Oklahoma is now three weeks away from its season opener against Missouri State, and a select members of the team addressed the media for the first time during camp on a Zoom call Friday afternoon.
Here were some of the highlights.
Humphrey: ‘Never really thought about opting out’
When thinking about the most probable players who could have chosen to opt out for the Sooners because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, no doubt center Creed Humphrey was near the top of the list.
Humphrey arguably could have been a first- or second-round pick in the NFL Draft in April but decided to return for his redshirt junior season.
No second thoughts.
“We believe we can really make a lot of noise in the country this year. It’s a team thing that we’ve done too much this year to not play,” Humphrey said. “We understand the risks. We understand what could come with it. This team wants to play and we’re going to do whatever it takes. With our training staff, they’ve put together great protocols for us to stay as safe as we can. They have our complete trust and we definitely want to play this season.”
Humphrey was one of the leaders on social media in the #WeWantToPlay movement from earlier this month and nothing has changed.
It might have been strange, initially, learning how to practice with a mask on, Humphrey said the team has adjusted. He’s all-in.
“There was never really any thought of me opting out,” Humphrey said. “I came back to play this fall. That’s my goal and that’s what I planned to do no matter what. I never really thought about opting out.”
No hard feelings with Brooks
There has been, of course, one major opt out player in running back Kennedy Brooks. After back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, it looked like Brooks was going to be the clear No. 1 option for OU at running back.
He practiced the first couple of weeks, but after the team returned from its one-week break, Brooks decided to opt out last weekend.
It came as a shock to some people, but it seems clear Brooks is still in the good graces of his teammates even if he won’t be out there with them.
“He has his reasons but we just have to go with the flow and go with what we have you know,” said fellow 2017 class member Charleston Rambo. “It’s between him and God. That’s his decision and we’re with him on everything and it’s no different than what he was when he played with us. Opting out does not make him no different than what he’s been doing.
“That’s still our brother regardless.”
The loss of Brooks puts OU with just four scholarship running backs entering the season in T.J. Pledger, Rhamondre Stevenson, Marcus Major and Seth McGowan.
Position label doesn’t matter to White
Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch said Wednesday that a key to this season defensively will be versatility. As much as some people might want labels for one position, the reality is COVID-19 could strike at any point, and people need to be ready to adjust.
You can put DaShaun White in that category. The junior spent last season at the WILL position and now it seems obvious White could play the MIKE or the WILL for the Sooners in 2020.
“Everywhere. I've always played MIKE and WILL since I've been here,” White said. “I still get even reps at both. It's one of those things we're probably still figuring out which is best for what we've got in our room. But I know both in and out. I'm comfortable with both. Whichever it is, I'll be ready to go.”
White figures to be one of the inside linebacker starters for the Sooners, while the second one is up in the air. Grinch mentioned Brian Asamoah as someone who is practicing at a much different level than he was last year.
A wild card continues to be David Ugwoegbu. Coming off the edge as a freshman, Ugwoegbu has spent a lot of time inside following the season-ending injury to Caleb Kelly.
Turner-Yell back healthy
It feels like a lifetime ago, but there was another major injury in the secondary for the Sooners heading into spring ball with the broken collarbone to safety Delarrin Turner-Yell.
Turner-Yell, who suffered the injury in bowl practice before the Peach Bowl, has returned at 100 percent and is back at practice.
COVID-19 put a halt to spring football after just one practice, but in a strange way, it might have helped aiding Turner-Yell’s recovery.
“Pretty much with us being able to, you know, go home and get away from it a little bit because of the virus, the way it moved in things like that, I was able to do more rehab,” Turner-Yell said. “So it kind of made it much easier because I got to do extra rehab on top of coming back in with me with me doing rehab with that. Without any physical contact that made it much easier.”
Turner-Yell and Pat Fields have been said to have had strong starts to their camp, but the key will be to develop more depth at the safety position, evidenced by that issue last season.
All about discipline at OU
Everybody knows with each day, there is so much uncertainty surrounding the college football season. The Sooners know it, too, but they just keep their head down and stay focused.
And stay disciplined. When it comes to flatten the COVID-19 curve for the Sooners, it’s discipline and everybody has each other’s backs.
“Very disciplined. Very disciplined,” White said. “I mean, if you have your mask down for more than two seconds, somebody's gonna tell you to pull your mask up. They've been on it hard. It's one of those things, like, even the players, we can get like, alright, pull your mask up, pull your mask up. It's one of those things, we want to play. This is one of those things, it's just the circumstance, it's just the obstacle we have to get over.
“My message to the community is, wear your mask. Social distance. Just be safe. Anything to help us play this season, I think that personally, there's a lot on the line. Especially with just ... I mean, how much time we put into it. It's just one of those things, it'd be really easy if we could be everyone in the community and everyone did things the way we did, but unfortunately, that's not the thing. But like I said, I would definitely say wear your mask.”
