So Coach Stoops held his annual pre-spring presser this afternoon and while he was his usual open book self, I still thought it would be worth the time to summarize some of the topics he discussed for those of you who weren't able to tune it. So we'll just jump right into it as he opened by talking about how excited they are to get things started.
Really excited to get things started. We're delayed a couple of weeks because of spring break and we felt we had missed too many days in the weight room with some of the snow days we had later in the winter. I feel like it benefited us, our guys did a great job in the weight room and with their conditioning. Improving their strength and speed and we're anxious to get out here and get started. You're limited with what you're able to do, but we still get a lot done and are looking forward to getting out there onto the field to play some football.
He was asked about Aaron Colvin's move to safety.
Oh yeah it's experimental, but I believe it's gonna be great for us. In that position, much like we moved Jon Nelson, the way that strong safety plays in today's world that guy has to have corner-like ability. To run, to change direction, becasue of the nature of so many spread out teams, that position is usually split out to the wide side of the field where there is usually two, three WRs. And a lot of the times is playing anything down the field in man-to-man coverage anyway. That worked really well for us with Jonathan and Aaron is an excellent athlete, we saw that a year ago, and we believe he's going to be great there and for the team.
Check out more after the jump.
The Colvin question lead into talk about Gabe Lynn stepping in at corner.Gabe has had a great winter, really been excited about all his progress. So sure we're anxious to see him continue to develop on the field.
The one and only Dean-o Blevins asked if Bob believed Jamell Fleming would be back and what would happen with Colvin if Fleming did come back.
I'm not gonna talk about him since he's not here and I'm not sure whether or not I'm allowed to talk about him. So, uh, in the end (the infamous Stoops-ism) I'm just gonna talk about the guys that are here.
He was asked how much of what transpires in the fall is going to start in spring practices and clearly thought very highly of the question asked.
All of it.
He was asked about the guys dealing with injuries and their availability this spring.
Yeah, uh Roy (Finch) is expected to go. Ronnell (Lewis) is expected to go, although we want to be smart on how much we give him but right now he went through the whole second half of our winter with no problems. So he's really been cleared to go. Dejuan (Miller) is expected to be cleared this week, so we're expecting him to be out there. Jermie (Calhoun) isn't quite ready, but healing fine and doing well. Let's see, Trey Millard and Trent Ratterree won't get any spring ball (both had shoulder surgery). Daniel (Noble ) is back as well to give us a boost at the DT spot and he's been a really good player for us.
He was asked about the three freshman early enrollees.
They've done really well, those guys have really handled the workouts well which is a big indicator. Brandon Williams is a very exciting guy to be around and coach, really competitive. You watch him, you know he's one of those guys, he's got great power and strength, can run forever. We have these one-on-one situations we do in front of the team and he really stood out. He's got a bunch of talent so he's going to be exciting to watch.
He was asked to address the quarterbacks behind Landry.
Well, you know those guys, Drew (Allen) has the experience of being here a couple years but Blake has been very impressive in how he works, his conditioning. Kendal just getting here, you know those guys will get a ton of snaps. We get a ton of snaps in our conditioning every day. You know it's healthy competition. They push each other to play better and perform, so really those guys will have all kinds of opportunities to see who is being the most consistent and avoiding negative plays.
Of course I have to include the question he was asked about The Hammer and how he came on at the end of last season prior to his injury in the Fiesta Bowl.
Yeah, it was great to see his natural ability to start to happen without over-thinking things. He just comfortable within the defense, what we're asking him to do, the different assignments. So, in the end, he really showed it. He really came on and played well in the last four or five games and he'll only get better from it. More experience he has now on the field and he's always gaining strength and power, if that's even possible (easily my favorite line from the presser). He continues to work hard at it.
They were even brave enough to ask him about the kicking situation.
We'll see you know, those guys are working hard. I'm not allowed to be in there when they're kicking, but we'll see how hard they've been working when we get out there today. But you know in all fairness, I think it's fair to say that Jimmy really did a great job for us last year. Made some clutch kicks when we had to have 'em and you know so he doesn't have a 50-yard leg, that's okay. If he can be great with the intermediate to short range kicks it gives us a big boost. Hopefully we can find one of these guys to come on and be better with the longer range one and a little more strength kicking off.
He was asked by Berry Tramel if they plan to scrap the fullback position.
Heck no! He (Millard) is one of the best players on our team, so I'd like to see use even hand off to him some more. Using him at H-back or tight end just to keep him on the field because he's that type of player.
Blevins tried to get him to answer a question about texass and whether or not their collapse was something they talked about internally and things they need to do to avoid something like that happening in Norman.
Uh, sure you know. I'm not speaking at all about Texas. I wasn't there, I don't know any of there deal. In the end, we're always talking regardless of what our expectations or rankings are, our expectations are always pretty high. And our whole focus in talking to them is what are we gonna do about it, how are we gonna go about earning this.
And finally, only because of the grief I took last night over it. He was asked if they have a policy on the social networking stuff.
No, but I'm gonna have one. I mean guys that obviously don't know what they're doing need to have it taken away, that's pretty simple.
So fair warning for all you Facebook and Twitter stalkers of OU players, prepare yourselves for the possibility of having your access taken away ;)
Well that's about it, man that wasn't as easy to transcribe as I originally thought. So hopefully this link will work for those of you who'd like to listen to the audio of the presser today and hopefully we'll be able to get some info out of Bob and the other coaches as spring practices progress to bring to all our loyal readers here at CCM!