pass happy Big 12.
Keenan Clayton is a near lock to start at outside linebacker, which means OU will be able to seamlessly switch from its base 4-3 to a nickel. The former safety should excel closer to the line of scrimmage, and I look for him to play similarly to the way Clint Ingram closed out his career in 2005.
The weakside spot is the most heavily contested and muddled position on the field. Bryant’s best shot at starting is on the weak side, and if Reynolds is beaten out by Balogun he could very well be moved to his old haunts. But the two frontrunners are redshirt freshmen Austin Box and Travis Lewis. Box and Lewis are, among other things, the highest ceiling guys OU has at linebacker. Box was a star quarterback at Enid two years ago whose athleticism is similar to Reynolds’ pre-surgery. Lewis is even more intriguing, however. In high school Lewis was mostly used as a running back, where he was too stiff to really make anyone miss but still managed to run for almost 1,500 yards as a senior. Now, he’s a 6 feet two inch outside linebacker who has maintained quite a bit of the supposed 4.34 speed he displayed at a Nike training camp prior to his senior year of high school.
Overall, linebacker is a position where the talent is loaded, but inexperienced and the experience is completely possessed by a damaged player who is probably still recovering. The real hope is that Reynolds is finally recovered and can regain what was considered pretty legendary athletic ability he had before tearing up his knees. That’s a huge if, though, and I wonder if throwing the younger guys to the fire early would be the best move.
The secondary lineup has already seen movement, and judging from previous years will continue to be fluid and unpredictable week to week. Sigh.
Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes are both going to play a ton. Harris is currently slated to start at free safety, but will probably see as much time roaming near the line of scrimmage as he will in deep coverage. Holmes has been moved back to corner, supposedly to open up a spot for Sam Proctor at strong safety.
Here’s the rub, though: Holmes has been moved to field corner, where Dominique Franks was widely assumed to be taking over, while Brian Jackson remains the starter on the boundary. I don’t actually think this will last very long, but if it does I’d put money on it being a mistake. Holmes has shown ability at both cornerback and safety, and there’s no doubt he needs to be on the field as much as possible. But Franks is OU’s best cover corner and is coming off a dominating performance in the Red/White game in which he picked off three passes. It just doesn’t make sense that OU would play meaningful games with Brian Jackson starting and Dom Franks on the bench. I’m sure Jackson is a solid player, but I don’t buy that he has anywhere near the upside Franks does.
I’ve saved the best for last, as OU’s front four should be a dominating unit. Three starters return, and they happen to be the three best players OU has on defense in Austin English, Gerald McCoy and DeMarcus Granger. Granger probably won’t start for a game or two after he got way too cold in Phoenix and just had to have a coat. With no cash, what else is a guy supposed to do in Arizona in the middle of winter? Shoplifting aside, Granger, as expected, has developed into a pretty great player. McCoy is a year behind Granger, but is quickly closing the gap between the two as a player. If McCoy isn’t first team All Big 12 this year, he will be in 2010. Cory Bennett is also back, and he’ll join Adrian Taylor as a backup. I like Taylor a lot as a player. He’s very similar to McCoy athletically, and if he can stay far away from injuries he has the talent to earn some big accolades during his career.
At end, English is the Big 12’s preseason Player of the Year on defense, and for good reason. He pretty much single-handedly gave OU an outside pass rush last season, and finished with 9.5 sacks even though he missed three games due to injury. There’s some concern with English because he had an appendectomy late last month, but he should easily be ready to go by the first real game OU will play. I’d guess he plays the equivalent of a quarter or so against Chattanooga just to get his feet wet a bit before Cincinnati.
Frank Alexander, Jeremy Beal and lifetime Sooner John Williams are all likely to get plenty of playing time. Alan Davis probably will too, though I’m much more intrigued by freshmen R.J. Washington and David King. While King is almost sure to redshirt, Washington is an NFL talent who might as well serve a purpose during his freshman year. He could be a terror of an edge rusher in passing situations, so much so that I think it’d be a fairly epic mistake to waste a redshirt on him. Might as well try to get four years of value out of the guy, yeah?
Jarboe Booted
After this rap video was posted to the internets in recents days, Bob Stoops apparently decided Jarboe had brought enough drama to his football team.
I don’t care much either way, to be honest. Jarboe’s inclusion on OU’s football team wasn’t a sure thing in the first place due to gun charges, then he goes around rapping about shooting people up, etc.? That kind of decision making doesn’t much vouch for the guy’s worth to a team.
That being said, he’s a talented football player, and still basically a child, so hopefully he can catch on somewhere else and make himself something more than a terrible amateur rapper.
A Reminder
| 08/30/08 | vs. Chattanooga  |
Norman | TBA |
As you can see, the season is less than two months away. OU should be 5-0 heading into what could be consecutive games against top ten teams in Texas and Kansas. The last half of the schedule could be a breeze or hellish. Kansas State and all its juco players, Nebraska and its new coach and A&M are all pretty much mysteries, and while OU usually throttles Tech at home, this is probably the best Red Raider team Mike Leach has had so nothing can be certain. Then there’s OSU, a riddle wrapped inside a mystery inside an enigmatic barn.
All signs point to a third consecutive Big 12 Championship Game appearance for the Sooners, in loin-freezing Arrowhead Stadium no less. All in all, this is a very favorable schedule for a national title run. On paper it’s the weakest non-conference slate since 2001 (though last year’s wound up being pretty unimpressive with Miami’s continued collapse). Getting KU and Texas Tech at home (after a bye week) is huge, and having a cold-weather Big 12 Championship might give OU an advantage against either Missouri or Kansas.
I’m not going to predict anything. This was just a quick post to get back into the swing of things. Fall practices start soon, which means position battles. Keep an eye on the defensive back seven and wide receiver.
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