Open Post | Tuesday, December 29th
Posted on: December 29, 2020
Quick Sourced Team Notes | Cotton Bowl Prep
– Charlie S
Couple sourced notes as the team prepares to take on Florida in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday…
*** Was told with Tre Brown opting out of the bowl game, DJ Graham and Woodi Washington have been taking a large portion of reps with the 1’s at corner.
Jaden Davis has been mixing in some with the first group and Josh Eaton is working into the rotation as well.
*** Source says Tre Norwood has been taking reps with the 1’s at nickel with Bookie mixing in and Jeremiah Criddell supporting both of them. Would expect to see Norwood used much in the same way he was used in the Big 12 Championship games where he played nickel and a little at both safety spots.
*** On the offensive line, one source tells me Anton Harrison has been taking a lot of reps with the 1’s. James also has heard Harrison is getting a bunch of work with the 1’s, but he also is being told that Swenson will not be just tossed to the curb and will get his chances. So, it would not be shocking to see Swenson start and if things don’t click early, Harrison comes in…kind of like how things went the first half of the season when Swenson was the starter in name, only to be supplanted by Harrison after a series or two.
Running Back Recruiting | Update
– Super K
From now until signing, running back is going to be one of the priorities. However, based on my conversations with sources, it is still my sense that OU won’t just take any high school back.
They are content to look to the portal or to the JUCO ranks (JUCOs will play their season this spring).
As far as I know, there hasn’t been much communication between the Sooners and LJ Johnson. LJ did not sign in the earlier period so I do believe OU could revisit this situation if they wanted but my sense is they are fine sitting tight for the moment and reassessing things.
Know Your Opponent | Florida
– Charlie S
Head Coach: Dan Mullen – 3rd year (29-8)
Defensive Coordinator: Todd Grantham – 3rd year
Offensive Coordinator: Brian Johnson – 3rd year
On offense…
Mullen is the architect and play caller. His history says he is a guy who loves to keep defenses on their toes, keep them guessing. However, he is not a guy that will try to force a square peg into a round hole by pushing for a balanced attack when it just isn’t there right now. This is a pass first, pass often, and when all else fails, pass again type of offense right now.
Quarterback Kyle Trask, a redshirt senior out of Manvel, TX is doing a fine impersonation of Joe Burrow from LSU last year. Certainly a Heisman candidate. He has put up an impressive stat line this year which reads: 285 completions on 409 attempts which is good for a 69 (nice) percent completion rate. He has thrown for 4125 yards with 43 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions.
Since all-everything tight end Kyle Pitts declared for the 2021 NFL draft last week, Florida will likely look to wide receivers Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes more in the Cotton Bowl (unless they opt out as well). Both are very good receivers and posses big play ability to challenge the Sooners secondary.
Florida played LSU, and lost, without Pitts, but the experience they gained in the loss without him could serve as a learning opportunity against the Sooners.
QB – #11 Kyle Trask – Likely a high draft pick who has put in his time and worked his way to his spot near the top of the NFL draft boards.
RB – #20 Malik Davis – #27 Dameon Pierce – Gators don’t run much because, well, they don’t have too. OU’s defensive strength is shutting down the run…I could see focus shifting a bit for the Sooners with the lack of any real run game for the Gators.
WR – #15 Jacob Copeland, #1 Kadarius Toney, #8 Trevon Grimes – An explosive bunch who will stress the OU secondary. Sooners front seven really needs to have a big game here to help the secondary out or it could turn into a track meet.
UPDATE: Scratch the entire wide receiver part of this…as none of the guys mentioned will be playing.
*** The offensive line is pretty solid in pass protection, however, over the past two games, they have given up 9 sacks against Bama and LSU respectively. Trask is not the most mobile guy, and he has been put on the ground 19 times this year in total.
LT – #72 Stone Forsythe, LG – #76 Richard Gouraige, C #61 Brett Heggie, RG #51 Stewart Reese, RT #56 Jean Delance (former Sooner commit and Texas player)
*** Overall the offense is quite impressive. They average 41.6 (11th of 127) points per game.
*** The loss of Pitts hurts them for sure, but should they not have any more offensive opt outs (which there is some rumor about) they will present quite a challenge for the OU defense. Particularly the secondary.
On Defense…
The Gators have had their struggles defensively this year in their 4-3 scheme.
They currently rank 63rd in total defense. They are averaging giving up 404.7 at 5.69 yards per play.
Florida is allowing 258.3 passing yards per game, ranking No. 100 in the nation, and is allowing 28.6 points per game.
They are 43rd in rush defense and allow 3.94 yards per run and 146.5 yards on the ground per game.
*** Up front on the defensive line, you have to account for Zachary Carter who is very disruptive. Carter has 5 sacks from the DT spot this year, which is great interior pressure.
*** At linebacker, Ventrell Miller leads the unit in sacks (3.5) and tackles (86) and Mohamoud Diabate is having a standout year as well.
*** The Secondary has been a problem for the Gators but Marco Wilson and Kair Elam are both capable of making some key plays, but overall, the unit has pretty much been a mess.
DE #1 Brenton Cox
DT #56 Tedarrell Slaton
DT #17 Zachary Carter – Big matchup for Creed and the guards for OU. He is the heartbeat of the defense and what good they do typically originates from his play.
DE #8 Khris Bogle
*** The Gators front is not physically as formidable as the ‘Elite’ defensive lines you hear about (many of which are largely over-hyped) but they are a fast and physical bunch who will give the Sooners OL some issues with their speed. I will go on record now as saying Swenson and Ealy will struggle early with speed on the edge and TRob and Hayes will need to have some pep in their step to get to the edge when pulling in order to not get stuffed in the backfield and bog down the counter plays.
LB #11 Mohamoud Diabate and #51 Ventrell Miller are the guys to pay attention to. Miller is a guy they will line up at various places and he is a talented pass rusher as an interior linebacker. Miller is very active and is solid with his tackling in space.
*** I kind of like the Gators front seven. They are very athletic and raw, but they have potential to be effective.
CB #5 Kaiir Elam, CB #3 Marco Wilson, SS #29 Jeawon Taylor, FS #6 Shawn Davis, NB #12 C.J. McWilliams
*** The Gators secondary is not young. That’s a concern for them in my opinion. They should not be this bad. But here we are. They struggle in just about every facet of the game and they look lost at times on the field in regards to even just lining up.
*** I’m not sure if their is a disconnect between the calls the DC sends in or what, but against LSU at times they appeared like they had never played as a unit. They should not be having those issues at this point of the season, particularly with their experience…but Spencer Rattler could be in for a big day as the OU receivers should have a lot of room to work (even with how poorly they have gotten separation this year)
Overall Thoughts…
*** Sooners strength (rush defense) against Gators weakness (rush offense)
*** Gators strength (pass offense) against Sooners weakness (secondary)
*** Sooners strength (pass offense) against Gators weakness (secondary)
I like the Sooners based largely on the idea that the OU front 7 will be able to get home enough to cause Trask some problems which will be compounded by not having Pitts on the field.
I think OU will be able to have some sustained success on offense as they will likely be able to be less one dimensional than the Florida offense. OU should have some success on the ground which will help control the pace of the game.
If it turns into a true old Big 12 type shootout from years past…I like the Gators chances with Trask right now.
In the end, I think the Sooners are in a good spot to notch a win against a ‘better than most’ SEC team.
