| 21 October 2009
Mid Season Review- Offense
This review is going to have a heavy slant towards what needs to happen the rest of this year, and what needs to happen for next year since right now most of OU's major goals are behind them not in front.
So where does OU stand right now? And what if anything can we expect for the rest of the year? And where's that going to leave OU for 2010. (I hate looking ahead, but unless OU starts getting in sync on offense, and UT starts losing. It's Cotton Bowl/Holiday Bowl/or Alamo Bowl time).
QB:
It's clear that Aaron Williams sack of Sam Bradford has ended a great 2 year run as starter at OU. Sam's out this week, and I'd imagine we're probably a week away from hearing that he has some form of surgery performed or scheduled to be performed. Odds of Sam returning have to be less than zero.
Landry is clearly struggling against better defenses, and he's not getting a lot of help from anyone. He's not making any more mistakes than you would expect from a new starter, but obviously OU is still losing games and he's not making many plays. The last INT versus Texas is probably the worst pass he's thrown yet. Once Sam has surgery, you figure Drew Allen will start getting some game prep reps (if I was Stoops with this OL, I'd make sure my backup was as ready as possible)
Landry pretty much has 6 games to lock down the QB position for 2010 or to play inconsistently enough to open things up for Drew Allen in Spring 2010. Either way the accolades heaped upon Josh Heupel's QB mentoring are about to get a huge test.
RB:
The senior years for Chris Brown and Demarco Murray might make both of them wish to have left last year on a high note. The Sooner running game is completely stalled in the red zone, and in the deep freeze against a solid defense. Demarco might be the last healthy difference maker OU has (then again his ankle injury might end that statement), so start expecting a lot days like Saturday where he's catching 6 or 7 passes for 100 yards. Chris Brown in my opinion is in some kind of senior year funk running the ball.
Probably won't get to see too much more of Jonathan Miller and Jermie Calhoun this year barring injury. However, the short auditions for both backs would seem to confirm that OU is in good shape next year at RB especially when factoring in the verbaled RBs.
WR:
This position has had just a terrible start to the year. If it's not drops in important games, it's injuries to the best WR, inability to get open, or an amazingly uneven rotation at WR. OU has been using some mix of Broyles (when healthy), Caleb, and Keeney ever since the BYU game when Tennell got himself banished to the bench.
Tennell and Broyles were supposed to be the stars of this WR unit with Caleb, Keeney, and Miller providing depth. I think OU should proceed with a starting trio of Broyles, Caleb and either Miller or Tennell. I think Keeney can be a very good player for OU but the UT game just highlighted his lack of physical presence at the WR spot. It looks like OU might try and redshirt Jaz Reynolds who is hurt right now.
OU desperately needs someone to step up and consistently give Jones a second target that he trusts as much as Broyles. UT took away Broyles and Jones had a hard time getting to his other reads in time to complete a throw (at least 3 or 4 times Landry got the ball late to Caleb when he was open) or before the pocket collapsed.
For 2010, OU appears poised to finish with a great WR class (waiting on word from Darius White, Marcus Lucas, and Kenny Stills) that will provide better depth and a lot of competition. It sounds like Jameel Owens is redshirting this year after finding his way into the doghouse big time. I don't know if he can make an impact or not next year or if he will stay with the program. OU is hitting a critical point at this position. We need to sign the super blues remaining and for at least 2 WRs to be playmakers by the end of the year. Look for OU to continue talking to JUCO WRs as both points are still up in the air.
TE:
I don't know where to even start with this. EA Sports NCAA 2010 had Jermaine Gresham ranked with a 99 score. I think OU's TE score now has probably dropped to like a 45.
OU is now playing either Brody Eldridge who is really just a blocking TE or Trent Ratterree who is really too small to be an effective blocker and doesn't have the hands or speed to be an effective receiver (despite the fact that he's spending a lot of time flexed out as our 4th receiver, just baffling). OU is going to go from nearly a thousand yards last year at TE, down to about 150. With either player our TE production has fallen off a cliff, and opponents know it. But we don't seem to have adjusted our formations and personnel grouping at all.
Where's James Hanna? A great question in August among the many propaganda statements we were told was that "Hanna is having a great camp, he maybe regardless of position one of our top 4 receivers" (or something very close to that). Now Jermaine is gone, the mantle is ready for the guy we recruited specifically to replace Jermaine and he cannot get off the bench. I don't know if he's hurt and now redshirting, in the doghouse for some off the field grievance, or just completely tanking in practice (Just a reminder Bob on signing day 2008 called Hanna quite possibly the best player we signed, and he had over 700 yards receiving his senior year).
Okay so Hanna is out for reasons unknown. Gabe Ikard is redshirting due to a foot injury suffered during a basketball game late in Senior year (I think). And late juco enrollee Lane Johnson is still learning the position. I just don't see anything productive with the TE position happening the rest of the year in fact, I'd recommend OU keep Eldridge in to block for the most part, or sub in a WR.
Just in time for OU to badly need a blue chip TE prospect, it's the worst year in a while for HS TE prospects and OU has already lost the best one to USC (Xavier Grimble).OU does have TE/Hback prospect Trey Millard coming in, and Millard is having a great senior year. If OU has no faith in Hanna/Ikard to make a move next year, then I think a JUCO TE might be a necessity. A wildcard in all this is Austin Haywood who has gone from unknown prospect (the hype started when he dominated a 7 on 7 tourney this summer)to perhaps the best prospect in the state. Haywood is dominating at DE/TE and even plays QB in some wildcat looks. He's every bit the 6-5, 250 listed, and his athleticism is very high. He's not quite Jermaine Gresham, but he apparently has all the skills to be a very good TE on the college level.
OL:
If you are grading on the position struggling the most, OL wins barely over TE and WR. Due to injuries and personnel changes, OU has had different OL groupings start for every game this year. It's clear now OU made 3 huge mistakes in OL development.
1. While Vinson and Jefferies might be solid players down the road, OU badly needed both kids on campus in Spring for development and competition reasons. The lack of impact by August enrolling Jucos continues.
2. OU should have moved Brody Eldridge to OL in the offseason so he could bulk up for the role. It's clear with the defection of Jason Hannan that Eldridge was their first choice for backup center. He should have been moved to the OL permanently.
3. OU needed to have signed at least two more OL kids in the 2008 recruiting class for depth and competition.
Of all the crushing injuries that OU has suffered, losing Brian Simmons for the UT game and maybe for the season was really the final blow. OU tried moving Eldridge back to playing OL again. All that did is weaken OU at two positions instead of one.
So what does OU have at OL?
- Ben Habern has never really been healthy all year long with a bad back, but OU really doesn't have any other options here. The Eldridge at Center experiment was a disaster.
- Tavaris Jefferies is one guard having taken over for Stephen Good and/or Tyler Evans.
- Jarvis Jones is one of the tackles, and not playing up to the hype of his arrival last fall where he was dominating the first team DL on the scout team.
- Trent Williams is the other tackle. Williams is not having the kind of year his preseason rep would have suggested.
- OU has started 3 different players at the other guard spot Jefferies (now subbing for Simmons), Tyler Evans (who has been hurt after a promising start), and Brody Eldridge (in addition Stephen Good played the bulk of the Baylor game)
Preseason here's what the OL was supposed to look like
- Trent Williams
- Brian Simmons - gone for season
- Habern - missed the bulk of August camp is playing with a bad back
- Good - missed two weeks with illness losing weight/strength and practice time
- Corey Brandon - mentally gone for season after the worst game by an OU OL since the Blake era
That's what all of Spring and August was developing as a starting OL group. Now 3 pieces are basically gone.
What will the OU OL look like for the rest of year? Best guess
- Williams and Jones at Tackle
- Habern at Center
- Jefferies and Good at Guard (Tyler Evans appears to be hurt, I wonder if OU might make Evans and WR Jaz Reynolds the next freshman contestants in Wheel of Injuries to get back their redshirt status)
- At Center, Habern if healthy and with this year's experience should rebound back into the form that made him the best center prospect in the country. If the back injury continues to impede his development. I could see OU moving Stephen Good to center. A wildcard is that Austin Wood (6-5,290), the Sooners center recruit, is an early enrollee so he will be here for spring ball.
- At Guard, some combination of Evans, Jefferies, and Good should take over. After a full spring and winter conditioning both Evan and Jefferies should be in better form. Good should end up taking over one of these spots. OU does have Bronson Irwin enrolling early and it's easy to imagine him adding some competition at guard.
- At one tackle spot, Jarvis Jones despite his inconsistent level of play is probably going to be a starter. Hopefully most of the rust from transferring should be gone, and we can see the level of play that made him a freshman starter for LSU.
- The other tackle spot is screaming for a juco MidTerm transfer to compete with Corey Brandon and Jeff Vinson (who is redshirting this year?). Both of OU's freshman tackles recruits really need to redshirt to bulk up, so I don't see them being a factor. In a dream world, OU lands Seantrel Henderson and a scorpion JUCO mid term OT to add some serious depth and competition to this position.
