Sooners arrive in LA, but Mayfield no shows Disneyland

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Sooners have arrived in Los Angeles and head coach Lincoln Riley says everyone made the trip.

“Yeah. Everybody’s here,” he said Wednesday afternoon inside Disneyland California Adventure theme park. “We’re full strength.”

The Sooners, who were taking part in an introductory Rose Bowl ceremony Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, actually weren’t at full strength.

They were missing Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Baker Mayfield.

“He’s sick,” said Riley when asked about his absence.

After a long pause, knowing plenty of questions were about to come his way about the severity of his star quarterbacks illness, the OU head coach quickly responded, “He’s going to live.”

Sources have told SoonerScoop.com that Mayfield has been battling the flu, but there actually isn’t concern inside the program about their quarterback being completely healthy for Monday’s Rose Bowl.

“He was great before we came out and he had about three and a half days at home for Christmas, which is a good recharge, mentally and physically for our guys,” said Riley concerning any concerns Mayfield might be worn out from the awards circuit. “I think he’s in a good place. I think our whole team is.”

The Sooners, including Mayfield, hit the practice fields at the StubHub Center for the first time and Riley says he wasn’t unfamiliar with the facility upon arrival.

“We had a team that came out and looked at it so that we can plan. It’s very functional, very spread out,” he said. “A lot of room. There’s not many logistical issues with it.

“Great facility, spirited workout. Guys were excited to be back out on the field, back to work.”

The Sooners left Oklahoma’s chilly temperatures behind and arrived to warm temperatures by Los Angeles standards.

The temperature is expected to rise into the high 70’s over the next couple of days.

These aren’t the dog days of August in Oklahoma or Georgia, but it’s a change.

“It’s a little bit warmer. We had some, last week, or the week before, had some decent weather as far as being warm back in Norman,” said Riley. “Not much of an adjustment. We’ll get used to it in the next couple of days here.”

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO OKLAHOMA?

The Sooners went pretty media dark over the last couple of weeks. It caused many fans and media to wonder what OU has been up to back in Norman, and how prepared they were to get going this week.

“You can’t sit there and work on a team for a month,” said Riley of how his team prepared for Georgia up to this point. “I don’t think anybody is going to do that. We tried to balance getting ready and also working on ourselves.”

The Sooners did plenty of No. 1 offense vs. No. 1 defense once they got back on the practice fields in Norman.

“There’s a lot of improvement that needs to take place,” said Riley, who like any coach is also guarding against rust heading into a bowl game. “Also when you don’t play for a month, a lot of it is just trying to maintain as well. Whether it’s strength, whether it’s focus, whether it’s technique, whatever it is. We felt like we found a good balance.”

As the Sooners headed into Christmas break, they ramped up the intensity, and started honing in on Georgia.

“We went at it pretty good before we turned them loose for Christmas break,” said Riley. “They came back in a good frame of mind and in good shape.”

The Sooners hit the field on Wednesday for the first time. But it was essentially a Monday practice for Oklahoma. Thursday will become Tuesday, Friday will become Wednesday until Monday becomes game day.

Make sense?

If it doesn’t, don’t worry. Game week has begun.

“It’s a normal week for us (now),” said Riley. “We’ve been able to do a little more prep work like I’m sure everyone does with these. We still have work to do. It won’t finish with us until we kick the game off.”