The Football Brainiacs

Image of Tyler Evans via @OU_Football

Tyler Evans

— Tyler Evans is back at 100% and feeling confident. Said he was rolling guys off the ball and making plays. Even though he’s been a physical presence early in practice, he did stay out of the Oklahoma drill today.

— Evans said that among the young guys, Kenyon Frison has been really impressive especially today during the Oklahoma drill, “Kenyon, a freshman tackle stands out to me the most. He’s improving everyday.”

— Evans said that the past two seasons he believes have helped him develop mentally, “It actually helped me more than what I thought, watching practice everyday, every week. It’s like an hour or two of film everyday. Now I can see the blitzes coming and I know the plays and helping the young guys.”

— Being around for so long has given him some perspective. He made the point that compared to older teams, all the young guys right now are much more excited about getting out and playing ball.

— Interesting story: Evans’ wife used to be an OU Gymnast and her career ended with an ACL, “She had five surgeries, so she knows what it’s like. She kept telling me you do not want to quit because you will not like the after effects. So I had to listen to her, she’s been through it.”

Jordan Smallwood

— On early practice, “Last year I didn’t get to play as much, so its kind of like my first time doing two-a-days. So it’s been a blessing and it’s been fun.”

— On the inexperience of the receivers, “We’re going really strong. Lot of guys left last year. A lot of us are really young, but together we’re doing pretty good. And we going to have a bond together and work through this as a team.”

— On Sterling Shepard and Durron Neal, “Them two guys are leaders right now and don’t forget about Derrick Woods. He’s up there as well, and they’re our leaders right now and we’re following them. We’re trying to help the best we can as young guys to help compete.”

Durron Neal

— Durron talked about stepping into a bigger role on the team. He mentioned that he’s much more comfortable with the offense going into year three and has been helping the younger guys come along.

— On becoming a play-maker, “It feels good. It lets me know that my teammates trust me, and my quarterback is trusting me, and the guys on the other side of the ball have that trust in me. I just want that trust, and I want to be a guy that they can count on in a big game situation to make big plays.”

— Durron also talked a bit about Dorial Green-Beckham coming in and their connection both playing high school ball in Missouri. He said he reached out to Dorial before he moved to Norman, and that he’s been working really hard since coming in, “He’s been fine. It’s just like he’s been here for the whole time. No guys look at him different as a transfer. We look at him as family and as a brother.”

— On the younger receivers (he wasn’t specific on who, but you can narrow it down), “New guys are coming in, and they’re ready to work. One thing about them is they got big bodies that we didn’t have for a couple years. You got three 6-4 guys and they’re real good at using their body, and they’re just getting accustomed to the offense and learn.”

— On Sterling and getting his opportunity to play, “That’s my best friend. He’s always told me just be patient, the time will come. We push each other every day to get better. When I see him make a big play, I want to make a big play. We just want to get the team better and get to the National Championship.”

— Long quote, but you can tell Durron might have a chip on his shoulder “I’ve learned from the past two years from Jalen, Kenny, Justin, other guys, and now I’m just using everything I’ve learned to help the team out. We’re very excited and know there are a lot of questions about our receiving corps with Jalen, Colt, and Jaz leaving. We like that and we’re going to prove everybody wrong. We believe in ourselves and our teammates believe in us and the coaches believe in us, so we’re very excited for the season.”

— Durron was open that even though everyone expected instant success from him, that his family and coaches have helped him stay humble.

Ty Darlington

— The biggest message from Ty today was how deep the offensive line is at the moment. He constantly shot out names basically naming nine or ten guys.

— Said he honestly has no clue what the starting line is going to look like because they’ve been rotating so many guys in and out at different spots.

— On Tyler Evans return, “He’s a veteran presence, he plays hard. He plays physical, and it’s what we’re about. We’re happy to have him back…I feel like whether he’s on one leg, he’s still going to try to maul a guy. That’s the kind of toughness and physicality he brings us up front. He’s going to finish guys, and he’s going to be nasty.”

— Talked about how much a competitor Trevor Knight is as a person, and made a point that just because a guy gets labeled as having strong faith doesn’t make them soft.

— Had lots of good things to talk about Nila Kasitati. Said he’s a freak athlete and has seen him walk around on his hands, even though he’s over three hundred pounds.

— Ty also emphasized the impact of having more immediate access to food has been. They have a nutritionist who’s extremely active, in Tiffany Byrd, that helps get them breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Add that on top of the fact that NCAA athletes now have unhampered access to food on their own time, and you realize that it’s easier for guys to put on and keep on good weight.

— He really emphasized how important Gabe Ikard has been to his development, saying that he taught him how to both work and study and even set great advice for him in terms of academics. “He’s an encouraging force more than anything. Being behind me when I struggled at times early, so he was a big deal for me”

— Ty also mentioned that Frison lit it up today during the Oklahoma drill, “Ran someone right off the ball. That was impressive.” Also threw in Alex Dalton and Jonathan Alvarez into young guys looking good.

— On Coach Bedenbaugh and the 2014 O-Line class, “I think it’s a huge testament to Coach Bedenbaugh. He demands so much of those guys from the get go as far as knowledge, as far as technique, as far as being locked in. He demands so much of them, they have to raise to the standard that he sets that they’re forced to raise to that bar. I think all five of those guys are going to be good players for us.”