The Football Brainiacs

Jay Norvell

–  Norvell started out by talking about where the team is in general at this point in camp compared to where they were last year and said,”It’s been an exciting preseason. A lot of things happening from the time we finished the Sugar Bowl. But I think just in the last two weeks everybody realizes this is a new season…new team…new chemistry. But when you’ve had guys that have played in key positions, it gets really exciting because you feel that experience…guys are really polishing instead of learning. You feel like we can play at a higher level.”

– Really thought the following quotes sound promising. You’ve got to think that Norvell would have been a little more guarded with his comments if there wasn’t a lot of confidence about the offense. “We’re at a different place than we were offensively a year ago. We kinda understand who we are better. We’re able to put the play-makers in place better. And in that respect, I think we’re in a much different place. But we’re still trying to push it to another level of execution. This week is critical for that.”

– It’s clear that the first week is more a time where they’re trying to get the guys back in the flow of things. Norvell emphasized that this coming week would be where they really start to put things together. And as we noted in the Open Post, this week will probably more telling in terms of who is going to be where to start the season.

– It should come as no surprise, but Norvell said that Dorial Green-Beckham has stood out in practice. He also mentioned that KJ Young and Michiah Quick are showing signs of play-making ability.

– Norvell also said, “Derrick Woods is a guy who has played some and is not afraid of the competition, and he’s done a lot of really good things in camp.”

– Norvell also said that while “Blake (Bell) hasn’t played at TE but his competitiveness and playing in the Big 12 conference…I think it shows at TE.” He said that Blake “understands the speed of the game…he understands…when you have to step up…and the type of competitiveness you need to finish.”

– He said in general, “we’ve got some guys that understand what it takes to win.”

– On Durron Neal, “Every player has got to have confidence. He’s always had athletic ability. He’s always had the ability to run and get open, but the difference now is just finishing plays, adjusting to the ball in the air and playing with confidence.” Said, “Trevor and him are connecting more…he’s (Neal) worked really hard.” He said that Durron has worked hard and brought it every single day…said he’s brought it “like a starter.”

– On Dimitri Flowers, “Dimitri is a young player and there’s still a lot of new situations that he hasn’t been in, but when you’re athletic and you’re smart…you find ways to survive in those situations. And that’s what, as a young player, he’s doing. And he gets more confident all the time.” Said that Dimitri is “one of the young players that’s made a lot of strides so far.”

– Norvell talked about the “grind sessions” against the defense and that because of the strength of the defense, it’s allowed the offense to get better because “it’s like playing a game everyday.” Said, “it’s physical and it’s hard and you’ve got to block great edge players.”

– On Miciah Quick and what’s impressive about him, “his athletic ability. Ryan Broyles, when he was a young player, he was very athletic, very quick but just had a feel for situations and getting open…Quick is a lot like that. He’s a bigger athlete than Ryan…but when you tell him to go out and get open on a route he just finds a way to do it…he’s a football player…some kids just take information and apply it naturally and he’s one of those guys. It’s never a struggle for him to do that…he finds a way to be successful at it. Those kind of guys you find out quickly that you can do a lot with them, because they can transfer from the meeting room to the practice field really quick.”

– Great quote here that may foreshadow more and more of what we will see in the future, “You can’t always out trick people. You’ve just got to be able to be physical and run downhill at them at times. That element of our game improved last year. We were more physical. We were a better running team. We were a tougher team mentally because of our ability to run downhill.”

– When asked if Dallis Todd would play this year he said “the jury is still out.” Norvell complimented some of things he has done and then mentioned Jefferey Mead and Mark Andrews saying that they are, “all right on the cusp of probably having enough ability to play, but I don’t know how big a role they can earn with some of the guys in front of them. We’ve still got another couple weeks to figure that out.”

– On Jefferey Mead…”He’s an incredibly gifted athlete for a big kid…6’7…I’ve never coached any kid that tall in my life. He is extremely gifted agility-wise. He’s becoming a very good route runner already. And he really studies the game. And he has that type of mind where he’s really gonna understand what we ask him to do. He asks the right questions. He’s improving very quickly. Smart athletic guys end up being really good players and we’re excited about Jeffery.” Also, talked about how Jeffery really didn’t start playing WR till his jr year in high school. Norvell said because of that, he’s still green but “he’s so much fun to coach because he’s really bright and those guys learn quickly and they improve a lot.” Also said, “he’s very self-disciplined” Norvell, in general, had a lot of praise for Mead and spent a lot of time talking about him.

– On DGB, “He’s doing good. He’s learning so much. There’s a huge difference between universities. The things that we ask are way different than up there. He’s very very good at certain things and certain things are new to him. He’s learning quickly. He’s a really good player. So good players just adjust and learn the new terminology. And he kinda handles it like a real veteran guy. He’s a fun guy to coach too. He’s improved tremendously since he’s been here. We’re just gonna keep coaching him.”

– He said that both Jalen Saunders and Justin Brown talked to DGB to give him advice on how to make the transition.

– Also said DGB does want to prove himself…said he’s “a young kid that wants to do right. He wants to be out there with his teammates. He wants to play ball. So he’s just out there trying to do his best and try to contribute as part of the team and so far he’s really done a great job.”

Final Note

First, wanted to say that there seems to be a lot of excitement in Coach Norvell’s voice. He sounds like a guy who knows they’ve got a lot of weapons to work with, and they feel like it can come together. Thought it was really interesting when he talked about going against Oklahoma’s defense and how the new strength of the defense has helped the offense really challenge themselves. It’s just one of those things where you get that sense each part of the team really helps one another. Iron sharpens iron.

Also, Norvell seemed to echo our note in the Open Post about Mead taking snaps with the first team. He spent quite a bit of time talking about Mead and it was obvious that he’s someone who has stood out. Obviously, that doesn’t necessarily mean Mead will play a big role this year. But it sounds like they are really excited about his development and his future. A lot of excitement about Miciah Quick as well. Clearly a guy who they think can just go out and make the plays.

Aaron Ripkowski was present as well, and he made a couple noteworthy comments. He talked about how now that they are running a lot more bigger sets, they are working on getting faster and increasing the tempo within those sets. He said they’re able to do a lot of things without substitution, and they want to be able to take advantage of that. He talked about how he is really working on his receiving ability, and it felt like we’re going to see a lot of those big sets where traditional blocking guys may get split out more so that Oklahoma can show defenses a lot of different looks. Which obviously gives opponents more things to defend without allowing them bring on different defensive personnel. Also of note, Rip talked about how while Blake Bell is “more of a receiving TE” but his blocking continues to improve.

Lastly, Dimintri Flowers said that everyone calls him “little Trey” out on the field and, while that’s flattering, he wants to create his won legacy.