I wrote about Corey Nelson in the Wednesday World, how he and the rest of Oklahoma's linebackers disappeared from the field as last year's West Virginia game wore on. The Sooners were so caught up in defending the Mountaineers' spread, so worried about their speed, that they employed seven defensive backs at a time.
Dana Holgorsen countered by sticking Tavon Austin in his backfield and handing him the ball. If Austin made it to the second level of OU's defense, it was free sailing. There wasn't really a second level of OU's defense that night... unless you count poor Julian Wilson, the safety who had to learn how to try to play middle linebacker literally on the fly.
"When it happened it was mid play," Wilson recalled after practice this week. "It was like, 'Julian, go in the box!' I was like, 'What? What am I supposed to do?' I just didn't know. In between them scoring or us getting a stop, I was going to the sidelines and trying to listen to Coach (Tim) Kish and Coach Mike (Stoops) tell me everything. It really was just crazy."
Wilson did the best he could under the circumstances. More often than not, however, the 190-pounder became an easy target for combo-blocking linemen like 310-pound center Joe Madsen. It wasn't pretty.
Saturday night, there's no Austin. No Madsen. There will be OU linebackers again, Corey Nelson and Frank Shannon having returned to the lineup to do what Wilson was asked in Morgantown. The 190-pound linebacker is back to being a 190-pound safety.
"I feel like I'll have a way better game this year because I'll be playing a position that I know," Wilson said. "It won’t be a deal in the middle of a play I'm told, 'Julian, you gotta play middle linebacker.' This year, I'll know what to do…
"It will be a whole different story."
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