Telling the story: Red-White
It was a fun Saturday afternoon at Oklahoma for the spring game. The Sooners got in their final bit of work and nobody was injured during the two 15-minute halves themselves.
And plays were made. Here we’ll break down the top five plays from what we saw in Norman on Saturday.
No. 5: Williams finds the end zone
The story coming out of the spring game, or at least one of the top ones, is that freshman quarterback Caleb Williams looked like he was ready for the moment.
It wasn’t just completing the 10 of 11 passes and the touchdown, was the way he carried himself and the offense when he led the charge.
Here we’re talking about his 12-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Sumlin in the final minute of the first half. A very decisive throw, on the money, and OU fans were excited.
“There's learning it, just simply where does this guy go on this play, what do I do, and then there's just a deeper understanding of and learning to be decisive, learning to get the ball out of their hands, anticipating things, and that's — he's kind of in that phase now,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “He's getting to the point where he has, for the most part, a pretty good idea of obviously what people are doing on plays and he's starting to see and understand it more but it's reps, it's time together, it's time that he and any other player in our program spend outside of here on it and the more you put into it, the faster it comes.”
No. 4: Graham uses the hit stick
The spring game isn’t going to see a lot of booming hits, and fans can understand why. But defensive back D.J. Graham wasn’t afraid to bust one out on the sideline.
Graham was banged up for the early part of the spring, but he returned in the last couple of weeks and really looked comfortable Saturday.
Credited with three tackles, but also with the best hit of the game as well.
No. 3: Competition at its best
If you asked Riley what play stands out the most, might be the 50-yard connection from Spencer Rattler to Mario Williams to begin the second half.
That was every facet of the game working together. Rattler on the deep throw, Williams on the catch and outstanding coverage by Graham to where a lot of people thought Graham actually had the interception.
Iron sharpens iron.
“Very competitive play down the field and honestly, D.J. Graham made a great play on too. It was pretty impressive, honestly, by both those guys,” Riley said.
No. 2: That Gray cut, enough said
If Caleb Williams has you fired up about the future, then it was running back Eric Gray who supplied some ammo to be as excited as you want about the present.
A star of the spring as the reviews kept getting better and better and better, Gray had that one moment to let people know what he’s all about with a 19-yard touchdown run.
It was the cut in the open field. Jordan Mukes is a mid-year enrollee, he’s going to be fine, but that was one nasty cut-and-go by Gray.
“Eric Gray had a tremendous spring, if I could put it that way,” safety Delarrin Turner-Yell said. “He’s a guy, he could come in and out of cuts really quick. For defensive guys, he’s one that you lose space on him because if you don’t, he can get you with a few cuts in the open field. It’s kind of like he displayed today with him being able to catch passes out of the backfield. Eric Gray is a tremendous player.”
No. 1: Haselwood announcing he’s back
That’s the Jadon Haselwood all OU fans are hoping to see for the 2021 season. Late in the first half, Caleb Williams threw one up to Haselwood on the sideline. It was good coverage by Joshua Eaton, but Haselwood one-handed grab was the GIF of the day.
The fact it was his left hand is even better, but that’s the type of performances you know Haselwood can have and is going to need to have throughout the 2021 season.
A healthy and focused Haselwood is a scary thought. It’s just one play, but it lets you know all the ability in the world still remains there.
