Had this ready to roll Tuesday afternoon, but PFF didn't update special teams for OU-UT until Thursday morning. Taking a look at freshmen and two areas why OU is struggling.
Let's roll.
Play for the future? OK, let’s do that. A look at the snap counts for the 2022 freshmen class on offense, defense and special teams and the number of games played.
Offense
No. 17 Jovantae Barnes – 100 snaps (five games)
No. 18 Jayden Gibson – 86 (four games)
No. 20 Jacob Sexton – 62 (five games)
No. 24 Jake Taylor – 35 (five games)
No. 26 Jason Llewelyn – 32 (five games)
No. 28 Kaden Helms – 31 (two games)
No. 29 Gavin Freeman – 19 (five games)
No. 32 Nic Anderson – 11 (two games)
No. 34 Nick Evers – 6 (one game)
No. 36 Gavin Sawchuk – 3 (two games)
Defense
No. 20 Jaren Kanak – 110 snaps (five games)
No. 23 R Mason Thomas - 71 (three games)
No. 29 Gracen Halton – 52 (five games)
No. 32 Gentry Williams – 44 (five games)
No. 33 Robert Spears-Jennings – 20 (two games)
No. 35 Jayden Rowe – 13 (three games)
No. 36 (tie) Jamarrien Burt – 3 (one game)
No. 36 (tie) Kip Lewis – 3 (one game)
Special Teams
No. 3 Jaren Kanak – 88 (six games)
No. 6 Gentry Williams – 81 (six games)
No. 22 Jason Llewelyn – 44 (six games)
No. 25 Jovantae Barnes – 34 (six games)
No. 31 Gavin Freeman – 28 (five games)
No. 34 R Mason Thomas – 27 (three games)
No. 36 Gracen Halton – 25 (five games)
No. 37 Jayden Rowe – 19 (three games)
No. 44 Robert Spears-Jennings – 11 (two games)
No. 48 Jamarrien Burt – 8 (one game)
No. 57 Kip Lewis – 3 (one game)
No. 57 Peter Schuh – 3 (two games)
No. 61 Kaden Helms – 1 (one game)
Top Five Overall:
1. Jaren Kanak 198 (110 defense, 88 special teams)
2. Jovantae Barnes 134 (100 offense, 34 special teams)
3. Gentry Williams 125 (44 def, 81 special teams)
4. R Mason Thomas 98 (71 def, 27 special teams)
5. Jayden Gibson 86 (all off)
You get an idea there. Kanak has been the No. 1 special teams guy for the entire team until the Texas game and has seen the most snaps defensively. Jayden Gibson’s numbers are why I think Texas was just a blip on the radar for him and Theo Wease. Just not a game plan they could fully attack.
You’re starting to see those DB numbers go up for Williams, RSJ and Rowe. And no surprise with how well Barnes has played to see him leading the way offensively.
Here’s what DaShaun White said about Kip Lewis earlier this week:
“Really happy for Kip. I really was. He got got in there, got in the backfield, he’s playing fast. He didn’t get a lot of snaps. But he made the most of ‘em. It’s one of those deals like, a few weeks ago, I didn't know if I would be able to tell you that he would get in there and he just playing that fast, looking that good? We called him up, you could kind of see he was he's more ready than any of us kind of thought.”
Most improved?
“I would say just knowing where he's supposed to be at. I’m telling you, a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that he'd be this confident and just doing his job and stuff like that. And so I'm super proud of him. And he's kind of really becoming like a young guy that we can really trust. If you gotta get out there, you got to get out there.”
Portal duds
OK, maybe that’s too harsh. But, seriously, OU didn’t hit as much from the transfer portal as what it looked like in the spring.
Hit
QB Dillon Gabriel
OT Tyler Guyton
Even though Gabriel hasn’t been perfect, he’s an easy hit in this department. Maybe I’m grading on a curve, but Guyton has done more than what I first thought he would be doing in 2022.
Miss
QB Davis Beville
RB Beno Thompson
TE Daniel Parker
OL McKade Mettauer
DE Jonah Laulu
DT Jeffery Johnson
DB Trey Morrison
And circle Mettauer, Laulu and Johnson, for sure. All that experience at Cal, Hawaii and Tulane, and you wouldn’t recognize it at all as helping this year’s OU team. Beville is what he is. Morrison just has been too small to do anything and was beaten out for a starting spot. All that defensive experience in the portal just hasn’t paid off. Parker? Maybe it’s too early for miss, but it definitely wasn’t a hit. BenTavius just been hurt?
TBD
CB Kani Walker
WR LV Bunkley-Shelton
CB C.J. Coldon
Walker has made a play or two. Coldon might get more run, based off what he did vs. Texas. Bunkley-Shelton, for me, has been the head-scratcher. I seriously thought he was gonna play more and do more whenever he was in. Walker and LV are still so young, so you can remain optimistic about their long-term standing.
N/A
WR J.J. Hester (injury)
LB T.D. Roof (injury)
Duh. Two major injuries here so no judgment.
***
Finally caught up to OU
The quarterback strategy finally bit OU in the butt. Finally. Going after an elite quarterback every other year is obviously costing OU right now.
2018 – Tanner Mordecai (SMU)
2019 – Spencer Rattler (South Carolina)
2020 – Chandler Morris (TCU)
2021 – Caleb Williams (USC)
BV had to start from scratch at the position, even if he doesn’t wanna fully admit it.
“I’m not gonna be the one that says. I’m not the one was that here. Y’all were here so you have to start over. One of them was here in the spring and Nick Evers, who just go out of high school was here. He’s done a nice job. Like most freshmen, they come in and there’s more bad days than good days for freshmen.
“When you’re a quarterback, that’s a whole other animal. Here as of late, Nick has been doing pretty well. What I use as the evaluation is when goes against other freshmen in some of our scrimmage we set aside each week. The three of four series. He’s done pretty well in that setting. Davis and General both got here in the summer and we can’t really work with them in the summer until fall camp. That’s not ideal, but we have to make the most of it.”
Venables is gonna be a believer that you can build a quarterback room and that the portal doesn’t have to be an accepted result every single year at the position.
An interesting answer Tuesday.
“I think we understand why things took place here in that regard. I’m not writing the stories and I’m not pointing fingers. We made a move with a freshman a year ago and the other guys decided to go elsewhere. I don’t believe that it has to be that way. I’ve seen other programs that have multiple good quarterbacks. Kansas is one of them. How are they doing it? I don’t know. Maybe I need to ask coach Leipold that and get a little wisdom from him. Both of those guys were not really highly recruited guys. Maybe that has something to do with it. I don’t know. They’ve done a good job culturally.
“I want our guys to be committed and loyal. I know they want opportunities and I get that, too. Quarterback is a unique position. But I want guys to love their experience so much and feel a sense of loyalty that making a decision is incredibly difficult. I don’t want a transactional program. Losing four guys at once is pretty much unheard of. Who else has that happened to? I don’t know.
“I love college football and you don’t see that happen much. You see the guy at Georgia. I think he walked on and eventually go put on and there’s still a whole bunch of good quarterbacks on that roster and he’s the guy. He stuck to it and had some stick-to-it-ness and he became the guy and hasn’t let it go. You want to recruit to that and develop that.
“We had to figure that out in a very small amount of time.”
***
Back to the high school grind this week. Still waiting to see Jacobe Johnson forced to do something at cornerback.
Maybe?
Up next: Union at Mustang – Thursday night.
Let's roll.
Play for the future? OK, let’s do that. A look at the snap counts for the 2022 freshmen class on offense, defense and special teams and the number of games played.
Offense
No. 17 Jovantae Barnes – 100 snaps (five games)
No. 18 Jayden Gibson – 86 (four games)
No. 20 Jacob Sexton – 62 (five games)
No. 24 Jake Taylor – 35 (five games)
No. 26 Jason Llewelyn – 32 (five games)
No. 28 Kaden Helms – 31 (two games)
No. 29 Gavin Freeman – 19 (five games)
No. 32 Nic Anderson – 11 (two games)
No. 34 Nick Evers – 6 (one game)
No. 36 Gavin Sawchuk – 3 (two games)
Defense
No. 20 Jaren Kanak – 110 snaps (five games)
No. 23 R Mason Thomas - 71 (three games)
No. 29 Gracen Halton – 52 (five games)
No. 32 Gentry Williams – 44 (five games)
No. 33 Robert Spears-Jennings – 20 (two games)
No. 35 Jayden Rowe – 13 (three games)
No. 36 (tie) Jamarrien Burt – 3 (one game)
No. 36 (tie) Kip Lewis – 3 (one game)
Special Teams
No. 3 Jaren Kanak – 88 (six games)
No. 6 Gentry Williams – 81 (six games)
No. 22 Jason Llewelyn – 44 (six games)
No. 25 Jovantae Barnes – 34 (six games)
No. 31 Gavin Freeman – 28 (five games)
No. 34 R Mason Thomas – 27 (three games)
No. 36 Gracen Halton – 25 (five games)
No. 37 Jayden Rowe – 19 (three games)
No. 44 Robert Spears-Jennings – 11 (two games)
No. 48 Jamarrien Burt – 8 (one game)
No. 57 Kip Lewis – 3 (one game)
No. 57 Peter Schuh – 3 (two games)
No. 61 Kaden Helms – 1 (one game)
Top Five Overall:
1. Jaren Kanak 198 (110 defense, 88 special teams)
2. Jovantae Barnes 134 (100 offense, 34 special teams)
3. Gentry Williams 125 (44 def, 81 special teams)
4. R Mason Thomas 98 (71 def, 27 special teams)
5. Jayden Gibson 86 (all off)
You get an idea there. Kanak has been the No. 1 special teams guy for the entire team until the Texas game and has seen the most snaps defensively. Jayden Gibson’s numbers are why I think Texas was just a blip on the radar for him and Theo Wease. Just not a game plan they could fully attack.
You’re starting to see those DB numbers go up for Williams, RSJ and Rowe. And no surprise with how well Barnes has played to see him leading the way offensively.
Here’s what DaShaun White said about Kip Lewis earlier this week:
“Really happy for Kip. I really was. He got got in there, got in the backfield, he’s playing fast. He didn’t get a lot of snaps. But he made the most of ‘em. It’s one of those deals like, a few weeks ago, I didn't know if I would be able to tell you that he would get in there and he just playing that fast, looking that good? We called him up, you could kind of see he was he's more ready than any of us kind of thought.”
Most improved?
“I would say just knowing where he's supposed to be at. I’m telling you, a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have been able to tell you that he'd be this confident and just doing his job and stuff like that. And so I'm super proud of him. And he's kind of really becoming like a young guy that we can really trust. If you gotta get out there, you got to get out there.”
Portal duds
OK, maybe that’s too harsh. But, seriously, OU didn’t hit as much from the transfer portal as what it looked like in the spring.
Hit
QB Dillon Gabriel
OT Tyler Guyton
Even though Gabriel hasn’t been perfect, he’s an easy hit in this department. Maybe I’m grading on a curve, but Guyton has done more than what I first thought he would be doing in 2022.
Miss
QB Davis Beville
RB Beno Thompson
TE Daniel Parker
OL McKade Mettauer
DE Jonah Laulu
DT Jeffery Johnson
DB Trey Morrison
And circle Mettauer, Laulu and Johnson, for sure. All that experience at Cal, Hawaii and Tulane, and you wouldn’t recognize it at all as helping this year’s OU team. Beville is what he is. Morrison just has been too small to do anything and was beaten out for a starting spot. All that defensive experience in the portal just hasn’t paid off. Parker? Maybe it’s too early for miss, but it definitely wasn’t a hit. BenTavius just been hurt?
TBD
CB Kani Walker
WR LV Bunkley-Shelton
CB C.J. Coldon
Walker has made a play or two. Coldon might get more run, based off what he did vs. Texas. Bunkley-Shelton, for me, has been the head-scratcher. I seriously thought he was gonna play more and do more whenever he was in. Walker and LV are still so young, so you can remain optimistic about their long-term standing.
N/A
WR J.J. Hester (injury)
LB T.D. Roof (injury)
Duh. Two major injuries here so no judgment.
***
Finally caught up to OU
The quarterback strategy finally bit OU in the butt. Finally. Going after an elite quarterback every other year is obviously costing OU right now.
2018 – Tanner Mordecai (SMU)
2019 – Spencer Rattler (South Carolina)
2020 – Chandler Morris (TCU)
2021 – Caleb Williams (USC)
BV had to start from scratch at the position, even if he doesn’t wanna fully admit it.
“I’m not gonna be the one that says. I’m not the one was that here. Y’all were here so you have to start over. One of them was here in the spring and Nick Evers, who just go out of high school was here. He’s done a nice job. Like most freshmen, they come in and there’s more bad days than good days for freshmen.
“When you’re a quarterback, that’s a whole other animal. Here as of late, Nick has been doing pretty well. What I use as the evaluation is when goes against other freshmen in some of our scrimmage we set aside each week. The three of four series. He’s done pretty well in that setting. Davis and General both got here in the summer and we can’t really work with them in the summer until fall camp. That’s not ideal, but we have to make the most of it.”
Venables is gonna be a believer that you can build a quarterback room and that the portal doesn’t have to be an accepted result every single year at the position.
An interesting answer Tuesday.
“I think we understand why things took place here in that regard. I’m not writing the stories and I’m not pointing fingers. We made a move with a freshman a year ago and the other guys decided to go elsewhere. I don’t believe that it has to be that way. I’ve seen other programs that have multiple good quarterbacks. Kansas is one of them. How are they doing it? I don’t know. Maybe I need to ask coach Leipold that and get a little wisdom from him. Both of those guys were not really highly recruited guys. Maybe that has something to do with it. I don’t know. They’ve done a good job culturally.
“I want our guys to be committed and loyal. I know they want opportunities and I get that, too. Quarterback is a unique position. But I want guys to love their experience so much and feel a sense of loyalty that making a decision is incredibly difficult. I don’t want a transactional program. Losing four guys at once is pretty much unheard of. Who else has that happened to? I don’t know.
“I love college football and you don’t see that happen much. You see the guy at Georgia. I think he walked on and eventually go put on and there’s still a whole bunch of good quarterbacks on that roster and he’s the guy. He stuck to it and had some stick-to-it-ness and he became the guy and hasn’t let it go. You want to recruit to that and develop that.
“We had to figure that out in a very small amount of time.”
***
Back to the high school grind this week. Still waiting to see Jacobe Johnson forced to do something at cornerback.
Maybe?
Up next: Union at Mustang – Thursday night.
Last edited:
