The Football Brainiacs

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Coach Bedenbaugh is hot on the trail of this 2015 kid named Cody Ford (Pineville, LA). I actually came across the young man a while back, but K and I are texting back and forth one day (we do that quite a bit most days) and I was at work when he mentioned him to me. So I write the name down, and let K know that I’ll check Ford out when I get home. The day before I had just got done checking out Tyler Moore’s film and if you’ve read my thoughts about him, you know how excited I was to see Tyler’s physical style of play. I got all fired up and literally thought to myself as I was driving home how much I would enjoy seeing a guard and tackle tandem that were both that physical. Well I get home and knock out all of the honey-do’s that the wife had lined out for me, and when I finally got the chance to see the film I was happy I did.

Two words popped into my head after watching one play of Cody’s game. Those words….Trent Williams. He looks like him. He acts like him. He plays like him. Trent is probably one of the nastiest offensive linemen in the league today, and he just projects attitude in every aspect of his game. In my opinion, Cody does the same thing. When I was able to catch up with him a while back, we were talking about some of his film. I told him that during a few plays, as he was taking the defender to the ground, it looked like he wanted to bring a knee up into the guy’s ribs. Cody just laughed. He didn’t say he wanted to, but he definitely didn’t deny it either. When you watch Cody play, you can see that the guy has an overwhelming need to be physical. He also has that same need to be dominant. Watching his tape you get the sense he’s disappointed that he doesn’t get to hit people more than he does, so he tries to get extra shots in during every play.

From a tackle standpoint, while I’m very excited about Bobby Evans’ overall athleticism, I’m extremely excited about the prospect of having Ford at one of those tackle spots as well. Cody is one of those players who is fun to watch and coach. There’s no better feeling out there than knowing the guy you choose to be in the spot is going to give you absolutely everything they have. As a manager and as a coach it frees you up to focus on other aspects of the business or of the game, and having guys like him on your team makes you a better leader. You see the effort and nastiness Cody plays with, and then you start thinking to yourself that everyone else should do the same. The expectations for the group are raised, and the whole team gets better as a result of one guy’s effort.

Cody is built a little like a guard in that he’s slightly sawed off, but to me Cody is still a tackle at the next level. I think he’s long enough to play the spot even though he’s listed as 6’4”. I like his short area explosion, and I like his feet. He’s a step quicker than most guards you see, and reminds me of how athletic John Michael McGee was a few years ago. While JMM was also a 6’4” guy, Cody seems to have longer arms and a bigger frame. His ability to use his hands and how active they are are make up for whatever lack of length he may have compared to a 6’5” or 6’6” guy. He absolutely fits the mold of a powerful offensive lineman that Bedenbaugh goes after and would give us a hammer out there on the edge.

It’s refreshing to turn on his film and see the attitude he exudes in his play. In this day and age, people are artists at coming up with new and creative excuses and obstacles. Cody’s the kind of player that takes the excuse or obstacle and takes its lunch money. He tells it why he took the lunch money. He tells it what he plans to do with the lunch money. And he schedules an appointment for the next day (or next play if you will) to take it again.

With the scheme, attitude, and execution we have up front with Coach Bedenbaugh — not to mention Keith Ford, Alex Ross, Joe Mixon, and Samaje Perine playing the role of human battering rams behind them — I may need to dust off my old wishbone stuff and hearken back to the days of Lydell Carr, and the bloody your nose style we used to roll out on the field.

Recruiting Notes

Despite being committed to TCU, Cody has made it pretty clear that OU is in great position with him. He let us know that he was waiting on the Mississippi State and LSU camps before he makes a final decision. He did receive a Miss. State offer, but said OU is higher on his list than the Bulldogs. So it would seem the main obstacle right now is going to be the LSU camp this weekend. If Ford earns an LSU offer things could get interesting, but as of right now OU fans have a lot of reason to be optimistic.

Landing Ford, Evans, and Madison Akamnonu would give OU three likely OTs all with varied strengths. Add them to Orlando Brown and Kenyon Frison from last year’s class, and OU will be back on the path to having some real depth at the OT position once again.