The Football Brainiacs

Coach Josh Heupel

– Said that having Sterling back at KSU was a big help

– Said that even though there is an extra week to prepare for OSU there is only so much you can add to your offensive plays…”you’ve got to be who you are as a program” (which now seems to mean a run-first team). Said you can always add wrinkles to take advantage of things you see but for the most part “you are who you are”

– Said “at the end of the day I don’t care what you draw up (play call) it comes down to execution. That’s the name of the game. You’ve got to put your kids in a position to be successful…but they’ve got to be able to execute”

– He praised OSU’s defensive play and talked about how good they are at causing turnovers. Said they are playing great third down defense which is just another reason that it’s important for OU to stay out of 3rd and longs against them.

– Was asked if the recent success of the offensive has anything to do with him feeling more comfortable as a play caller and Josh said he’s been comfortable all year. Said that the difference is “we performed better”.

– Said they will assess where they are with Adam Shead’s injury later in the week.

– Said that Derrick Farniok came in to the tackle spot (instead of Bronson who was taking snaps there as a back up early in the season) because they feel like Farniok has prepared well and they’ve seen progression.

Trevor Knight

– Was asked if the success he and Clay had in the read option at KSU was a function of his comfort with Clay and he said that it had more to do with the fact that Clay had more carriers (which isn’t to say he isn’t comfortable with him…he just didn’t acknowledge a difference in comfort between Clay and the other backs as a reason for the success)

– But he did acknowledge that the relation and chemistry with his RBs is important in the zone read game. He said, “with the mesh you’ve got to be in tune with each other or the else the ball will be on the ground”. Said that he does have a comfort level with Brennan because they go 1st team together. Said that Brennan “does a good job of being patient with us and not clamping down on the ball and making it easy on us”

– Said that the team has prepared more pitch option and he feels comfortable with it but said he doesn’t know whether they “will bring it out…that’s for the coaches to decide…but if we want to pitch the ball we’re capable of doing that”

– Said that the first throw being a great one against KSU was a great confidence builder. Said, “I know that I’m capable of making all the throws…its just (about) going out there and doing it week in and week out…I do it in practice but it’s what you do in the games and no one in the outside world can see that. All three of us…me, Kendal and Blake we can make all the throws…its just a matter of are we going to do it and show up on game day”

– “You play this game as a competitor to go and show up on game day. You can practice all you want. You can be a great practice player but if you don’t show up on game day you’re not going to be the guy. So to go out there and play well, that’s what you work for every single day” (man I like this kid…moxie!)

– Asked if it was tough to have the label of being a “practice guy” and he said, “yeah obviously as a competitor you want to be the guy out there making those plays but, like I said, you’ve got to come every day to work and know that you’ve got that confidence behind that’s going to carry over to the game eventually like it has”

– Asked if he feels he has that label now, “no I don’t believe so but there’s always going to be people talking…there’s always going to be doubters…at a big program like this there’s going to be positives and negatives…pros and cons…you’ve just got to keep even keeled and move forward”

– Said that having the 3 extra days of practice to prepare for OSU is “huge”. “They’re playing really well right now. They just got off a huge win against Baylor, a team that we didn’t play very well against. So they’ve got all the confidence in the world. Plus we’re playing up at their place. It’s  rivalry game. Its going to be crazy”

– Asked about what has changed with him in the last 6 quarters that fans might not have seen earlier in the season, “I felt like I’ve been the same guy everyday…came out to practice working the same way. Sometimes it just takes a little while for it to get going. Things worked on Saturday and I hope to move forward from there…confidence continues to grow as I get more snaps”

– “Hitting a couple shots made the passing game open up…it made the running game open up…and it just made the game go a lot smoother than it did in the first couple weeks because I wasn’t hitting any shots” (we chuckled at this comment)

– Says he used to be all over twitter but now he lives in his own little bubble…said, “and it’s not to discount any of the fans because you’ve got to love them but you just don’t want to see the negative stuff because sometimes it can mess with your mind. I believe I’m a pretty strong-willed person and won’t let it get to me but you still just don’t want stuff that could potentially come off negative getting in your mind.”

– Said he watches Sportscenter so he doesn’t avoid things all together. “My dad is always telling me somebody is always watching. So you’ve got to, like I said, be the same guy everyday. Always be doing the right thing. Always working as hard as you can. Being a role model to people” (telling you…this guy is great!)

– Asked if it’s harder to not to read the press clippings when he does well and said, “yeah you do stuff well and obviously you want to receive the praise but that’s just about being humble. You try not to take in the highs when it’s going good or accept the low’s when it’s going bad. You’ve just got to stay even keeled. And that in life” (can’t say enough good things about this young man)

– Said that Coach Heupel is adamant about the QBs not having a twitter or a Facebook “because he knows that it will just mess with your mind”

– Say that he was so “pumped” seeing his brother Conner get on the field. Said “nothing makes me happier than watching him out there on the field.” Said that Conner “has always taken my success so well. He’s had his successes in other things but me being the starting quarterback and all this good stuff…he handles it so well…its been a blessing” (Very good stuff him from Trevor when he talked about his brother)

Coach Jay Norvell

– Said that the team is preparing for OSU as if they are playing this weekend. They want to get the majority done this week so that they can “tweak” it next week.

– Said that they didn’t really change much in the kind of throws they asked Trevor to make…said that they just feel like he was “really dialed in…really focused…really prepared to do those things we were asking him to do and he was ready to do them…and he felt very comfortable out there. I think that was obvious in his execution” Said that they’ve got to continue to do that.

– “To be a good offense you’ve got to be able to run it inside and outside…you’ve got to be able to throw it short and deep and attack the field…and we did all that the first drive. When you can do that to a defense now you get them on their heals a little bit”

– Said the early completions in the KSU game “set a tone for the rest of the game”

– Said that Jalen is really dialed in and playing great to end the season. “He’s a really good player. He’s really tough for a little guy…we’re trying to use him up these last few weeks and put him in a lot of different spots”

– Was asked if Jalen is a good NFL prospect and said “I don’t think there’s any question”

– “We play a lot of good teams…you’ve got to threaten people and make them respect different facets of your game…if you don’t, they’ll smother you. We’ve got to be prepared again this week. Oklahoma State was very aggressive against Baylor. They tried to suffocate them with their safeties and getting people down in the running game and we’re going to have to respond the right way if we’re going to have success. We’ve got to be aggressive to meet that type of aggressive style and that’s going to be important for us to respond the same way this week”

– Talked about Trevor’s speed being a real threat to the defense and said, “we kind of try to put them in position where they have to cover the field and we’ve got a couple schemes that we like…when we do that Trevor made them pay…we showed a lot of diversity.”

– “My favorite play was when we had Rip on an old fashioned lead play in short yardage…I think I came out of my shoes on that play. You just don’t see a lot of isolation football anymore in college. To be able to run that play as well as we ran it was really fun to watch. And Rip is a tremendous fullback. He’s an old school downhill, bloody nose full back and its just fun to see that because you don’t see it in football that much anymore” (this was awesome to hear…maybe Sooner fans can expect more and more I-form Iso, etc.)

Gabe Ikard

– Said that this week of preparation is very important in order to get a jump start on OSU. Said its important to see what OSU does and said that as they are watching them they’ve noticed that OSUs defense does a lot of different things…said they have to get comfortable seeing a lot of different looks.

– Said that this weeks practices have been intense and very good and despite the holiday coming up they are determined to have a great practice tomorrow as well.

– Also said that it’s important for the players to be watching tape on OSU over the holiday weekend so that they are prepared.

– Said that the offense plays to the strengths of the personnel. Said that the first two games where Trevor struggled was something they knew wasn’t his best. They knew he had the ability to throw the ball down the field and make big plays. Praised they saw him do in the offseason and after seeing that they knew he was better than what he showed in the first couple games. “He came to play last Saturday and really showed some things to a lot of people”

FINAL NOTE: I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed listening to Trevor Knight. One of the things I’ve noticed about great coaches or leaders is they are great teachers. They are able to get their point across in a clear and inspirational way. I just get that same sense from him. The few minutes we had with Trevor only boosted my confidence that he could be really special at Oklahoma and as he gets more reps he is going to be very difficult to beat by opposing teams. Also, have to say that the enthusiasm in Norvell’s voice when he talked about the under center Iso play was great. Clearly there is at least one coach on the OU staff that loves old school downhill smash mouth football. And the fact that he said it leads me to believe that there is a deliberate move to incorporate more and more of that. Also, loved how he praised Rip. Overall it was a great with the offensive guys and left me with a greater sense of confidence in the offensive direction than I’ve had in some time.