Tress Way, Sooners didn't take 'most humble approach' to 2011, 'let it slip away'
Published: 12/30/2011 12:08 PM
Last Modified: 12/30/2011 12:08 PM
PARADISE VALLEY, Ariz. — Oklahoma punter Tress Way routinely outkicks his coverage.
But the one-time Union Redskin with the thunderous leg suggests he might have outdone himself this time.
One of Way’s favorite people is his girlfriend, OU soccer player Dria Hampton. He regularly refers to her on Twitter as “the smokin’ hot Dria Hampton.”
“I got a smokin’ hot girlfriend,” he reiterated Wednesday. “And I like her a lot. And she’s great at soccer. I don’t know if she’s better at soccer or better looking. She’s real good-looking and real good at soccer. I got lucky and I like her a lot.”
Hampton, a junior from Piedmont, is one of OU’s premier players, starting all of her 62 games at OU and excelling at assists.
If Landry Jones and Whitney Hand are OU’s first couple, Way and Hampton are the Sooners’ kicking couple.
So who can kick a ball farther?
“What ball we talking about?” Way asked. “Soccer ball? Well, she knows how to hit it right and I haven’t hit a soccer ball in a long time. So I’m gonna give it to her. She can probably kick it further than I can.
“I got her on the football. They’re just shaped different. She handles one more and I handle the other more. But I think if I practiced more, I could probably get her. I kind of have a strong leg.
“Punting a soccer ball, I think I could get her, but off the ground, she could get me.”
Statistically speaking, Way’s 2011 season was not unlike that of his team. Pretty good. A lot of highlights. But in all, well short of what he expected.
He averaged 41.2 yards and dropped 33 of his 57 punts inside the 20 with only six touchbacks. Those last two numbers are uncommonly good, but the average — while largely the product of Way’s short-field kicks — also reflects an inconsistency. His career average before this year was 45.5, currently the OU record for career average. That includes an average of 45.7 yards per kick in 2009, which ranked third nationally.
“This year, just because I was coming into my third year of playing, really I was expecting and planning on being a Ray Guy finalist, tops in the nation in average,” Way said. “I know we hit a lot of pooch punts this year and I was happy with the job that I did. I think it was 33 inside the 20 is what I heard recently. Very happy with that. I think it’s top three in the nation or so with that. But honestly, just didn’t hit the ball well at times.”
Way says the same thing about the Sooners overall. After opening the season as college football’s consensus No. 1, they’re 9-3 and kick off tonight in the Insight Bowl against Iowa.
“I think it was kind of like us as a team: looked really great at some points and then just let it slip away at other times. I think it was probably a little bit of immaturity. Some of us older guys and some of us leaders, we didn’t really take like the most humble approach. We came in No. 1 and we were just expecting to stay there. We weren’t expecting anybody to get in our way. Not that we didn’t respect any teams or anything like that. But it was just more of the fact that we didn’t invest as much as we should have into each week.
“Like, focused in on certain big games, if that makes sense, as opposed to like coach (Bob Stoops) always tells us to stay at that constant high level. We just kind of rode the roller coaster this year, which is exactly what you can’t do.
“That’s what I did this year. I had great games where I was just killing the ball or placing balls inside the 10, and then certain times I was trying to do too much. That’s where I get in trouble personally, like I know I can be a weapon on the field and then I try to do too much and that’s when I end up hurting myself or hurting the team.”
As for Hampton, Way said they’re still just dating, not engaged, as was recently hinted on Twitter. And as much as anything, he’s looking forward to seeing if Hampton’s team can improve under new coach Matt Potter (they were 7-13 last season). Potter came to OU from Washington State, but he grew up and played professionally in England.
“I heard he’s foreign,” Way said with a wink. “Those guys know their stuff. Hopefully he can come in and get it done.”
— John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
