I chatted with an attendee of Saturday's scrimmage. His views and opinions.
"Smitty is back! Some of these guys look chiseled from stone. Added muscle weight is apparent, especially on defense."
Summary:
Defense: The defense is 100% improved. The interior is strong and focused. Keep eyes on Laulu, Johnson and Redmond are beast. The ends, Grimes, Stripling and Downs are very quick and hard to handle. LBs are big! Ugwoegbu, Smith, White and Stutsman appear to be NFL ready. McKinzie and Kanak will see significant playing time as freshmen. Kanak is extremely fast and hard hitting. The defensive back field was defined as disciplined and a strength not a weakness. Washington, Lawrence, Bowen & Harrington are leaders and hawk the ball.
Offense: QB is in good hands. Gabriel is poised and mature. His game experience is his strength. Evers and Booty are different types of QB but both are solid. The O-Line are bigger, faster and appear to be balanced. There seems to be about 8 or 9 guys that could start. Rotation should not be a problem. WRs looks good. Stoops and Mims simply do not make mistakes in routes or assignment. Farooq & Wease are very talented and big targets. TEs are good. Willis is a wrecking ball after six months with Smitty. RB room is better than expected. Gray is supported by Major, Sawchuk and Barnes. Tawee Walker is going to be about 240 lbs of RB. A Perine or Stephenson type RB.
Special teams will not cost OU any games this year. He heard that Special Teams puts in more practice hours than any other unit of OU football.
The most notable change: This team has spirit and enthusiasm from start to finish. The "buy in" is real and not media hype. The units are units. The LBs look really connected and covering extremely well. "They look like 4 or 5 George Cumby's out there". "OU has assembled, arguably, the best coaching staff in college football".
"Smitty is back! Some of these guys look chiseled from stone. Added muscle weight is apparent, especially on defense."
Summary:
Defense: The defense is 100% improved. The interior is strong and focused. Keep eyes on Laulu, Johnson and Redmond are beast. The ends, Grimes, Stripling and Downs are very quick and hard to handle. LBs are big! Ugwoegbu, Smith, White and Stutsman appear to be NFL ready. McKinzie and Kanak will see significant playing time as freshmen. Kanak is extremely fast and hard hitting. The defensive back field was defined as disciplined and a strength not a weakness. Washington, Lawrence, Bowen & Harrington are leaders and hawk the ball.
Offense: QB is in good hands. Gabriel is poised and mature. His game experience is his strength. Evers and Booty are different types of QB but both are solid. The O-Line are bigger, faster and appear to be balanced. There seems to be about 8 or 9 guys that could start. Rotation should not be a problem. WRs looks good. Stoops and Mims simply do not make mistakes in routes or assignment. Farooq & Wease are very talented and big targets. TEs are good. Willis is a wrecking ball after six months with Smitty. RB room is better than expected. Gray is supported by Major, Sawchuk and Barnes. Tawee Walker is going to be about 240 lbs of RB. A Perine or Stephenson type RB.
Special teams will not cost OU any games this year. He heard that Special Teams puts in more practice hours than any other unit of OU football.
The most notable change: This team has spirit and enthusiasm from start to finish. The "buy in" is real and not media hype. The units are units. The LBs look really connected and covering extremely well. "They look like 4 or 5 George Cumby's out there". "OU has assembled, arguably, the best coaching staff in college football".
