OU football notebook: New commitment?
BY ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Thursday, December 06, 2012
12/06/12 at 2:38 AM
Tee Shepard may be Oklahoma's newest commitment, but there hasn't been a firm announcement by the former five-star cornerback recruit.
Shepard was a Notre Dame recruit out of high school and enrolled last January, but only spent two months in South Bend before leaving. He was expected to play for the College of the Sequoias (Calif.), but reportedly only watched one practice and never returned.
Shepard didn't play his senior season at Washington (Calif.) High School after being ruled ineligible by the California Interscholastic Federation.
Big winning streak: OU will bring a a five-game winning streak into its Jan. 4 Cotton Bowl contest against Texas A&M. The last three of those wins by the Sooners were sealed in the final minute.
Running back Brennan Clay, who had an outstanding finish to his junior campaign, said weathering home losses to Kansas State and Notre Dame was challenging.
"We faced adversity," Clay said. "We knew losing that first game was a shock, especially losing at home.
"We knew we had to battle back. We knew that it was a long season and anything could happen. We finished strong and good things happened."
Patchwork group: OU offensive tackle Lane Johnson spoke about the team's offensive line, especially when dealing with injuries.
"Yeah I was so proud of our guys bouncing back from injuries," Johnson said after the 24-17 win at TCU last Saturday. "We have a bunch of people on the o-line injured. Daryl (Williams) going out a few weeks ago and Tyrus (Thompson) stepping in. I had a good game (last Saturday).
"I'm just glad how our offense has played the past two weeks and our defense holding TCU there in the fourth quarter and deflecting the pass."
Getting healthy: Damien Williams had his fourth 100-yard rushing performance against the Frogs, putting together 115 rushing yards.
The junior college transfer has been tending to an ankle issue in recent weeks. Saturday marked the first time he topped the 100-yard rushing mark since the Texas win.
"I felt like coming off my injury," Williams said. "It was a big run. It was a big game, so, yeah, it is coming back to me."
Big-time effort: Oklahoma put together its best defensive effort in five weeks by holding the Frogs to 350 yards of offense. The 17 points allowed were the fewest given up by the Sooners since a win over Kansas.
It was the type of performance OU needed to gain confidence before facing an offensive power like Texas A&M.
"(The TCU effort) is what we needed and gives us exactly what we need to go get going," Sooners defensive lineman Stacy McGee said. "We need to go to the bowl game with the same attitude."
