The Football Brainiacs

Image via OU Football Facebook

I don’t think it would take a rocket scientist to figure out why I worded the title of this post the way I did, but for posterity’s sake allow me to briefly explain. Through some combination of the injuries OU is currently dealing with, the players they’ve said and/or I’m expecting them to hold out (not necessarily due to an injury), and Bob Stoops’ long-standing policy of being deathly afraid of giving even the slightest of glimpses into what they’re working on with either side of the ball, I’m expecting to see very little in the way of substance on Saturday.

Therefore, I’ll be paying much closer attention to some of the individual performances. Whether it be guys we’ve heard have been performing well thus far and/or those I’ve just been personally interested to see on the actual field. And I even say that, of course, with the caveat of it still being a spring game and well aware of the history in said spring games of guys standing out only to never be heard from again. But I think most of us here are certainly well-versed enough to be able to distinguish the difference between someone like that and say a Dede Westbrook or Mark Andrews, for example.

And now with all of that out of the way, here are some of the guys I’ll be keeping my eye on.

* Baker Mayfield & Trevor Knight – I can fully appreciate I’m not breaking any news here, but it seems pretty disingenuous on my part to start anywhere else. We all know these two are the odds on favorites for the QB1 spot, just as we all know Mayfield is supposedly in the lead (or so we’ve been led to believe). And while I have no reason to doubt what I’ve been told or what I’ve read, I still feel like the coaches are going to give Knight every opportunity to win the job.

And not for any kind of favoritism reasons or the fact he was the starter for most of last year, but because it’s a genuine competition and they’re going to give the job to the guy who they believe gives them the best chance to win games.

Could that be Knight even after the inconsistencies we’ve seen the previous two years now? Sure, why the hell not? Now am I rooting for that? I wouldn’t go that far, but I think it would be foolish to just write off any chances Knight has of winning the job. Granted, I think most rational OU fans are intelligent enough to realize the coaches take a much different approach to things than some of us as fans would. So there isn’t anywhere near the disdain for some of what we’ve seen from Knight in the coaches offices as their is amongst Sooner Nation.

However, by all accounts Lincoln Riley’s system is MUCH less convoluted than what OU was previously running under Josh Heupel. So it’s not out of the question that a more simplified approach frees Knight up to stop over-thinking everything and look like a much improved QB, right?

All that said, if I had to put money on it right now I’d be betting on Mayfield. So in other words I just wasted your time with those previous three paragraphs, you’re welcome.

* Mark Andrews – Allow me to quote, well, myself from a post I wrote for TFB back in late February regarding:

“If you’re asking me to push all of my proverbial chips in to the middle of the table on one redshirt freshman “breaking out” next year, Andrews is that guy for me.”

So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty good about that one. Admittedly, I’m sure there were many others who felt that way at the time and probably even before I posted that around the end of February. However if we’re to believe what we are hearing out of spring practices, Andrews has been every bit the matchup nightmare we’re all hoping he will be in this revamped OU offense.

Working this kid out of the slot and getting him matched up with LBs on a consistent basis should be an near automatic moving of the chains, at a minimum.

* Offensive Tackles – I know we’ve heard they have been doing well — but I’ve been burned buying into that kind of talk before — and I know they’re far from short on talent, but if the season were starting today (and it’s obviously not, but such things are irrelevant when trying to illustrate your point) you’d be looking at a pair of OTs with a combined zero career starts and virtually very little, if any, playing experience at this level.

And whether it’s throwing the ball 50 times a game like I know some people still fear they’ll do or debunking that particular OU fan theory and maintaining more of the balance we’ve become accustomed to, either way there will be quite a bit asked of this offense line in 2015.

To be fair, OU has more than decent amount of talent in their front seven so if the OL struggles somewhat on Saturday I certainly won’t be sprinting to sound the alarms. But given that it will be our first, and only, chance to get a real sense of things with our own eyes, both OT spots will be something to keep an eye on.

* Steven Parker – With all due respect to guys like Eric Striker and Charles Tapper, in my book there may not be a more important player on this entire defense for the coming season than Parker. The fact Mike Stoops has already been quoted as saying how much they’re counting on the three 2015 safety signees who will be arriving later this summer should tell you pretty much all you need to know about where things stand on the back end of this defense right now.

Everyone believes Parker is a future star, but will he have the benefit of time to develop into that type of a player or be asked to do so as just a true sophomore. Based on what we’ve heard so far, me thinks it’s the latter.

* Dimitri Flowers – I feel like this name might be somewhat of a surprise, but you need think no farther back than this time last year. Remember Flowers standing out in last year’s spring game and then virtually never being used as a part of the offense during the season? Yeah, me too. I feel like it was also in the spring game (although I could be wrong), before he got hurt, where he caught a ball and at the time I was like “damn, that was a great catch, which wide receiver was that?” only to realize a second or two later it was actually Flowers.

I’m really curious to see how Riley plans to utilize Flowers in this offense. Based on what little we’ve seen of him during that first year, Flowers sure seems to me like the type of players who can create problems for an opposing defense.

There are almost assuredly a number of players higher on your own respective lists, but this is a kid I thought was really talented and I hope will flourish with a fresh start under a new OC.

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I could go on, but then I’d probably name everyone else you’re thinking about and leave you with nothing to talk about. So comment below and give me some of the names you’re looking forward to seeing on Saturday.