It was football time in Oklahoma on Saturday night as the Sooners returned to Norman for week 2. The opponent isn’t exactly what I’d call a good measuring stick of where the Sooners want to be when going over their performance, but all-in-all, they didn’t look too shabby.

The highlight of the Sooners offense was not QB Landry Jones, but RB newcomer, Damien Williams. Williams ended his night with 156 yards and 4 touchdowns, with his longest being an impressive 89 yard run. With this week’s performance added with week 1, Williams became the 4th player in Sooner history to have consecutive 100+ yards in their first two games in the crimson and cream.

Jones had a decent night with 252 yards and 2 touchdowns. He did have an interception and was almost intercepted again shortly after by FAMU standout, Devan Roberts. Besides the pick, Jones broke Sooner records last night by moving into the second most winning quarterback in program history, overtaking Jamelle Holiway. He could tie Steve Davis with another win.

The defense looked good for a second week in a row, allowing only 61 yards rushing by the Rattlers. The FAMU offense only had 235 total yards in offense compared to the Sooners impressive 662. Damien Fleming, the Rattlers QB ended the night with only 133 yards and 1 touchdown. Again, the defense looked good, but against a more evenly matched team, they still have a lot of work they need to do.

Safety, Tony Jefferson did leave the game early on and was later seen on the sidelines with a cast on his foot. Bob Stoops commented after the game that it was only a sprain and if the game was closer, he would have still be in there.

The main problem the Sooners face is getting off to a slow start. They had the same issue last season. Jones and Co. seem to wake up in the mid-second quarter and this can’t happen. Once they get into conference play, they can not get rolling so late. Everyone remembers Texas Tech from 2011, so I don’t need to say much more. The offensive line seemed to be blocking a lot better, but it’s hard to judge against FAMU.

A definite improvement from week one was the special teams play. Penn State transfer, Justin Brown was fabulous on kickoff returns. He almost took 2 to the end zone and set the Sooner offense up in scoring position. Kenny Stills ended the game with 120 yards and 1 touchdown while JUCO transfer, Trey Metoyer had a great 18-yard touchdown.

Naturally, when you have a 69-13 win, we got to see the not so usual suspects. Stoops started rotating more people in and to the roar of the crowd; we got to see Sterling Shepard. When Shepard made his first career catch, the fans that were left in the stadium went wild. Both backup QB’s Blake Bell and Drew Allen got to be under center for a while, which was nice to see Bell throw the ball instead of run. Though we did see hand-off left, hand-off right more than once out of him.

As I have said a couple times, it’s really hard to judge improvement with an opponent like FAMU. The real test will be in two weeks when they take on the always competitive Kansas State. Wildcats QB Collin Klein is on a hot streak and they will be searching for a revenge game in Norman this year, after the Sooners came to their house and handed them a beating in 2011.

The Sooners go into week 3 with a bye. Its time to rest, work and improve. Then repeat.

Wednesday night, Sooners head football coach Bob Stoops released a statement. A statement most Sooner fans weren’t too happy to have heard. If you googled the statement or went to SoonerSports.com you were presented with a one sentence, non-informative piece of information:

University of Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops announced on Wednesday that Quentin Hayes, Trey Franks, Kameel Jackson and Jaz Reynolds have been suspended indefinitely for violation of team rules.

Oh.

Jaz Reynolds vs. Kansas State

So if you are keeping count at home, that’s 3 WR’s and a DB. But before everyone starts banging their head on desks thinking doom and gloom, let’s get a couple things straight. The WR position is one that Oklahoma has recruited HEAVILY in, especially in 2012.  Kenny Stills and Trey Metoyer already have the outside positions locked up (in my opinion). The only thing the Sooners are looking to replace is a slot receiver. There are quite a few options of players that would fill this void nicely. Oklahoma picked up some stellar talent in the WR position, but the only problem is, is the lack of experience.  As for Quentin Hayes and the DB position, this is something I don’t think needs to be a cause for concern at all.

Also, I’d like to point out that it hasn’t even been a week since Kameel Jackson announced that he was “transferring” to Texas A&M, without informing the Aggies, mind you. By the way, in case you hadn’t heard, they said they would not take him.  So you would have to think that this is something that has been brewing in Norman for the last couple of weeks.

Offensive Coordinators Josh Heupel and Jay Norvell have Sterling Shepard, Durron Neal, Derrick Woods and JUCO transfer Courtney Gardner to work with. They lack the experience QB Landry Jones is used to, but in that talent pool, I would expect one to be able to step up. You can believe that Norvell has already been looking for JUCO players to fill the void.

Looking at the big picture, this is not a huge loss for Sooner Nation. I know some of you will disagree, but considering Trey Franks has been suspended before, and has an issue with staying on his feet… Reynolds on the other hand stings a little. He had 41 catches and 715 yards and led the team with an average of 17.4 ypc before his season-ending injury. Once injuries start to plague the Sooners, which it will because it never fails, the lack of experience  may be a cause for concern.

In the same breath, it’s nice to see Coach Stoops crack down on players violating team rules. It has yet to be released on what the actual cause of the suspension is, but I have my suspicions. And for those of you that have mentioned money to me, I have not heard that nor do I believe it.

It’s only May, Stoops still has time to dust off Barry Switzer’s playbook and bring back some wishbone action. I’m joking. Kinda.

After the tornadoes on Friday, I questioned making the trek to Norman for Saturday’s Annual Red/White game. After staring at the radar for a couple hours, I decided to risk it, and I’m glad I did. It was hard not to notice some the damage on the way in towards the stadium. There was downed power lines, trees uprooted everywhere, roofs missing. But if one thing can bring a city together, it’s Oklahoma football.

More people showed up than I originally thought would be there, considering the predicted tornadogeddon by the National Weather Service on Saturday. They did end up closing the East side of the stadium, so everyone sat on the home side. The game was moved up to 1:30 from a 2:00 start time for a preventative measure, because the bad weather was scheduled to hit the Oklahoma City area around 5:00 PM.

As always, the Spring Game is a chance for the guys who aren’t your usual suspects get their time to impress. And the one person everyone wanted to see proved all the rumors true: Trey Metoyer. Metoyer has unprecedented speed, great hands and was quite impressive on Saturday. Hopefully his presence will give Kenny Stills the boost he needs to get his head back in it. Stills dropped some easy balls yesterday, one of which was set up perfectly and he would have been endzone bound had he held on to it. The offense did run a play that had Stills and Metoyer lining up on the same side, with Stills moving into the slot a la Ryan Broyles. With tweaking and perfection, this could be deadly.

Another thing most Sooners were looking forward to was seeing if Blake Bell’s passing game had improved any. We all know the “Belldozer” is effective, but the Sooners need for a backup QB to be multi-dimensional is a must. He threw a couple dangerous balls, which against a full-speed defense, would have been ended up in a possible pick-six. The improvement was there, but still a LOT to work on over the Summer. Drew Allen got some reps in along with Kendal Thompson. Thompson has some wheels on him, he found his way out of trouble more than once. Granted it was against second and third team defenses, but his speed is something that stuck out.

Brennan Clay had quite a few carries yesterday at running back. He had the most rushing yards out of the RB corps. Danzel Williams also had a decent showing, and Roy Finch had a nice sideline run, where the sideline was the only defender left that he hadn’t got passed; the sideline won. It also helped that improvements on the offensive line in blocking were helping the backs find the holes.

» Continue reading “Sooner Spring Game: The Calm After The Storm(s)”

The Spring football session has come and gone already and will officially be closed until Summer workouts after Saturday’s Spring game. The Spring game will give the not-so-usual suspects their chance to shine and impress the coaching staff.  Hopefully, the weather will hold out long enough for the Sooners to get some work in.

R.J. Washington

A couple things most people, myself included, are looking forward to seeing are:

Trey Metoyer. We have all heard the rumors coming out of practice about the amazing catches, the natural ability and talent; it’s time to see what he will bring to the offense. We know Metoyer brings speed and size to the receiving corp that will just give Landry Jones another target on the outside.

As Coach Stoops has mentioned several times during interviews and pressers throughout the Spring, he is really impressed with R.J. Washington and his stepping up to take on the leadership roll. Washington, now a Senior, has big shoes to fill replacing Frank Alexander on defense and has been showing signs of doing that and much more so far. He finally gets to prove why he was one of the country’s top defensive end recruits.

Continuing on defense, JUCO transfer Chaz Nelson will be interesting to watch. R.J. Washington and David King will most likely be in the starting positions but I would expect Nelson to at least be in heavy rotation in 2012. His speed and size will be an instant impact for the Sooners at defensive end.

On the offensive line, Derek Farniok is one I’d like to see in action. The redshirt freshman may not get a lot of playing time in 2012, but from has been coming out of Norman, his effort this Spring has been unmatched. The 6’9′ Farinok has been called by his fellow teammates, “one of the hardest workers on the field.”

Mike Stoops. Doesn’t really need much more of an explanation.

The game is scheduled to start at 2:00 on Saturday with a lot of stuff going on before hand. This year, Oklahoma is the first annual Boomer BBQ. Details for the Boomer BBQ from SoonerSports.com:

To celebrate the kickoff of a new football season and to say “Thank You” to Sooner fans, Oklahoma Athletics will host the family-friendly Big Boomer Barbecue prior to the OU Spring Football Game from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event will be held immediately north of Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Fans can enjoy local barbecue from Earl’s Rib Palace, Head Country Barbecue, Sooner Legends and Homeland/Cargill (cooked by Kingfisher Kookers) for just $10, while also enjoying the Free Autograph Zone, live music from Banana Seat and kids’ amusement rides.

The Big Boomer Barbecue will feature four zones of fun: the Barbecue Zone with main stage, the Sooner Jr. Kids Zone, the annual OU Spring Merchandise Sale and the Free Autograph Zone. The Big Boomer Barbecue will cover the McCasland Field House parking lot (A10), Jenkins Street (between Page and Boyd Streets) and the Brooks Street parking lot (C8).

The Barbecue Zone and main stage will be located in the Brooks Street parking lot. A limited number of punch cards for the Barbecue Zone will be available on-site for $10 cash, with the first 1,000 fans guaranteed a chance to sample the best meat selections from five local barbeque purveyors from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Drinks and sides will be sold separately.

You can see the full list of Sooner events this weekend here.

Sooner Nation needs to get to Memorial Stadium this weekend and show the football team we are ready for the Chase for 8 to begin, again.
 

With Spring sessions in full swing for most teams, it’s now time for people to pick apart what they think each school needs improvement on and who will have a comeback season for 2012. Of course it’s interesting to see what other writers have to say about Oklahoma and what their opinion is on what needs to be changed.

Recently, Dave Miller of the National Football Post listed the Sooners as 1 of 5 teams to make a comeback for the 2012 season. Not surprisingly, he also listed Florida State, Tennessee, Texas Tech and Ohio State. Before we jump into what he said about the Sooners, I just want to mention Florida State. It seems that the Seminoles are always listed on things like this and every season since Bobby Bowden left, the Seminoles under-produce and disappoint. Jimbo Fisher and crew have done a really nice job recruiting to Tallahassee, and they will return 9 starters on defense and their ‘stud’ QB, EJ Manuel. Analysts are saying the same thing they have been saying for a couple years now about Manuel: if he gets help with the run game, the Seminoles will be a force. I’m still waiting for this from 2 years ago..

Texas Tech is another team that people tend to want to throw in the comeback season mix. The Red Raiders and Tommy Tuberville missed out on a bowl games last season, finishing the year 2-7 in Big XII play and yes, we ALL remember that they beat Oklahoma. In Norman. After a 2 hour rain-delay. On National Television. Texas Tech may be returning more starters than any team in the Big XII, and the Red Raiders have been able to get a hold of some solid recruits. Looking at the big picture though, the quality of the players that Texas Tech will be returning compared to the size and speed of players at the larger schools in the Big XII might not get it done.

Landry Jones and Drew Allen after 2012 Insight Bowl win over Iowa

Tuberville is working to get things back on track for the Red Raiders, but he needs to remember he isn’t at Auburn anymore. The style of play is very different over here in the Big XII and sometimes those SEC schemes he uses aren’t going to work. And he also isn’t Mike Leach.

Now, onto what was said about the Sooners, which is exactly what myself and most everyone else has been saying: Stoops needed change. Since Coach Stoops has been in Norman, he has virtually had the same exact staff. Bringing his brother Mike back after DC Brent Venables’ departure to Clemson isn’t necessarily big change, but considering the defense stats and logistics during the Mike Stoops Sooner era and post M.S. era, he could be the game changer. Another concern Sooner fans have is that they are worried about replacing key components on offense like Ryan Broyles, and if you have been following Spring drills, Trey Metoyer is NOT disappointing. I think the term Stoops used was “human vacuum”. People have mentioned the replacement of Frank Alexander and Ronnell Lewis at DE. Considering key players leave every year at most schools, I think Stoops and crew are fully capable of being able to replace players.

Landry Jones used his Spring Break wisely. Instead of taking off to a beach, he decided to get back to fundamentals. Jones, along with soon-to-be No. 1 draft pick, Andrew Luck worked out with George Whitfield. Whitfield worked with Cam Newton before the draft last year and also worked with Ben Roethlisberger while he was on NFL suspension. Whitfield started the Whitfield Athletix Quarterback training program in 2004 and has developed dozens of players into collegiate level quarterbacks and helped pros get back in their rhythm.

Yes, last season was a disappointment for all of Sooner Nation, but the Chase for Eight still isn’t over. Sometimes change is all you need and it sounds like the players and staff in Norman are embracing it.

After being off for a week due to Spring Break, the Sooners are back on the practice field. They will have their second team scrimmage this coming Saturday, following the three practices this week. Friday’s practice will mark the 9th practice out the 15 they are allotted.

Coach Stoops was on KREF Sportstalk 1400 yesterday with Dusty Dvoracek and Teddy Lehman, discussing progress of team. He mentioned that Stacy McGee has missed a few practices and in typical Stoops fashion, did not mention why. He also got to drop one of his favorite words, “special” when mentioning Trey Metoyer, saying he is very impressed with how well and how quickly he has found his place. He praised his brother Mike’s return and saying the transition back into Norman has gone very well, obviously.

He also said that Coach Kish is fitting in well, and the players are taking to him nicely. He mentioned Corey Nelson and Aaron Franklin as possible leaders to take over with Travis Lewis’ departure. On replacing Ryan Broyles, he said he doesn’t necessarily think they will have a go-to guy, but will be utilizing everyone more often. As Teddy and Dusty mentioned, it is a very positive thing to hear Stoops praise the younger guys and hearing that they are stepping up in effort.

In related news, Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium may be getting a face-lift in the near future. The University of Oklahoma board of regents is scheduled to vote on an improvement plan Thursday morning, which would include improvements to East side suites, the Kerr McGee Stadium Club and the Santee Lounge. No word on whether or not they are ever going to close off the South endzone side; which would be logical. If the improvements are approved, which they are expected to be without question, they will be completed between the 2012-2013 seasons.

The question of the off-season for Sooner football has been mainly focused around the eligibility of Ronnell Lewis and Trey Metoyer.

Defensive End Ronnell Lewis

Head coach Bob Stoops did say Thursday after the scrimmage, that Defensive End Lewis, has not been practicing with the team.

Lewis did say before camp that it wasnt up to him anymore, he has to wait to see what the outcome would be. He also admitted to academic troubles.

Stoops on Lewis:

He just has some personal matters he’s tending to, which we’re in support of. Once those are taken care of, we’ll see.

Metoyer on the other hand, has been taking classes at Tyler Community College to get his grades squared away. Reports on Wednesday from the Tyler Morning Telegraph stated that Trey had NOT passed his required classes and would not be attending Oklahoma in the fall. Metoyer is a highly antcipated incoming Freshman wide reciever.

News is that Metoyer passed 9 out of 12 hours, and failed to even qualify to play JUCO football at the moment.

But Stoops says he still isnt discouraged about the situation:

As far as I understand, it’s still not totally resolved.

So hang tight Sooner Nation. As soon as more news is released we will all know what the situation is. A lot of people have been very upset/mad/irritated with the academic situation of both players and the lack of info coming out of Norman. When Stoops knows, we will know.  Until then, lets relax and get ready for some football.