Open Post | Tuesday, September 24th
Posted on: September 24, 2019
Visitor Notes | OU Looking for a Flip
– Super K
Sooners at home this weekend and they’ll have some official visitors in attendance.
A couple big time visitors who will be on campus are also committed to the Sooners’ rival.
***2020 CB Joshua Eaton will be taking his official visit this weekend. This will be Eaton’s second time on campus.
The Sooners will need to really make their case with Eaton with the depth chart. At the cornerback position it looks favorable.
***2020 DL Princely Umanmielen – at one point it looked the Sooners led for Princely. But his proximity to Texas allowed him to visit the school a number of times and build a comfort level there.
Princely did make it to Norman last spring and really loved what he saw from Grinch and the staff in practice.
In my opinion, one of OU’s plays here is to emphasize the way Grinch uses the defensive linemen to help them pick up their own stats.
Official Visitors for Texas Tech
– Charlie S
Sooners back on the field this week in Norman and that means it’s a visit weekend.
Right now we can confirm the following recruits are planning to be in Norman for their official visits.
2020 DL Princely Umanmielen (Texas Commit) – Manor, TX, 6’4″ 249
2020 DB Joshua Eaton (Texas Commit) – Houston, TX, 6’2″ 175
2020 OLB Antonio Doyle – Hazelwood, MO, 6’4″ 230
2020 Athlete Mikey Henderson (OU Commit) – Carrollton, TX, 6”1.5″ 234
2020 Athlete DJ Graham (OU Commit) – Keller, TX, 5’11.5″ 178
We are working on checking with a few other recruits and will update the list with any new additions.
There will be a host of unofficial visitors at the game and we will work to get those names to you later in the week as well!
Eye on Your Rival | Texas Injury bug
– Super K
Texas is likely to be one of if not the greatest test OU will face this season. They’ve had quite a few injuries on defense.
Texas announced updates on injured players and it looks like they will be short-handed going into the Red River Rivalry. The three most impactful injuries are…
***Starting cornerback, Jalen Green, is considered the best cornerback on the team according to our sources. He suffered a shoulder injury this past weekend. Coach Herman has confirmed that Green suffered a dislocated shoulder and will be out an estimated four weeks. So, it looks like he won’t be available to play in Dallas.
***Starting safety, Caden Sterns suffered a tibia injury. Herman announced Sterns will be out a few weeks. So, there is a real possibility he won’t be available for the Red River Rivalry.
***Also, defensive back, Josh Thompson who can play multiple positions for Texas in the secondary broke his foot. So, he will also be out in Dallas.
Lincoln Riley | Texas Tech Press Conference
– Charlie S
A handful of highlights from Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley’s press conference today ahead of the Texas Tech game:
Riley on TTU Defense: Defensively DC, Keith Patterson, is a very good coach. They have a lot of guys coming back.
Riley on TTU Offense: New coordinator, still some of the same things you have seen from Texas Tech. Their QB situation is up in the air. Riley hopes for the best for Alan Bowman.
Riley on Sutherland arrest: He’s well aware of the situation from this weekend. He’s extremely disappointed in his choices. Says he’s going to deal with it internally and appropriately. You’ll never know what the punishment is. (Love that)
Riley on Bridges (and other players): Trejan Bridges has not permanently moved to the other side of the ball. If that were the case, you all would know it.
Riley on Big 12 offenses and the challenge they pose: New challenges. We’ve played some outstanding individual players to this point, think we’re going to play outstanding overall units as we move forward.
Riley on #ooners defense: Not satisfied. Excited. Encouraged. They’ve shown some of the positive signs that he hoped that they’d show to this point.
Riley on position change experimentations: Probably have a lot more guys ‘teed up’ and ready to play on all three sides of the ball than people might guess.
Riley on Rambo redshirt in 2017: They went back and forth on it. They had some depth at WR that year and guys stayed healthy. Knew he could help but the goal was to allow him to develop mentally and physically.
Riley on Kenneth Mann: Says he expects Kenneth Mann back this week.
Riley on Kenneth Mann: Riley says he is going to be fresh. Extremely hungry. He’s chomping at the bit.
Riley on run game: Been able to have some explosive runs, Has some pretty good players in that room, Hurts has added to the numbers with him being able to do things as well.
Riley on RB TJ Pledger: No TJ Pledger this week. He’s getting close and should be in play going forward. (I am smelling a RS)
Riley on defense: Recruits have been excited about how we are playing defense. They like how they show a lot of different looks. They like the number of kids they are playing. They like the style. They say “It looks like how you told us it would look like”
Post-Practice Quick Hitter | Trejan Bridges Works With Defense Again
– Charlie S
Early last Friday morning, on the TFB Donor Board, we broke the news about Trejan Bridges gettin some work at defensive back… https://donors.thefootballbrainiacs.com/all-hale-the-weekend-notebook-sourced-team-notes-news-more/
Over the weekend, various other people caught wind of the news and reported the same thing.
Speculation about Bridges’ potential move was at a fever pitch throughout the weekend.
Yesterday, while meeting with the media, head coach Lincoln Riley danced around the topic a bit by saying ‘If there was a permanent move of any player, you all would know”.
Last night, our report was confirmed by Sooners defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.
Following practice last night, James Hale was meeting with the coaches and Grinch informed them all that Trejan Bridges was again working with the DBs in yesterdays practice.
*** I spoke with James following practice and he said Grinch called Bridges ‘a special athlete’ who can play multiple positions on all three teams (offense, defense and special teams).
*** Grinch discussed the fact that this was Trejan’s idea and the Sooners would not go through with the experiment unless it was the individual’s decision.
*** So, there is the confirmation of the news we broke last week on the TFB Donor Board from the Sooners staff themselves.
*** We will see if this is a short term thing, or if it is a move that Bridges feels is best for his future and his long term preference.
Snippet from: Hale-uva Monday Notebook | Sourced Team Notes, News & More
– James Hale
So, about those changes
*** As I reported in my last report during the off week Alex Grinch and Roy Manning looked at a couple of different things in the secondary. This is what you do during the bye week, you experiment with your personnel and see if a player can play someplace different or play there or if maybe a guy on offense maybe can be a more productive player on defense.
*** Junior Robert Barness (6’2, 207) played in 11-games last year and started eight at free safety but this year has been missing in action as a backup safety. Barnes got in for eight plays at UCLA and finished with two-tackles and every time he has been in the game he has been productive but he’s not played much at all this season.
*** That’s been puzzling considering how disappointing the safety play has been through three games at OU and the same can be said of sophomore Justin Broiles (510, 189) but he’s played a bit more than Barnes this season.
*** During the bye week, Barnes was moved to the nickel back to compete with starter Bookie Radley-Hiles (5’9, 180) and junior Chanse Sylvie (6’0, 192) was moved back to safety from the nickel leaving Bookie and Barnes to battle for the starting spot.
*** That is unless the experiment with freshman Trejan Bridges (6’1, 184) at DB turns out to be something so special that they want to move a five-star wide receiver to DB permanently. Bridges is a great athlete and I understand he looked very good and if he wants to play DB the word is that he could be a very good defensive back. We already know he can be a great wide receiver and that’s his position and I have no doubt that he would be very good at nickel or safety either. I was told he worked mostly at nickel and a bit at safety, but there was no definite decision made on whether Bridges would stay on defense or move back to wide receiver and offense this week.
*** From what I was told Barnes had a great week at nickel and looked liked he was really determined to get back on the field. To say that Bookie’s starting spot at nickel is under siege may not be accurate but they are looking to push the competition to another level.
*** The nickel position in the OU defense is the all-encompassing position of the OU defense in that that players have to be able to cover, play the run and blitz the quarterback. Bookie covers well and that’s why he earned the Big 12 award in week two with the pick-six and a fumble recovery, but he’s not exactly what they are looking for defensively in the run game or blitzing the quarterback.
*** Thus, the reason why they are now looking at Barnes who has the skill set that looks perfect for the nickel and so does Bridges if he stays on defense. At Southlake Carroll High School Barnes worked a lot at nickel back and would often have three sacks and four or five tackle-for-losses while also defending the pass well enough to come out of high school as a five-star talent.
*** At safety, the defensive coaches are being very patient with sophomores Pat Fields (5’11, 196) and Delarrin Turner Yell (5’10, 193). Fields and Turner-Yell are second and third on the team in tackles, but just like with Coach Bedenbaugh’s offensive line, stats don’t always tell the true story about how well they are playing. Fields often is lost in coverage or behind in coverage on most of the pass plays and Turner-Yell seems to be in position but he’s not tackling well through three games.
*** Both are very talented and the future is bright for them but they have been thrust into a national championship type year and OU needs great safety play if it’s really going to be a contender for the Big 12 Championship and College Football Playoff.
*** Sophomore Justin Broiles (5’10, 189) has become the third safety and has one pass broken-up equalling the total for Turner-Yell and Fields on a lot fewer reps. We will see if Sylvie becomes more of a factor here or Bridges because it looks like they are trying to redshirt freshmen Jeremiah Criddell (5’11, 198) and Jamal Morris (6’2, 182).
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