Open Post | Weekend, October 15th – 17th
Posted on: October 15, 2021
Official Visitors | TCU Game
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 13, 2021
The Sooners return home this weekend and they will take on TCU Saturday night.
That means the Sooners will also host some official visitors this weekend.
So far, we have confirmed the following official visitors:
***Gavin Sawchuk – RB – 5’11 185 – out of Littleton, CO – OU Commit
***Hero Kanu – DT – 6’5 293 – out of Santa Margarita, CA
***Azareyeh Thomas – ATH/DB – 6’1 177 – out of Niceville, FL
We do expect a nice showing of unofficial visitors as well and will get those names to you later in the week.
Sourced Team Note | Defense
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 12, 2021
Super K wanted me to pass along a note he picked up earlier…
***Source tells K that Billy Bowman has been getting some looks at Cornerback this week.
***What does this mean for the Nickel? I guess that depends on who is healthy should Bowman take reps at corner in this weeks game.
***If DTY and Criddell are healthy, either of them along with Broiles could see time at NB if Bowman takes snaps at corner.
***Also of note, source tells K Jordan Mukes has been working back at safety.
Checking with additional sources to find out more on the NB spot, but Bowman has been taking corner reps.
Will keep an eye on this and update you with any new info we get.
The Latest | Gentry Williams
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 13, 2021
Entering October, the Sooners had two important targets scheduled to announce their commitments to the schools of their choosing.
Yesterday, the Sooners landed the verbal pledge of ’22 defensive lineman Gabriel Dindy.
The next domino scheduled to fall is ’22 athlete Gentry Williams (6’0 170) out of Tulsa on October 18th.
In our most recent update (HERE) Super K wrote:
‘The Sooners have been in a battle with USC and to some extent Florida. USC has since fired their coach and Florida wants Williams to play wide receiver (he prefers DB). But, he did give those visits higher marks.
So, how did this past weekend’s visit go for Gentry?
According to Gentry, it was a 10.
My sense is the changing landscape and the Sooners knocking the visit out of the park has OU in the lead. So, in my estimation, this one is trending OU.’
After speaking with a few sources around OU and Williams recruitment recently, the only thing we have to add is…
Visitor Note | Kenyatta Jackson
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 13, 2021
The note is…Super K mentioned to me that he’s (Kenyatta Jackson) not going to be in Norman this week.
As we have said previously, if he’s not making it back, this is not going OU’s way.
Jackson is scheduled to make his announcement on Tuesday.
Right now, it appears as though Banderas and Denzel will be sitting this one out.
Know Your Opponent | TCU
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 14, 2021
Head Coach – Gary Patterson (21st Season at TCU)
Offensive Coordinator – Doug Meacham (5th Season at TCU)
Defensive Coordinator – Chad Glasgow (20th Season at TCU)
The Horned Frogs are 3-2 (1-1) and will be coming off of an impressive win against Texas Tech. They will be looking to upset the apple cart in the Big 12 and knock off the undefeated Sooners.
On Offense …
TCU currently has the 33rd ranked offense in the country and they are averaging 446 yards per game at a 6.8 yards per play clip. A large portion of those yards come from the rushing game which is ranked 15th in the country and they average 236 yards per game on the ground. The passing offense is ranked 91st and they average 209 yards per game, but they have only thrown 2 interceptions on the year.
QB –#15 Max Duggan
RB – #6 Zach Evans*
– Max Duggan has never beaten Oklahoma and I am not really a huge fan of him as a quarterback. Kind of reminds me of a poor mans Sam Ehlinger (who in my opinion was a poor mans Jalen Hurts ability wise). Gary Patterson is playing the game and has said Zach Evans and Max Duggan are questionable. I don’t believe him.
– You all know the Zach Evans story by now. The uber-talented RB was rated higher than Bijan Robinson coming out of high school and he seems to have found some stability off of the field in Fort Worth. It’s going to be fascinating to watch him carry the load on Saturday against a stingy Oklahoma defense that found the key to bottling up Bijan Robinson in the second half last week (moving Thomas to DT).
WR – #1 Quentin Johnston* has been injured and is legitimately questionable
WR – #18 Savion Williams or #0 Marcel Brooks
WR – #4 Taye Barber or #11 Derius Davis
WR – #22 Blair Conwright or #10 JD Spielman
TE – #47 Carter Ware
* Johnston and Williams are tall, long, fast, and vertically explosive on the Outside. OU would be catching a break if Johnston does not return for this game.
* Barber and Spielman are YAC guys that are dangerous in open space. This could potentially be a big problem area on Saturday for the Sooners. KSU and Texas have recently really exploited the backend of the OU defense.
LT – #55 Obinna Eze*
LG – #53 John Lanz *Injured possibly out
C – #70 Steve Avila or #69 Coy McMillon
RG – #78 Wes Harris *Injured possibly out
RT – #74 Andrew Coker
* It’s an experienced and serviceable line when healthy.
* Avila, TCU’s starting Center has had an injury riddled season which has had him in and out of the lineup.
* Eze (6’8 330) was a much-celebrated transfer addition during the off-season from Memphis. He’s considered a potential Day 2 NFL draft pick.
On Defense …
The Horned Frogs run Gary Patterson’s patented 4-2-5 look that he brought with him to the Big XII. Winters and Mathis are the best players on the Defense. TCU is going to try to confuse OU’s QBs. Caleb Williams would be susceptible IMO pre-snap and I have to believe the gameplan centers around stopping the OU running game, particularly if Williams does start…which could lead to a big day through the air for Williams.
DE – #32 Ochaun Mathis*
NT – #94 Corey Bethley
DT- #97 Earl Barquet
DE- #98 Dylan Horton
– Mathis is the best DL on the team and best pass rusher. He will probably play on Sundays.
– Bethley has been around seemingly forever. He’s a stout presence in the middle.
MIKE – #13 Dee Winters*
SAM – #25 Wyatt Harris
– Winters is a sideline to sideline type that is considered one of the better LBs in the Big XII.
CB – #1 Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson*
WS- #7 T.J. Carter
FS – #26 Bud Clark
SS – #20 La’Kendrick Van Zandt
CB – #9 C.J. Ceasar II
– Tomlinson is considered a big-time guy (potential Day 2 pick or higher) and he will present some challenges.
– T.J. Carter has a ton of experience after being a 4-year starter at Memphis and is their best Safety. TCU tried moving him to Corner to replace Ceasar II, but it left too big of a hole at Safety.
Overall Thoughts …
– TCU isn’t lacking for talent at skill positions offensively. Zach Evans, Quentin Johnston, and Savion Williams held major offers. Quentin Johnston scares the crap out of me. Again, some question whether he will return. TCU has the ability to give the Sooners major issues with the ground attack and Duggans ability to extend plays and buy time to attack the backend.
– Defensively you know they’re going to play with passion against the Oklahoma Offense. Emotion is an extremely powerful tool when it comes to the sport of Football, we saw that last week. And while the TCU defense has not been very good, their emotion may be able to keep them in the game and catch OU a little off balance at times.
– If the Sooners play with their own intensity and focus, as they did much of the second half against Texas, they should be more than fine. If they come out distracted or unfocused, this will be another tight game.
– Right now, on Thursday morning…I don’t even know which way I am leaning in regards to which OU team we will see. It will help if the OU defense comes out with Thomas at the 3 in an effort to stop the running game of TCU, but do any DBs even show up on the field is my question? That group needs to step up, perhaps OU needs to simplify some things coverage wise and the game against TCU would be a good opportunity to do that.
One on One | TCU
– Charlie S – Posted on: October 14, 2021
The Sooners are back in action following another victory over their rival in the Red River Shootout.
OU left the Cotton Bowl with the Golden Hat Trophy and perhaps a new starting QB.
This week, OU hosts Gary Patterson and his TCU Horned Frogs who are coming off a nice win over Texas Tech!
Let’s take a look at a couple of ‘one on one’ matchups I will be keeping an eye on!
One on One Number One:
TCU RB Zach Evans vs OU LB Brian Asamoah
This has to be a repeat performance of last week where Brian Asamoah comes to play. Against Texas and Bijan Robinson, Asamoah led the team in tackles (6) and was very solid in his assignments. He passed the eye test and even PFF recognized him as one of the top (#2) performers on the day for the OU defense and his tackling grade was a contributing factor to that lofty ranking. With that said…what he DIDN’T do was just as important as what he did do. You didn’t see Asamoah miss his run fits or over pursue a gap much at all. He played assignment sound football and looked very decisive and loose while doing so.
Earlier in the season, prior to the KSU game really, Asamoah had been susceptible to missed tackles and for the most part, they came back and bite Oklahoma against lesser opponents. Evans presents a stiff challenge. To this point of the season he has rushed 74 times for 586 yards which is good for 7.9 yards per carry to go along with 5 touchdowns on the ground. He also has 7 receptions for 95 yards. His backup Kendre Miller is no slouch either as he has 34 carries for 302 yards which is good for 8.9 yards per carry. It’s a pretty stout rushing attack and Asamoah (and Stutsman, Ugwoegbu, and White) have to keep up the level of play that they have displayed over the last two weeks. OU wants to continue to take away the run game of the opposition and make them one-dimensional, and the linebackers will be a big deciding factor when it comes to that goal.
One on One Number Two:
OU QB Caleb Williams vs TCU Defensive Guru Gary Patterson
Obviously, I am basing this one on Caleb actually getting the start first of all. Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley will not name a starter at QB for this game, but as we reported earlier this week, we believe it will be Williams.
The Horned Frogs come into the game with the overall 99th ranked defense. They are allowing 6.54 yards per play and 429 yards per game on the year. They are particularly bad against the run where they are ranked 116th and are allowing 5.2 yards per carry and 206 yards per game. They are a little better against the pass as they are ranked 61st while allowing 223 yards per game…but who needs to throw when you can run against them.
With all of that being said, Patterson has been around the block for a long, long time, and even Alex Grinch admits he loves to watch Pattersons film and steal concepts from it. Patterson will certainly have some tricks up his sleeve to disguise his coverages and bait the young QB into making some bad decisions.
I expect Riley to combat that with an early script that he puts together which relies on plays he is absolutely certain Williams can pull off with confidence. I expect OU to go heavy in the run game early on.
It will get tricky for Williams when things get off script or OU gets behind the chains. This will be the danger zone. I could see Patterson game-planning for OU almost opposite of the way the teams have been game-planning defensively throughout much of the season and focus on taking away the intermediate and short passing game instead of taking away the deep passing game. Almost baiting Williams and Riley into trying to push the ball deep down field and take their chances with that.
Any way it shakes out, we will get a good look at what Caleb has between the ears as it is never easy to process through a Patterson led defense, especially when you are making your first career start!
