Sooners News Daily 12.12.14
Posted on: December 12, 2014
FOOTBALL
From last night.
The Disney Spirit Award goes to @OU_Football WR Sterling Shepard #CFBAwards pic.twitter.com/QKAkCMcKwc
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 12, 2014
Amen to that.
What Bob Stoops did for Sterling Shepard … that’s what coaches can be.
— George Schroeder (@GeorgeSchroeder) December 12, 2014
ICYMI, Baker Mayfield seemingly revealed that RB David ‘SoonerDave’ Smith could be transferring.
FINALIST: @OU_Football RB Samaje Perine, Pflugerville Hendrickson HS. pic.twitter.com/aWGv7k46tJ
— Earl Campbell Award (@CampbellAward) December 11, 2014
So coming back is no-brainer then, right? RT @Dave_Matter Kiper: If DGB were playing this year we'd be talking about a top 5 or top 10 pick
— Jordan Esco (@Jordan_Esco) December 11, 2014
#Seahawks to sign DL David King off #Bengals practice squad. King was drafted by the #Eagles in the 7th round of 2013 draft.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) December 11, 2014
It’s official now.
TULSA NAMES BAYLOR'S PHILIP MONTGOMERY AS HEAD FOOTBALL COACHhttp://t.co/kWzWAOb5aA #TulsaFB #TUnited pic.twitter.com/lGymJEcwCF
— Tulsa Football (@TulsaFootball) December 11, 2014
And the carousel keeps on a-spinnin’
ICYMI: #Wisconsin will hire #Pitt's Paul Chryst to be new head coach – @FoxSports report: http://t.co/F9w4jGb2FZ
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 12, 2014
RECRUITING
Boom.
“@PeterJayy_2: Rookie and Vets http://t.co/eHhJ67YfZ1” PJ rockin that TFB Boom shirt. #BoomSoon
— TFB Sooners (@TFB_Sooners) December 12, 2014
K says he is Tennessee bound. At least it’s not Texas, IMO. And people have told me I’m crazy for suggesting Butch Jones as a possible replacement whenever Stoops leaves.
https://twitter.com/_KIRKjunior/status/543245553006428160
Interesting.
Man, Stoops is hitting the trail hard. Like really hard. I’m taking that as a really good sign he knows there is a serious problem and/or that changes are coming. Either way, I like this.
https://twitter.com/THEFlashy_/status/543265603533152259
OTHER
Looked out of practice on his signature eyebrow raise.
http://youtu.be/TRXPIFqP0tg
How and/or why is this an actual thing? Oh, and the announcers are SUPER into it.
63 Comments
There are guys not showing up in these visit pics.. Mike Stoops, Jay Boulware.. I’ve not even seen them mentioned with recruits recently… however, Bob is everywhere..
I haven’t seen/heard Heupel on the trail either….I mentioned it to Aber yesterday to get his canned joklahoman response and he actually said it’s something to keep an eye on.
He has been involved with the QB Virgil.. No pics, but that’s been reported..
heupel has been seen in Baltimore MD earlier in the week….
is there an opening there????? 😉
I saw him at Wal-Mart two days ago. Hmm…something’s definitely going on…
Pretty sure Josh was in an “in home visit” pic within the last couple of days. Can’t remember who it was though.
ah, you’re right, thanks for the reminder Ray and SoonerFan.
He appeared in a home visit picture with Rankin along with Stoops and coach B.
I asked this other day but I am still curious. Is it possible that Mike could be leaving? It just seems he isn’t very active in recruiting right now as far as what i can tell from all the pics. Also with the Pitt job opening up that could be a decent fit for him.
It does appear odd that he is not involved right now but I’ve heard rumors that he just got a raise. I hope the raise was just built into the contract and not given on merit.
He did not get a raise. I’ve seen the OU regents’ agenda for at least the past six months and there have been no proposals put in front of them for football coaches pay raises. He may have got a bonus or something based on how his contract was written, but he definitely has not received an actual pay raise.
Good.
If his raises were based on Merit he’d be a homeless person
No. He’s just busy studying defensive schemes to stop Big12 offenses…
Or at least he SHOULD be…
Is it possible? Yes. But right now no one other than he and Bob know what the actual odds are of it happening.
Perine deserves the Campbell award based on physical comparison alone.
What do you guys ( Football Brainiacs) think about Smitty? I talked to a former OU player like 3 years ago and was kinda shocked what he said
I think you’ll find just as many guys who will praise him as you would rip him. From what I’ve heard, some of his methods are pretty out of date but that’s also second-hand info. I heard when Bedenbaugh first came in he and Schmitty butted heads b/c the OL was used to doing more conditioning than heavy lifting, the latter of which is what Bedenbaugh wanted in his OL.
I would like Ryan B. to give us insight into what system or methods Schmitty uses. Claims that his methods cause players knees to tear up are unwarranted without more insight into this methods.
If he’s not using olympic weightlifting movements, then he’s missing it. Many players don’t have tremendous bench performance (NFL combine), but I’m not concerned about that. Strong shoulders is a must. If every player isn’t squatting at a bare minimum 1.5 times their body weight, then their legs are weak. I’d even propose that they be squatting a minimum of 2 times their body weight.
Yes, I’d love to hear what “training methods” are known to “tear up knees”, according to Ryan B., because it’s not really a thing… the guy (and his assistants) knows more about S&C than most Certified S&C coaches in this country. He’s constantly learning and re-learning, updating training principles to meet the needs of the coaches of those player groups, etc. He focuses on groups and does what he needs to do to get those players prepared for that type of offense.
How many knee injuries occurred this year? Do we know the family history of those players? Do we know the amount of torque placed on the ACL during those movements that caused the injury? Do we know what their level of training actually was, all year?
Some players aren’t doing what he says when he’s not there, but the biggest issue with these theories is that no body is exactly alike. The structures within our bodies are different, which is why some people are more prone to ACL injuries than others. But no matter what, injuries will happen. Period. You cannot actually “prevent” injuries from happening, you can only try to work on imbalances, activation, nutrition, strength, etc. – and then hope for the best.
Fans need to look at the fact that when OU ran more fast paced offenses – THAT’S when there were more injuries. This year those injuries are occurring on the field, during games, yet not as often. That’s normal. There’s too many guys who claim to know more about Schmitty on various forums and blogs, and it’s foolishness. These guys haven’t trained with Schmitty, or even watched him training players, so they’re simply basing their opinions on other people’s opinions. Not to mention, the types of people who talk trash on the guy are simply jealous for some reason or another, or trying to appear as if they know more than a guy who is on top of the food chain in the S&C world.
We hear [x] said Schmitty helped him into the NFL, and then a few players who are known to be lazy disagree. Then there’s going to be some that just don’t like the way he trains them based on psychological indifferences. That’s fine. But the reality is – Schmitty is very good at his job and the 2 best OU players in the game say he’s the best.
Indeed. To add to this. They just now have a nutritionist. Nutrition is a factor in someone’s repair between training days.
People have made many claims about players being overtrained, which leads to injuries. As I understand it, true overtraining is quite hard to do. Those same people will see the outcome, then pick the most attractive explanation to fit the outcome (i.e., “overtrained”) without even knowing much of anything about the player, their nutrition, their training intensity, cycles, and so on.
Overtraining injuries should occur during training sessions, or soon after. Most ACL injuries are too complicated to theorize, unfortunately. Some ACL’s are not as strong as others, but ligaments simply connect bone to bone, which means that the muscles could be too exhausted to supply ample strength to prevent injury to ligaments… but since OU has had very few injuries during training (ie, S&C, practices, etc.), then overtraining clearly isn’t the issue here. In fact, in regards to other ligamentous injuries, such as the UCL/MCL (ie, “Tommy John”), I, along with many others, believe that undertraining is the cause of the injury.
“At the end of the day,” I think Schmitty does a great job. OU has had plenty of guys show out during game day, and plenty of guys who clearly appear lazier than others. I would put money on it right now that Perine will talk very highly of Schmitty, because he’s a hard worker who understands that hard work based on science is what gets him better. Murray and Peterson both talk about how much Schmitty did for them. I’d say that’s proof enough.
The guy I talked to was a O lineman and said he was a big reason for the injured the Sooners were having. He said they would get injured during the summer and didn’t have enough time to heal then get hurt during the season. He was there when Patton was there
OU’s 2 biggest NFL stars praise him. Both are probably future NFL HOF’s. I’ll go with what they say over some random “ex-OU players”.
the only problem I have with Bob Stoops hitting the recruiting trail so hard is if there is going to be some coaching changes, I’m assuming new DC and/or OC, then shouldn’t he be going after the best replacement coaches out there? We need to get a few more Bedenbaughs and Montgomery’s and Gundy’s on our staff. Excellent recruiters and know their respective positions. Spend the $$ and get the best guys in here, this is OU and we have NCs to go get! the recruits will follow the success.
I could be wrong here but “if” there is a coaching search, Joe C. would probably do the leg work after discussing it with Bob.
Not sure why I didn’t think of that. Sometimes I just assume B Stoops runs the whole show. Joe C. makes sense though, thanks.
Bob will go to Boren and Joe C. with names that he’s very interested in. Boren shot Mangino down, or at least that is the rumor. The Fatman has too much baggage.
I don’t think Joe C. would take the lead on a search for assistant coaches. There has been nothing in the past to suggest that is how it happens.
Give Bob credit. He is more than capable of doing some travel to visit recruits, AND beginning to look for any new assistants.
I’m actually inclined to think we won’t have any new coordinators next year, but maybe a guy like Kish or BJW get replaced.
Maybe Coach Stoops is out there recruiting more than just next years players? Perhaps he is also taking the time to visit with potential assistant coaches
Joe C. doesn’t hire assistants.. Bob picks who he wants & then either gets a thumbs up or thumbs down..
I didn’t mean to imply that Joe was going tell Bob who his assistants were going to be, I’ve just never heard of a HC negotiating a contract and setting terms of employment. I think some of those things would be handled by the AD’s office.
The only guys I haven’t seen on Twitter pictures with recruits are: Mike Stoops, Boulware and Norvell. Heupel seems to be recruiting pretty hard…bummer.
Coaching candidates aren’t as star-struck by in-home visits as recruits are so I would expect that contacting potential replacements, if indeed changes are coming, by phone is adequate.
Any chance the coaches go after any UAB players?
I know we all wanted Stoops’ head last week after the Bedlam loss, but seeing him hitting the recruiting trail hard makes me feel much more confident in him. He knows there’s issues and he’s taking steps to correct it.
PLUS — what he did for Sterling and his family is straight unbelievable and it made me proud to be an Oklahoma Sooner.
Correction. Wanted and still want some of the *assistants* gone. I doubt alot of folks wanted Stoops himself gone. At least I didn’t. Heupel, Kish and MS.. another story.
Amen to that.
Shouldn’t take a bad season to get serious. Change must come or BS must go.
Been watching the program drift off to irrelevance for several years now.
Coach Stoops has been everywhere this recruiting season!! They need to start running that ATT ad again!! “HELLO”!! haha
Staff, can you guys check into if the coaches are going to contact this kid (QB transfer). He was highly-rated out of high school, and lord knows we could use the QB help.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/12016157/penn-state-freshman-quarterback-michael-oconnor-transfer
Penn State freshman quarterback Michael O’Connor, ESPN’s No. 6 signal-caller in the 2014 recruiting class, plans to leave the football program and transfer elsewhere.
He redshirted this season but was expected to compete for the starting job after Christian Hackenberg’s departure.
“I loved my time here at Penn State and thank the community for all their support,” O’Connor told ESPN.com in a text message.
He committed to former coach Bill O’Brien last year but, two weeks before O’Connor was set to enroll, O’Brien took a job with the NFL’s Houston Texans. O’Connor decided to enroll early at Penn State anyway, despite James Franklin’s hire not becoming official until the weekend before O’Connor started school.
Franklin also signed quarterback Trace McSorley to Penn State’s 2014 recruiting class. Besides Hackenberg, McSorley is now the only scholarship quarterback on the roster.
With Ford and Perine going down in bedlam, and Alex Ross being stuffed I was a bit surprised they didn’t call in SoonerDave for a series just to mix it up.
It seems that those guys climbing the walls are being pulled up by a winch or something as fast as they are going up that wall.
If Pit job comes open, I’ve got some recommendations….
you and a few others I would imagine……:)
Not good.
https://twitter.com/NewsOKSports/status/543428059836076032
……on os….
Could this not have happened between the 1st and 2nd
punt?
I think it actually happened on the 2nd punt…
Apologies Jordan but Twitter pics alone are no basis for this opinion.
They are for me. Usually you see Stoops in pics in his office, not on the trail. I would have to agree with Jordan. Stoops is making sure he gets his face out there, more than I’ve seen in a long time.
Haven’t seen Bob out on the trail like this in YEARS, which I think is part of our recruiting problem.
Perhaps he’s being proactive in light of upcoming staff changes?????
I respect your right to feel so, but I’ll form my own opinions. Doesn’t mean I’m right and you’re wrong of course, but I’ll decide what I want to believe or not.
Strawman argument @jordanesco:disqus. Nowhere did I say or imply that you didn’t have the right to your opinion.
Stoops is clearly flying non-stop all over the country. The reasons for that are debatable, but there IS a reason, and it’s clear he’s on a plane every day. I think he’s doing damage control with this year’s recruits to avoid decommits late in the game after a terrible season.
How do you think Baylor’s OC affects things for Baylor in terms of both recruiting but also their offense? Was he the mastermind of the offense or is that still Briles?
I would say At Briles is the real genius and I’d expect no changes with Baylor.
Briles system, he ran it and they were on same page.
I think Montgomery will be in Norman again next year, ugh.
Maybe Bob is just running up his frequent flyer and hotel points.
Along same wavelength, Kerseys tweet from yesterday. To not take time for national recognitition on ESPN Awards to be visiting personally with recruits??!!
Those who say he won’t or can’t fix things once again need to chomp down on that crow.
https://twitter.com/jasonkersey/status/543223524958031873
@jasonkersey: Think Bob Stoops isn’t interested in fixing OU’s problems? He wasn’t there to accept the Disney award tonight. He’s on the road recruiting.