As I was going about my daily ritual of scanning the interwebs for any and all things OU, I came across this little nugget in the Daily Oklahoman that was seemingly tossed in almost as an after thought near the end of this article.
When talking about some of the possible things this offense can do to attempt to replace Ryan Broyles, The Hammer suddenly entered into the equation.
Already you have seen Oklahoma go to Blake Bell in short-yardage situations all over the field. Expect that to continue. And don't be surprised if more nuance parts of the package — Ronnell Lewis in on it, the former high school running back maybe even getting the ball — emerge in the coming weeks.
This is certainly the first I've heard of anything like this happening and while I wouldn't go so far as to question someone who does this for a living while being a lowly blogger such as myself, I'd have to seriously question the likelihood of this actually happening. Now don't take that to mean I wouldn't love to see Ronnell back there just for the excitement of it, but I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be with him having the ball in his hands. Obviously it's a testament to his freakish physical ability that this is even under consideration, but at the same time playing RB in eight man h.s. football nearly three years ago and doing so now at the D-I level are two VERY different things.
I've always been an advocate of putting an athletic defensive lineman in as a lead blocker like you see a bunch of teams do, but the OU coaches in the past have never been one to try such things. So maybe this is a sign of things changing, I think you'd have to say the Bell-dozer is certainly a sign of that as well.
Honestly, I'd be happy if they just tried going back to the triangle formation that worked so well or even that little quick hand-off to the up back (Millard) that also worked basically every time. There are several things this offense could be doing, that have worked consistently in the past, that for some reason they have yet to go back to. Ronnell Lewis as a ball carrier/lead blocker wasn't one of them, but whose to say it couldn't be? Can you imagine a possible backfield with Lewis, Millard, Aaron Ripkowski (who is apparently one of the strongest kids on the team and a former power lifting champ) with any of them running the ball or even with Bell running behind them? I mean, my god would that be a power run set or what!!!
Only time will tell obviously if this actually happens, but the thought of it alone is enough to get excited about the possibility.