Sooner Defense Shines in First Spring Scrimmage

by ccmachine on Mar 30, 2008 5:03 PM CDT in Football

If you were expecting to see an offensive explosion at Saturday's football scrimmage then you most likely walked away disappointed. Oklahoma's offense managed only 103 yards on the ground and 191 through the air. It was the defense, instead, who walked off the field looking the more impressive of the two units.

Granted some key players were missing from the offensive lineup (Chris Brown, Manuel Johnson, DeMarco Murray, Duke Robinson) but the defense had their own share of starters missing as well with Austin Box, Auston English, Nic Harris, Ryan Reynolds and John Williams all nursing injuries. So really what we had was a patchwork lineup that won't resemble what we'll see this fall but regardless there were still some impressive plays made by the defenders on the field.

In the secondary, where several positions are open for competition, redshirt freshmen Desmond Jackson led the team in tackles (7) while Dominque Franks, Brian Jackson and Sam Proctor all had solid performances.

At the linebacker position it appears that Keenan Clayton's transition from being a safety is progressing nicely. He registered six tackles in the scrimmage drawing some praise from Bob Stoops.

"Keenan's doing a nice job," said Stoops. "He still has a ways to go, but he's shown some great signs. He's an athletic, solid player and he's starting to show that."

The defense snagged three interceptions and broke up eight passes in the scrimmage and two of them were on batted balls making them more of a team effort than just an indivisual performance. They also didn't give up a touchdown during the scrimmage.

Sam Bradford and Joey Halzle were the only two quarterbacks to not give up an interception while Keith Nichole tossed two and true freshman Landry Jones threw one while also failing to complete a pass.

RUSHING
Johnson 17-57
Madu 16-29
Bradford 2-29
Clapp 2-3
Nichol 2-3
Jones 1-2
Halzle 5-(-20)
TOTAL 43-103

PASSING
Player, Comp.-Att.-Int.-Yards-TD
Bradford 8-16-0-104-0
Halzle 6-12-0-57-0
Nichol 2-9-2-35-0
Jones 0-3-1-0-0
TOTAL 15-38-3-191-0

RECEIVING
Player, Rec.-Yards
Iglesias 4-62
Ratterree 2-27
Wilson 2-15
Caleb 2-13
Madu 1-17
Chaney 1-9
Whitson 1-25
Stradford 1-13
Mensik 1-17
J. Johnson 1-(-1)
TOTAL 15-191

Tackles
Jackson 7
Clayton 6
Holmes 6
Bowers 5
Granger 4
Proctor 4
Lewis 4
Macon 4
Crow 3
Franks 3
Robinson 3
McCoy 3
Jackson 2
Davis 2
Alexander 2
Moore 2
Beal 2
Carter 2
Taylor 2
Fleming 1