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Even with uncertainty, Sooners happy to be back to football

College football remains an uncertainty. For Oklahoma they aren’t 100 percent sure who or when they’ll play their season opener. No one is sure if playing a full season is even possible. But it’s not just the big picture that is uncertain. For the Sooners, each day brings uncertainty as well.

The Sooners had scheduled their season opener for Aug. 29. But that seems to be changing. Just like the practice schedule.

This week, the Sooners haven’t practiced since Monday.

“There are times at 7 or 8 at night where we don’t know if we are practicing the next morning,” explained Lincoln Riley during Friday’s virtual CAB coaches luncheon. “That’s so different in our world and so much what we’re against. But it’s part of it. Again, we’re trying to attack it with a positive mindset and kind of embraced the changes of the new challenges.”

“I think part of it, we talk to the guys about setting your mind before your mind sets you,”said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. “If you're in that seven, eight o'clock range as you're describing it, and saying, ‘Well tomorrow will probably be an off day’, then you're probably not gonna be in the right mindset when that text comes along saying, OK we're gonna attack the field at 8 a.m.

“One of the communications with the guys is, just that. Set your mind to have the best practice of your life the following day, and then if we've gotta back off that, certainly, we will. But that's 2020. I don't think that's going away anytime soon.”

The media has yet to officially meet with Riley or members of the team since practice has started. So far preseason camp has consisted of cloak and dagger injury reports, which were not addressed by Riley Friday, and releases of the Sooners COVID testing numbers, which were not released this week.

But Riley did mention Friday afternoon they continue to have zero active cases even after the start of practices.

“Our guys have done a great job. We are the only football program in the country over the last month that hasn’t had a positive Covid test, Riley said. “I think the expectations of that staying the same throughout all these months are probably not realistic, but what a tremendous job by our staff.

“Scott Anderson and his group, all the organization that’s had to go on, we’ve had to look at every single thing that we do in this program down to the smallest details. Everything has had to be adjusted.”

One of the most noticeable adjustment is in how the team meets.

“We’re not even in the same meeting rooms as we normally are. We are meeting in huge areas as much as we can,” explained Riley. “Our team meetings are in the weight room on a huge turf area. Everybody is spread out even more than six feet. We are meeting all throughout this facility so we can social distance. That’s just one small example of some of the changes that have had to happen.”

COVID19 protections are all encompassing. It has gone so far as to affect the staple of football fields across the country.

COVID has killed the traditional whistle.

The thing the coaches blow to signal the end of a play. The thing they blow to start drills. The thing refs use to call penalties.

It’s gone.

“No, because if you blow the air…” explained Riley’s Director of Football Operations Clarke Stroud who was moderating the conference.

In it’s place, is an electronic whistle, which has Grinch feeling a certain kind of way.

“I think you can tell how fond Coach Grinch is of the electronic whistle,” said Stroud. “When I handed it to him the other day at practice, he just looked at me sideways, and I said, ‘You can't use your whistle anymore?” (I told him you) gotta use this. He pushed the button and he looked at me like I'd just gotten ... well, anyway.”

Even with the uncertainty, even with the restrictions, Grinch and Riley are back where they want to be, coaching a football team and preparing to play games.

Whenever they may be.

“It's been good. Most especially over the last couple of weeks, having the chance to call yourself a football coach again, actually getting on the field and those things,” said Grinch. “That's been really good to get around the guys. We'll enjoy every day that we're able to do it.”

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