TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS
CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBER SERVICES | SIGN IN SIGN OUT | MY PROFILE PAGE | MY ACCOUNT

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on RSS
Sports Extra!
Follow us on ...
OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL


SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS
    Sports Editor
Mike Strain
Sports Columnist
Dave Sittler
The Picker
Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark

Sooners defense must shoulder load early on

OU Gerald McCoy Courtesy OU Athletics Department

 
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer
Published: 9/2/2009  2:21 AM
Last Modified: 9/4/2009  7:29 PM
Go to Dave Sittler's Blog

NORMAN — If you're helping christen a $1.2 billion stadium, you might as well make a proper entrance.

That's precisely what Gerald McCoy intends to do Saturday when No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 20 Brigham Young collide in the first college football game played in the Dallas Cowboys' new home.

But McCoy's grand plan isn't limited to this grand opening. He announced weeks ago that the Sooners defense is intent on making a lasting impression before every contest this season.

"When we come on the field, I want people to actually be scared of us," OU's All-American tackle said. "I want them thinking, 'Golly, I don't know if I want to go against these guys.'

"When they look at us, they'll see a bunch of animals. And I feel we can be that way."

McCoy revealed the defense's 2009 Shock and Awe Tour during the Big 12 Conference media days in late July.

Six weeks later, here's the deal: OU fans better hope and pray McCoy is right on about the Sooner defense being a whole different animal than a year ago this time.

Yes, the offense features the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Sam Bradford. But it became apparent at coach Bob Stoop's press conference Tuesday that the defense might have to carry this team for awhile.

No matter how Stoops
tried to spin it, it's obvious that nobody knows for certain how OU's offensive line is going to perform against the Cougars. And that air of uncertainty could hang over Stoops' 11th Sooner team all season.

A major clue that something could be amiss came when Stoops confirmed that senior Brody Eldridge will start at center. Eldridge has started off and on for the past three seasons, but it was at either tight end or fullback.

The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Eldridge still has the body of a tight end or fullback. The drastic move to center at the start of fall camp has gone from an experiment to a full-time job.

"I can't say that I would have ever thought of that," Bradford said of Eldridge snapping him the ball this season. "And I would imagine Brody's probably even more surprised to be playing center than I am to have him play center."

That isn't all. The list of O-line players scheduled to start against BYU looks much different than earlier depth charts. In addition to Eldridge moving ahead of Ben Habern at center, Jarvis Jones has beat out highly touted sophomore Stephen Good at right guard.

"You've heard me going on four years talking about Brody Eldridge being one of our best players on the team, period," Stoops said. "He just doesn't play a dynamic position that everybody loves to talk about."

Everybody's talking about it now. And many are wondering if OU deserves its lofty national ranking.

The good news for Sooner fans is that this isn't the first time Stoops has made a dramatic position switch in fall camp. In 2006, he kicked his starting quarterback off the team in August and replaced him with a wide receiver.

The big difference, however, is that Paul Thompson had spent the majority of his career at the position before moving to receiver as a junior when redshirt freshman Rhett Bomar beat him out.

Thompson responded magnificently after Bomar was booted that August. He led the Sooners to a Big 12 title and an 11-3 finish.

Center doesn't compare in importance to quarterback. But that's where every play starts, and Eldridge said that he's struggled at times to get the shotgun-formation snaps safely in Bradford's magical hands.

Eldridge has the versatility and toughness to make the move work. But if Stoops sticks with the inexperienced O-line starters he announced yesterday, the group will only have a combined 28 starts under its collective helmet. And All-American Trent Williams, who is moving from right to left tackle, has 26 of those starts.

Stoops said it's not in his makeup to tell players on one side of the ball they might have to shoulder more responsibility early in the season. But he also acknowledged that wasn't the case last season, when the defense relied heavily on the offensive unit to carry it at times.

"I don't like expressing those kind of things because I don't believe it has to be that way," Stoops said. "I expect us to do well on both sides of the ball."

Bradford will always give OU's offense a chance, even with inexperienced receivers. But it's those nine returning defensive starters and two highly regarded newcomers that could carry the Sooners a long way.

"When you look at all 11 players," said cornerback Brian Jackson, "I think you'll see we've got the potential to be the best defense in the country."

If OU wants to play a return engagement at Cowboys Stadium in December to defend its Big 12 title, McCoy and Jackson better be right.
By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Writer

Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark


COMMENTS 
      Add your comment Show: Most Recent Comment First

2 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
Report Comment Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you.  -- Web Editor Jason Collington
 

 
Report Comment
the goat, (9/2/2009 9:18:39 AM)
"But if Stoops sticks with the inexperienced O-line starters he announced yesterday, the group will only have a combined 28 starts under its collective helmet." First, this sentence implies that there are other players on the bench that have starting experience, which is not true. Only Williams and Simmons have ever started before, and they are both in the lineup obviously. Second, Simmons has started 4 times, so the total is 30, not 28.
Report Comment
bfite, (9/3/2009 9:59:09 AM)
Dave Sittler you are one weird dude. The funny thing is your articles on OU are always so predictable. It starts out with something "different" so everyone will think you have some kind of special knowledge. Then throughout the article you like to call out as many players individually as possible. Do you think this makes you look smart or just controversial?
 

 
Add Your Comment 
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.

 
Post Your Comment
 



Home | About Tulsa World | Advertise With Us | Privacy | Usage Agreement | FAQ and Help | Contact Us | Today's Headlines
Copyright © 2009, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.