After 'average' year, Stills unperturbed by criticism: 'Put it all on me, I really don't care'
Published: 12/21/2011 4:52 PM
Last Modified: 12/21/2011 4:52 PM
NORMAN — Oklahoma wide receiver Kenny Stills is trying not to sound discouraged.
But when the questions coming at him are “What happened to college football’s best receiving corps?” and “Are you frustrated by people questioning your heart?” and “Is the ‘Cali Trio’ being made out as scapegoats?” it’s got to be hard to sound upbeat.
Stills, OU’s flashy sophomore, said he never felt a burden to try to replace Ryan Broyles after Broyles went down with a knee injury, but was disappointed that he couldn’t play better down the stretch. He graded his season as “average.”
“I definitely felt like I had a lot of room to improve,” Stills said. “With Ryan going down the way he did, unexpectedly, I feel like I needed to step up a lot more than I did, and I hope to in this bowl game.”
Stills goes into the Insight Bowl against Iowa with 58 catches for 818 yards and 8 touchdowns. With a game to go, those numbers will surpass what he did as a freshman (61 catches, 786 yards, 5 TDs), but only slightly.
So what did Stills feel like he could improve on this season?
“Just specifically, I remember that drop against Baylor, my first time being in the slot,” he said. “Critical third down. Just wanting to be the guy that Ryan was. Just an automatic player, automatic catches all the time. That’s who I’m looking to be. Not really Ryan, but just a guy that can catch the ball all the time.
“I wouldn’t say it was a burden. I would say it was an opportunity for me to go in there and step in and play well, and I didn’t. That’s what these last few days have been for me, to work hard and prepare myself for the bowl game.”
Here are some excerpts from Stills’ 15-minute session with reporters Tuesday night at the Switzer Center:
* Is he frustrated when people question his heart?
“No. I know what heart I play with. I know the character that I have and the person I am. So they can question everything they want to. But I know how I feel inside and I feel like people close to me know that, too.”
* With 20 dropped passes over the last three games and seven more against Texas Tech, what happened to the wide receiver corps that had been called the nation’s best?
“After the Oklahoma State game, coaches talked to us, and they talked about discipline and character. A lot of that came from discipline. A lot of the drops came from just (not) looking the ball in. There are a lot of times on tape where the ball was here and they’re looking this way. So a lot of the stuff with the receivers is about the little things, discipline, and that’s what we’ve been trying to improve in these last 15 days. So we’ve got our group of guys that are here and we’ve got guys that are healthy, and we’re gonna run with those guys and we’ve got a lot of confidence in them.”
* Was he, Tony Jefferson and Brennan Clay, the “Cali Trio,” made out to be scapegoats because of a cavalier attitude on Twitter following the Oklahoma State loss?
“Yeah. But I mean, I don’t pay to much attention to it. You can put it all on me if you want to. Put it on my hair, put it on my tattoos, put it on my lip piercing. Put it on whatever you want to put it on. I really don’t care.
* Is that a different attitude now?
“No. I just feel like there’s not much more I can do but control what I can control. Just go out there and play my tail off every game, and if I’m doing that, then that’s all I can do. Some of that stuff that’s said, I agree with, and some of it I disagree with. I feel like you guys see things kind of eye-to-eye with how we see it. So I don’t feel like a lot of stuff that’s said is wrong. Just a few things here and there.”
* What is it that’s said that you agree with?
“Just like talking about the dropped balls. That’s unacceptable at any place. When I see a lot of stuff talking about receivers dropping balls, you’re right. We did drop all those balls. We know it’s embarrassing. I know it’s embarrassing. A D-1 athlete at a school ought to catch everything thrown to me. Just stuff like that.
“Then there’s stuff like people saying I don’t have any heart and I give up on plays. You know, that’s unfair for somebody to say when they don’t know. Somebody sitting on their couch or on their computer saying something like that. You know, they can come at me any way they want to. It’s not gonna affect my game. I’m gonna go out there and play hard and really have respect for the name on the front of my jersey.”
* You went in and out of a lot of games; were you injured?
“Throughout the season, everybody has their little nicks and knacks here and there. Everybody plays through their injuries, so I’m not blaming anything that’s going on this season on injuries.”
* Ever feel the need to defend yourself?
“No. I don’t feel like anybody needs an explanation. My mom knows what’s going on and my teammates know what’s going on. That’s all that’s really matters to me. Everybody in this program knows what’s going on with me and everybody on the team, so that’s all that really matters. So as long as coach Stoops knows, then I feel like we’ll be fine.”
— John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
