OU spring practice report: Days 1, 2
The biggest news through the first two days of spring ball has been the work and dedicated the offensive line has shown so far.
“They’ve been one of our best groups, how they’ve worked, met the challenge every day and their attitude,” coach Bob Stoops said. “I’m pleased with where they’re at right now, at least to this point with the work they’ve done.”
Stoops was very critical of the the group at this time last year, calling out the line for its lack of work ethic and commitment to the team.
Apparently, the line, which hands down was OU’s weakest unit last season, is turning a corner.
Others reiterated Stoops’ words.
Said offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson: “Well, the thing that we’ve had going through winter is the ability to understand responsibility and accountability to each other. We’ve done a really good job in our ability to work hard in the off season.”
Said line coach James Patton, “It’s a new year and a new spring, but we’ve still got a big challenge ahead of us. We made some dumb penalties last year and had some mistakes and that hurt us in some games. So the challenge is to play together as a group, play better as a group and stay consistent and stay healthy, which is a key But being more consistent is probably what coach Stoops is talking about. Having a mindset and being accountable as a unit. And through the winter, that’s been pretty good.”
As of now, the offensive line two-deep looks like this:
LT: Donald Stephenson/Eric Mensik
LG: Stephen Good/Bronson Irwin
C: Gabe Ikard/Brian Lepak/Austin Woods
RG: Tyler Evans/Tavaris Jeffries
RT: Cory Brandon/Josh Aladenoye
More good news from the line is that both Ben Habern and Jarvis Jones are expected to be back full go not long after spring break. Habern is coming off a broken fibula. Jones, a fractured heel. Their return will only strengthen the continuity of the interior of the line, though Jones could swing back to tackle. Look for Habern to return to center, though he could play some guard, too.
“It will be a bonus if those guys can get in some team drills by the end of the spring,” Patton said. “To be able to get back into playing would be great for those guys. You only get so many snaps, so the more you can get out there and play the better you are going to do.
“They’re working on it. Our medical and training staffs do a great job with these guys. So, they’re getting healed up. Drinking a lot of milk and doing good. It would be great if they can get back and get some team drills.
* The most interesting experiment of the spring might be Ikard playing center. However it’s an experiment the coaches feel very good about, if only after two practices.
“He’s a good blocker. He got some reps during the bowl practices. But again, he can also put a number 80 jersey on the block on the edge if we needed him to,” Patton said. “With Habern being down hopefully he’ll be able to do some reps after spring break. He was out there today running around and working out, so he looks pretty good. But Gabe is a good blocker, he’s smart, didn’t miss an assignment today. Smart football player.
“He can block the edge or block inside. He’s smart, he’s tough. He didn’t lose a competitive drill in the weight room during the off-season. He won every one. I like him.”
* Mossis Madu has made a return to the backfield after playing slot receiver last year. Madu is vying to be DeMarco Murray’s top backup at running back. In attempt to get him on the field last season, Madu was moved to the slot. But Madu being slow to pick up the new position combined with Ryan Broyles needing to be on the field for every play eliminated Madu from getting much playing time. Madu is a player, though, now with experience at both positions, that could rotate some from running back to receiver in OU’s fast past offense.
“As we get going after spring break he does have some more time to where he can be a move guy that could all of the sudden pop out and pop back in,” Wilson said. “He’s a running back today and we need to have him have a positive role. He’s a guy that has made some plays. He’s always been the best third-team running back but Mossis needs to have a more positive role and at receiver he was just a slight compliment. He needs to be a major compliment guy who takes some load at tailback and because he does have that receiver time maybe we do all of the sudden flex him out. But it’s because he’s done that more, it’s not that we’re making him a duel position. He’s going to be a tailback who maybe could move around some.”
* Running back Jermie Calhoun, who will be battling Madu for playing at running back along with Jonathan Miller this spring, missed the first day of practice with a head cold. He should be back at 100 percent after spring break.
* The X factor of the offense this spring is tight end, where the Sooners have a pair of talented prospects who have yet to display their full potential. Those players are James Hanna and Lane Johnson.
Hanna, who has been clocked at a 4.48 40-time, has athletic ability to burn for a tight end. But for him confidence and consistency have been the issues.
“He’s a young man that has a lot of talent but he lacks the confidence and the trust to play at a high level, to play fast and physical,” Wilson said. “He has flashes. When we test, he will test very well. But it’s taking that and making plays.”
Johnson, meanwhile, who redshirted last season, is still learning to play the position. A lifelong QB, Johnson was recruited out of Kilgore (Tyler, Texas) College to play tight end. At 6-foot-7, 265 pounds, with good speed, Johnson has all the tools of becoming an elite tight end.
“He’s still learning,” said Wilson, who in addition to being the team’s offensive coordinator is its tight ends coach. “I heard a great quote when I was watching the NFL Network last week. Marshall Faulk said, ‘The greatest way to inhibit speed is to make a man think.’ And he’s (Lane) thinking a lot because he’s still learning how to play tight end because he was a high school quarterback.
“He’s still learning our concepts and learning what to do. He’s tough, strong and fast. He’s got a lot of the right skill set but he’s still learning to play. He did a great deal of work today. He got more reps than he’s ever gotten and he’ll get them all spring. That tight end position really took a hit last year and it would be nice to have him step up and take a vital role this season.”
* Wide receiver was a position that a took a turn for the better late in the year, showing up big in a win over Stanford. Broyles had a huge game, but so did sophomore Dejuan Miller and freshman Jaz Reynolds. The wide receiving corps seems to be confident thanks to that performance going into the spring.
“We showed in the bowl game that we are a solid receiver corps,” Miller said. “2010 I feel is going to be a pretty good year.”
* This blog, among others, has been touting the young, talented safeties OU has stockpiled in recent years. Kevin Brent, Javon Harris, Marcus Trice, Joe Iblioye and Tony Jefferson are players that a lot of schools wanted.
But defensive coordinator Brent Venables cautioned against anyone calling OU “loaded” at safety.
“Loaded means that you have a ton of guys that have played and played a lot and played really good. To me, to us in this building,” Venables said. “So we’re far from it.
“We’ve got a couple guys who have actually played and played pretty good, but not to an All-American level yet. Are they capable? Yes. But we’ve got to bring some young guys along. They’re young guys and you recognize potential. We recognize performance.”
Point taken. However, OU’s potential at safety should translate into some heated competition for playing time, something the players have already copped to.
“That’s something we always talk about,” Trice said. “Us defensive backs will sit around together and talk about how competitive this summer and fall are going to be. You have to bring it every day. You can’t have a bad day because a guy who is the same age as you might have a good day. You don’t want to get stuck behind a guy who’s the same age as you or you’ll get stuck riding the pine until the day he leaves. There’s a lot of competition that’s about to be going on this spring starting once we get back from spring break.”
* New secondary coach Willie Martinez is already receiving rave reviews. Safety/cornerback Jonathan Nelson called Martinez an extension of Venables.
Said Trice: “He’s a great coach. He really preaches fundamentals and technique. If you’re not on top of those two then he’ll let you know it. He’ll get in your face but then he’ll let up on you too. He’s not a coach that has nothing but negative things to say. We were on the field the other day and he ripped me. Then I came back and made a good play and he gave me praise. I like that about him. But he’s real fiery, real enthusiastic.”
* OU’s situation at defensive tackle, with Gerald McCoy gone to the NFL and Adrian Taylor coming back from ankle surgery, is alarming. But Venables expressed confidence this week that Taylor will be cleared by doctors sometime at the beginning of the summer. That would be huge news for OU’s defense. Taylor was not only one of OU’s best players last year, he was one of its defensive leaders. In the meantime, OU will be leaning on rising soph Jamarkus McFarland to elevate his game as the only tackle on roster with meaningful experience.
“Coming here, you’re already expected to be a leader,” McFarland said. “They only take leaders coming here. You already have that weight on your shoulders. Automatic when you come to Oklahoma you have that leadership role. It’s branding in you somewhere, you just got to bring it out of you when the time is needed. Now is kind of my time. But Gerald is still there if I need to call him. Adrian is there in practice.”
The key for OU is getting either Stacy McGee and/or Casey Walker to step up at tackle. Justin Chaisson, who just moved to DT from DE, is still learning the position and may need time to develop. But McGee and Walker are third-year players.
“All those guys lacking the snaps, they still have the potential,” McFarland said. “They’re bringing the same ability, it’s just getting that chance. We’re not lacking any potential with McGee, Walker, Chaisson.”
* Ronnell Lewis is one of OU’s many budding stars on the defensive side of the ball. But despite being the star of the Sun Bowl, Lewis said he has kept a level head.
“I’ve kept a level head my whole high school recruiting process,” said Lewis, who noted he goes home to Dewar often on weekends to help him remain grounded. “Kept let things get to my head.”
As a freshman, Lewis was a heavy hitter, but on defense and on special teams. He commented his favorite hit last year was knocking out Kansas’ Dezmon Briscoe on a kickoff return.
“I’m real physical on the field,” Lewis said. “I’m going to give it everything I have, hitting, running, do whatever they want me to do. I give 100 percent at all times.”
On a lighter note, Lewis recalled being hypnotized a couple days before the Sun Bowl, which caused Stoops to demand the hypnotist take special care in getting Lewis out of the trance.
“Someone woke me up, I was sweating, like where am I at?” he said. “I’ll never do that again.”
* The Sooners are off for spring break until March 22. Here’s OU’s remaining spring practice schedule:
March 22: Practice 3
March 24: Practice 4
March 26: Practice 5
March 27: Practice 6
March 30: Practice 7
April 1: Practice 8
April 5: Practice 9
April 7: Practice 10
April 9: Practice 11
April 10: Practice 12
April 13: Practice 13
April 15: Practice 14
April 17: Red-White Spring Game
-JT
Follow Jake Trotter on Twitter: @Jake_Trotter.
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Comments
Gosh, let me guess. By the time the Spring game gets here, OU will be
ready to compete for “another” National title. The line-up will be set, the
coach’s have got everybody on the same page and like the DO said last season,
they are probably” headed for another showdown with Florida”. The same
people that bought that are the one’s that bought all that ocean front property
in AZ. The only thing we know for sure, right now, is OU is headed for another
mid-major record. Still subject to numerous road loss’s. Lack-Luster display
at the Cotton-Bowl. No dicipline, No fourth quarter “win”. No Sooner Magic.
Poor special teams. No running game. We do know that without seeing the
Red-White game. I hope that changes. I didn’t vote for Hussein, but i’m,
“ready for change”.
take your negitive comments and move to texas. And please become a whining texas fan, we dont need you in sooner country. If this hurts your little feelers than i must be talking about you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
we should be really good this year hopefully we can beat texas and go throught the season without a loss. We have a lot of key players rehabing injuries right now like ben harben but we have some talented young guys that should step up and fill the shoes. Were a nice all around team hopefully the offensive line can stay health and protect landry jones so he can delevier the ball to our receviers and i hope we could establish a solid running game this year. Our defense should be solid we have some playmakers all around and hopefully our secondary wont be the downfall of our defense this year. Overall we should be a really good football team
Lewis did light up Briscoe that day. I could feel it up in the stands. Briscoe wasn’t the same after that hit either.