I coached youth football for more than 30 years. About once every two or three years, I either coached or saw a kid who was very athletic, and would knocked the crap out of somebody that he didn't have to take on. If he could hit them in the back, he'd lower the boom. But if he had to take on a block and tackle a runner face to face, he'd find a way to avoid the contact.
There is a lot of that in Oakman. He is a splendid athlete. It's hard to tell sometimes, but he appears to be a guy who will light up the NFL testing at the combine. And I've heard that he is chiseled like few players in the country.
Sports Illustrated had a pretty long story about him earlier in the year, talking about how his raw numbers were likely to trick some NFL team into taking him early, but that he is very likely to be a bust. I don't know about that, but he gets all the publicity while 75 Andrew Billings, quietly goes about being their best defender, the key to their defense.
Billings got hurt around a month ago, and missed a couple of games and it showed. I watched him against KState the other night, and he wasn't making plays like he had been earlier. If he's not 100%, it wouldn't break my heart.
The one thing about Oakman is that while he "takes plays off," he played a great game against OU last season. I think there were a lot of dynamics contributing to that. Baylor played their best game of the season last year in Norman. I'm really hoping to see that kind of dedicated effort from the guys in crimson helmets next weekend.
