Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley was back addressing the media following Thursday’s practice. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the session.

Take No. 1: Not just a youth movement at wide receiver

When talking mid-year enrollees, all the attention goes toward the three five-star receiver trio of Jadon Haselwood, Theo Wease and Trejan Bridges.

And when you talk OU receivers, you focus a lot on CeeDee Lamb. All of that makes sense, but there is more talent at that spot than just the young guns and the superstar.

“Yea, Rambo's (Charleston Rambo), I think carrying over from some of his you know workforce at the end of the year,” Riley said. “He's had a nice start. I think Jaquayln Crawford is much improved. Drake Stoops is much improved. Who am I missing?

“The usual guys that are steady, Lee (Morris) is still doing a nice job, Grant (Calcaterra's) still doing a nice job. Mykel Jones I think is improved. Nick (Basquine) just continues to get better and more healthy as time goes on. We stay healthy we've got a pretty nice group there.”

Stay healthy and get eligible, at least regarding Basquine. Riley said he still has not heard from the NCAA regarding Basquine’s hardship appeal for a sixth year of eligibility. But with other transfers being declared eligible who don’t have as strong a case as Basquine, it seems like it’s a mere formality.

“I mean it's going to be good news. I mean if they don't pass that one, they've got to end the whole deal,” Riley said.

Take No. 2: Offensive line making progress

Give offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh a couple of weeks, and you start to see the progress. All the new pieces, all the inexperience, they’re starting to find their way.

Riley and Bedenbaugh both said this week’s performances from the offensive line have been their best in the spring. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and OU is fit for the long run.

“It's really progressed a lot, which we knew it would,” Riley said. “Those guys just have not had many reps. So yeah, there's guys taking major steps. I mean the first couple of days it was difficult for us to get more than two snaps in a row off and we're starting to resemble an offense right now. We're definitely progressing. Those guys are getting better. There's talent in that room and Bill's doing a good job with them as usual.”

Some notes from Bedenbaugh include moving both Brey Walker and Darrell Simpson to the guard position. Adrian Ealy seems to be a solidifying force at right tackle.

Take No. 3: Still musical chairs for defensive positions

Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has talked about the balance of not wasting days, while also trying to figure out where guys fit.

Now three weeks into practice, that’s still the case. One person who seems to be more set in his ways is Tre Norwood.

After spending the majority of his first two seasons at cornerback, Norwood ended the year at safety. Sounds like that’s an experiment that’s still happening.

“Same. Same. Yea, he's playing a little bit everything,” Riley said. “He has a versatile skill set. He's very smart so he can handle it. We're doing that with quite a few guys right now.

“We're just trying not to pigeonhole anybody. We're trying not to make decisions on things that we don't know. And so we really are trying to see these guys in different situations and get a feel for their skill sets and how it relates to coach Grinch's system and then we'll continue to settle in as we go.”

Plus one: Redmond still working

It’s easy to forget about Jalen Redmond when talking OU’s defense because his status is still a little unclear. But Riley is still fired up about Redmond brings to the table.

“We've been able to honestly work him out really the whole time,” Riley said. “There's just been more restrictions on contact with him and so he's been with Bennie. He's continued to develop. It's kind of like a tease right now.

“I mean you look over and see that body and just say, man pads and helmet need to be on that guy. It'll be fun to get him back but he's going through meetings, going through walkthroughs, doing a lot of things physically to develop his body. We wish he could be practicing but we're doing everything that he can do right now so he certainly still developing.”

A blood clot issue was discovered with Redmond last summer. After playing a few games during the 2018 season, a flare up caused OU to shut Redmond down the rest of the way.