Notebook: Takeaways still equal victory
Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh have been quick to single out freshman offensive tackle Anton Harrison as someone who has stood out during camp.
Now we know why. The true freshman is the surprise of the depth chart released Wednesday afternoon. No ‘or’ attached to the position, Harrison is the starting left tackle as the Sooners get ready for their season opener Saturday night vs. Missouri State.
Harrison is one of two true freshmen to crack the two-deep of what should be an incredibly deep and talented line. Andrew Raym is listed as the backup left guard.
“I’m excited to see them (offensive line) play,” said Riley on Tuesday. “Definitely excited about our front, think we have a chance to have a really good group there. A lot of experience, guys that have played a lot of snaps. Some young talented guys that are hungry and eager to get in there, in the mix. We’ve created a very, very competitive situation there.”
Other notable depth chart moves? Nik Bonitto listed as the No. 1 RUSH linebacker, taking over for Jon-Michael Terry. A torn ACL last fall put Terry down, and Bonitto rose to the occasion and appears to just be building off his strong finish.
Running back room doesn’t have a lot of experience, but T.J. Pledger has been the one constant name being brought up. The junior gets the nod over Marcus Major, Rhamondre Stevenson and Seth McGowan.
Marshall grad transfer receiver Obi Obialo has done enough to earn a starting spot, while there’s a three-man logjam at a couple of spots – receiver (Theo Wease, Theo Howard, Trejan Bridges) and H-Back (Austin Stogner, Brayden Willis, Jeremiah Hall).
OU needed to hit it big at defensive tackle for 2020, and junior college transfer Perrion Winfrey has shown enough to get the No. 1 spot heading into the opener.
“With all those first-year guys, number one, you’ve got to do it on game day,” said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch in a Zoom call Wednesday. “But I will say I’m extremely excited about him. He’s had an impactful fall camp on a play-in and play-out basis. Obviously was a highly ranked recruit.
“We got the guy we thought we’d get. We’ll manage expectations until he does it on Saturday night, but excited about Perrion through camp and excited to watch him play Saturday night.”
Other defensive moves include Brian Asamoah getting the call at the WILL, with DaShaun White moving over to the MIKE this season. A returning Tre Norwood will bring depth to the secondary, but he’s behind Jaden Davis as the second cornerback right now with Tre Brown leading the pack.
OU has listed Stevenson, Bridges and defensive lineman Ronnie Perkins in the chart although there is no reason to believe their suspensions have been overturned to begin the year.
Takeaways still equal victory
It was an abbreviated media session with Grinch, but he was still able to hammer home some points of emphasis and give some details on how things are going.
Start with his calling card and takeaways. Everybody knows OU didn’t get enough of them last year, but you can’t dwell on that now.
If there’s a silver lining, though, it’s that the Sooners did make some crucial defensive plays in nail-biting wins down the stretch run.
“The other thing that you highlight is the impact of the ones that we did get,” Grinch said. “Finishing a game with Nik Bonitto down in Waco, Bookie making a play, Parnell Motley making a play against Iowa State. When we say takeaways equal victory, don’t tell me I’m wrong. What impact on other games could have gone?”
Grinch said nothing has changed in terms of the emphasis of what takeaways mean. It was highlighted last year, still is this camp. Still will be throughout the season.
“I don’t know that we can emphasize it any more. That’s just the reality of it,” Grinch said. “Now why isn’t it sticking? Are we going to default to what so many people default to and say we were just unlucky? We’re not going to go down that road.
“No, what you do is you continue to emphasize it. And it will be emphasized as long as they allow me to stand in front of them.”
Bring your own energy
When Norman is rocking and the OU defense is executing, it can be an incredibly difficult place to play. But who knows what 2020 is going to look like? With COVID-19 limiting the number of fans in attendance, it won’t be the same.
But it’s not an excuse, either, said Grinch.
“One of the critiques I would have about a year ago is sometimes waiting for a play to create energy,” Grinch said. “We’ll get energy after X happens. And that’s with 80-some thousand in the stands. I think that’s a constant. I try to remind these guys they didn’t have 80,000 at Iowa Western. They didn’t have 80,000 at NEO. Those high school games, even for the boys down in Texas, didn’t include 80,000.
“At some point in your football career you decided it was about the challenge in front of you, which obviously is your opponent. It’s about executing. It’s about enjoying what you’re doing despite who is in Row 3. That’s just a responsibility of our guys. Have we talked about it? You bet we have.”