Sooners report: Strategy and personnel

May 2, 2008
The Sports Xchange

Strategy and personnel · Notes, quotes · Inside slant

2008 OUTLOOK: Sooners head coach Bob Stoops has won five Big 12 championships with five different quarterbacks over the last eight seasons. He has a great chance to win his sixth conference crown in 2008, but he doesn't plan to use a sixth signal-caller. Sam Bradford led the nation in passing efficiency and smashed the NCAA freshman record for touchdown passes. The 6-5 sophomore leads a team that was motivated during the spring and offseason by its Fiesta Bowl flameout against West Virginia. The returning talent and a favorable schedule point to another BCS run. Oklahoma should be 5-0 when it messes with Texas on Oct. 11. Kansas, Nebraska and Texas Tech come to Memorial Stadium, while Missouri is not on the schedule.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE
Oklahoma averaged a jaw-dropping 6.4 yards per play in 2007 and returns 10 players who started at least six games. No wonder Stoops wants to run more plays in 2008 and has joined the tide of teams experimenting with a no-huddle attack. "I want to get as many at-bats as they do," he told The Oklahoman. "I don't want anyone having more snaps than we do." The Sooners can afford to experiment, blessed as they are with what is arguably the nation's best offensive line. Outland Trophy candidates Duke Robinson and Phil Loadholt lead a group of five returning senior starters that tips the scales at a combined 1,600 pounds. That doesn't even include 6-5, 264-pound Mackey Award candidate Jermaine Gresham, who set an Oklahoma record for tight ends with 11 touchdown grabs last year. Bradford has a bumper crop of young receiving talent at his disposal and RBs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown should return from knee injuries in time for two-a-days.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE
Even though the Sooners are replacing two linebackers, both cornerbacks and a safety, there's no sense of urgency in Norman. That tells you how good the front four must be. "With all defenses, it starts up front," sophomore DE Jeremy Beal said to The Oklahoman. "We open up holes for the linebackers or pass rush for the secondary. Defensive lines carry the defense." If that's the case, Oklahoma is in excellent hands. Tackles Gerald McCoy and DeMarcus Granger are all-conference candidates and the ends stack up deep behind Beal and Auston English. Alan Davis, Frank Alexander, John Williams, Pryce Macon and incoming freshman stud R.J. Washington will all push for playing time. If middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds can stay healthy and the secondary performs as well as it did in the spring game -- six interceptions, including three returned for touchdowns -- Big 12 offensive coordinators should stock up on Tums.

SCOUTING THE SPECIAL TEAMS
This perennially strong unit returns intact with a notable exception. Veteran K Garrett Hartley made 47 of 58 career field goals, but is really going to be missed on kickoffs. Despite kickoffs being moved back from the 35 to the 30, he still booted 29 touchbacks compared to just two by OU opponents. Redshirt freshman Jimmy Stevens will try to hold off true freshman Tress Way for the job this fall. P Mike Knall took over the starting role last November and averaged a healthy 43.7 yards. The Sooners led the nation in kickoff returns last season, with Juaquin Iglesias and Murray doing most of the damage. Dominique Franks is the leading candidate to replace Reggie Smith on punt returns.

ROSTER REPORT

--Following his record-setting freshman season, QB Sam Bradford had an up-and-down spring adjusting to the no-huddle offense. He completed 21 of 36 passes for 262 yards in the first two scrimmages, but was picked off three times in windy conditions in the Red-White spring game on April 12.

--OU was unlucky with injuries as 13 players missed all or part of the spring and 10 sat out of the final scrimmage: RBs DeMarco Murray (knee) and Chris Brown (knee), WRs Ryan Broyles (collarbone) and Adron Tennell (knee), OT Duke Robinson (ankle), S Nic Harris (shoulder), CB Quinton Carter (hamstring), LB Austin Box (elbow) and defensive ends Auston English (shoulder) and John Williams (heel).