The Football Brainiacs

Image via 247sports.com

The first time I heard his name was coming out of the spring game in 2015.  I believe one of our readers pointed out how well they thought he had played and asked if I knew anything about him.  At the time I had to admit that I didn’t.

Per Soonersports.com Wren measures 6’2″ 308 and he graduated high school in 2013. He came out of Arizona Western Community College, and before that he went to Mesquite Horn HS.  He has a few hudl clips from when he was at Horn and Arizona Western, which we’ll get to in a minute, but beyond that, there’s not a whole lot to go off of.  When you snoop around the depth chart for last year, he quietly was the backup for Ty Darlington and was listed 16 pounds heavier than he is now.  Wren played a little last year but based on numerous reports he’s pushing for the starting center position. Whatever path he took to get to OU, it’s clear he’s earning the trust of the staff.

You’ve heard me rant and rave about dependability in the past.  I was a no-star nobody from 8-man Cromwell, Oklahoma, when I reported to camp at Missouri Southern in the fall of 1995.  I had pieced together my tuition and room and board with an in-state tuition waver because of my ACT score, some academic scholarships, and a partial athletic scholarship.  In the mean time I barely had enough money to do laundry on the weekends, so I made friends with the team equipment manager, Eddie, who would let me into the laundry room and basically looked the other way while I used the machines.  By the end of camp, myself and former teammate Jason Owen, also a true freshman, from Midwest City got called into Coach Lantz’s (the HC) office so he could tell us we had both made the travel squad and that we were in if either of the guards happened to go down. While I know this was only D-2 Missouri Southern, we had some salty teams in the mid 90’s that saw a few guys go to the NFL, so as I look back I can see now as I’m older why they had decided to get us ready.  Both of us made really good grades, and didn’t skip class.  Both of us were on time to all of the meetings, and kept our mouths shut.  We both, along with a guy who was a year older than us, Andy Saltink got all the extra film we could.  We saw it as a point of pride to move the ball in practice on our first team defense who had quite a few all-conference guys. We just outworked other people. For the next couple of years, the coaches kept trying to recruit over me I know for sure and Andy, but whoever they brought in we just beat their ass.  We were tougher than they were and we knew it…more importantly they knew it.

I must admit that anytime I hear about a Dominique Whaley,  Aaron Ripkowski or this year a Nick Basquine or back in the day a Cory Heinecke I get excited.  I absolutely love it when a guy comes in and takes the job.  I love it when a no-star nobody forces you to remember their name because they beat out everyone else.  Like I said before, obviously Coach B has to seen something in this guy.  The fact that he’s in the conversation to be the starting center with the depth that Bedenbaugh has brought on campus speaks volumes about the level of trust that Bedenbaugh has in him.  Like respect, trust is something that can’t be gifted.  It has to be earned.

Right now, Coach Bedenbaugh has just a matter of days before the five guys he feels like he can depend on the most trot out against Houston.  The defense that the Sooners will face on Labor Day weekend is one that has the ability to give an offense fits.  The Cougars will line up and attack, blitz, stunt, twist, mix up the looks and they will be absolutely disruptive.  While most average fans have already put the Sooners at 1-0, those of us who know football understand that if Oklahoma isn’t assignment sound on both sides of the ball that they could come out of NRG stadium scratching their heads, and pissed off at 0-1.  So even moreso, with such an early season test against a team that intercepted Florida State 4 times in a 38-24 win in the Peach Bowl a little over 7 months ago, Bedenbaugh has to have a lot of trust in this guy.  So what do I think about him?

Watching his HS tape I saw a kid with loads of power.  But I also saw a guy who was very raw and maybe needed to trim down a little bit.  But even still there was a guy who moved people with ease.  Then you fast forward to the tape at Arizona Western.  The obvious power in the hands is there and very evident…especially in the run game.  While the lateral movement isn’t eye popping it’s good enough.  Frankly at Center you need a guy who can root people out of there and move them in a short area easily.  In a nutshell that’s who he is.  It’s rare that you’re going to see a center go one on one, but you need that guy in the middle who’s a stump.  Thing about a stump is that you can spend all day out beating and chopping and hammering and burning, even chaining a truck or tractor to it and a lot of em won’t let go.   You need a guy like that in the middle who’s almost like an immovable object. It seems like when I watch his game that’s exactly who he is.

Wren saw a little time last year so I went back to take a look at him in action late in the Akron and Kansas games. He’s probably one of the heaviest handed linemen that Bedenbaugh has. He wasn’t great in the zone game as the lateral movement isn’t his strong suit, but the power he displays is something that can’t be sniffed at. No way you get stuffed on the goal line or in short yardage with him at center. He will generate movement vertically and root people out. Hands are absolute weapons.

Honestly I hope he gets the job.  He’s a scrapper and a guy who seems like to me has worked his butt off to get the job.  He’s earned his place at the table and if he’s the guy Bedenbaugh believes he can depend on the most, then I’m all for it.  A lineup of Brown, Ford, Wren, Alvarez and Samia across the front is one that I like a lot.  Looking at his run blocking ability, if he’s equally good at picking up blitzes etc, this offense is going to be a lot of fun to watch.  Guys like Perine, Mixon and Abdul Adams will benefit greatly from an improved physical offensive line.  The need to keep Baker Mayfield healthy is paramount, and I’d expect the Sooners to lean HEAVILY on the run game early on with unproven receivers.  Bedenbaugh knows this.  Lincoln Riley knows this and Stoops knows this.  Erick Wren has had to shown his ability to be a difference maker up front to unseat guys like Ben Powers(sliding Alvarez over) and Alex Dalton who were both very highly thought of.  At the end of the day it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s what you do when you get there that counts.  I can’t wait to see who the final five are up front, and personally I hope Erick is one of them.