Mike Stoops: Sooners need to get tougher, healthier
Published: 4/18/2012 7:45 AM
Last Modified: 4/18/2012 7:45 AM
Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops went on with The Sports Animal's Al Eschbach Tuesday night. Some highlights from the interview…
* Aaron Colvin is a major key
"We need him to step in and be a bigtime corner for us to accomplish what we want to accomplish," Stoops told Eschbach.
With Colvin sidelined all spring, Lamar Harris and Joe Powell shared the corner opposite Demontre Hurst. Stoops said they were "OK" the past several weeks. "OK" isn't going to stop Big 12 offenses.
* Nobody has given up on Javon Harris
The starting strong safety in the Red-White Game is certainly under fire after what happened last season. Stoops said as much Tuesday night.
However, he also said: "Javon does a lot of really good things on the football field… He's a pretty athletic player that just needs a little bit of help where to look at certain things. I thought he had a really positive spring."
* DBs will be more crucial to this defense than LBs
This represents the most obvious change from Brent Venables.
"We have to have a better coverage scheme than we did a year ago," Stoops told Eschbach.
The Sooners are going to continue to preach they have to stop the run first. Fine.
But anymore in this league, if you can't defend the pass, you're sunk. And you have a better chance to defend the pass if extra corners and safeties are chasing slot and motioning receivers instead of linebackers.
* Work remains on the defensive line
It's not just that starting ends Frank Alexander and Ronnell Lewis have moved on. It's the physical condition of those returning.
Stoops said R.J. Washington, David King, Stacy McGee and Casey Walker all missed considerable spring practice time. That's a potential starting front four. All four are expected to be fit by two-a-days, but the unit missed a real chance to mesh over the past month.
You want to worry about one layer of OU's defense, you can start with this one.
* The Sooners aren't tough enough
Here are your takeaway quotes from Eschbach's interview: "We need to improve on our toughness as a football team, I think our kids recognize, to go into tough environments like we did a year ago and win. We're going to have to go in November and play West Virginia, an unbelievable place. We're going to have to be as strong as all get-out to go win a game like that…
"If we can get to that point, I think we'll have a chance to compete."
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
