Four things about Sooner football from Tampa, Ben Arbuckle's hot seat included
Oklahoma took part in SEC Media Days on Monday and meaningful things were said
THE HOME OFFICE, Okla. — Every time I write one of these, I begin by explaining how much I hate the form.
It’s a crutch, I explain. It crowds out real columns about single topics that demand real explanation, a real word count and strong writing.
Anybody can write a four things column.
It’s beneath me, dammit.
But it’s not, for there are times too much information has been expressed, and though a piece of it might make a great yarn, writing only about that piece would leave out too many pieces.
Hey, at least my first “thing” won’t be “Running game will be key for Sooners this season,” because for crying out loud, everybody knows it, just as they know it for the quarterback and the defense, too.
Or, even worse, “Running game could be key for Sooners this season.”
So, here we go.
Call it four takeaways of great import from the Sooners’ trip to SEC Media Days, where head coach Brent Venables, quarterback John Mateer, offensive guard Eddy Pierre Louis and defensive end Taylor Wein each met with conference media on Monday in Tampa, Florida.
Venables really likes his players (and that matters)
Here’s the quote Venables gave, or the first one.
One of the many reasons that gets us excited about this year’s team is finding the three guys [we brought here with us] and telling several other guys that were more deserving they weren’t going to make the cut. The depth of the leadership we have in our locker room right now is as good as we’ve had, better than we’ve probably had here in the five years at Oklahoma.
So he didn’t say it so artfully, but the point is clear.
He brought Mateer, Wein and Pierre-Louis (who is from Tampa) and it could have been any three of several other guys, all just as deserving, because OU is awash in leadership.
Before I finished the second half of the final sentence of Venables’ quote, my mind flashed to the 2000 national championship team, of which Venables was co-defensive coordinator, and thought, “really, as leadership-oriented as those guys?”
What I actually think happened was, he thought it, too, and self-corrected into since-I’ve-been-head-coach mode.
But it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t say any of it if he doesn’t think his team is generally hard-nosed, like he is; possesses a ridiculous work-ethic, like he does; is committed to the process rather than the final result, like he is; and is prone to overachievement, as he has always been (seasons one and three as a head coach aside, of course).
And, if he’s right, it’s teams like that, full of players like that, that make winning plays that matter, that win the turnover and special teams battles, that develop winning x-factors well beyond straight up talent.
It kind of went that way last season, too.
At the end of his time, Venables went on about players that came from obscurity to star last season: Isaiah Sategna, Tate Sandell, Courtland Guillory. Previously he’d mentioned Wein in the same way.
“That’s going to happen again,” he said. “I don’t know who that is going to be … I think it’s going to be part of the story of this football team.”
Because he loves his players, loves their leadership and loves the development that leadership creates.
It’s a thing.
No reason not to believe in the offensive line
Most of this was in place coming out of the spring the moment Venables said, “We had more explosive runs this spring than we had in the previous three years, with all of those springs combined.”
That meant so much because Xavier Robinson and Tory Blalock mostly missed spring ball, leaving the running duties to Lloyd Avant, a junior transfer from Colorado State; DeZephen Walker, an early enrollee true freshman from Kansas City; and Jonathan Hatton Jr., an early enrollee true freshman from Cibolo, Texas.
It also meant so much because they did it behind the same offensive line that struggled for so much of last season, against a Sooner defense that should again be among the nation’s very best units.
On Monday, Venables said, “Up front, we’ve probably got nine guys that can play winning football for us right now,” but it’s the first six that appear to have become headline worthy and here they are:
Michael Fasusi, a sophomore, who made 10 starts at left tackle his true freshman season.
Eddy Pierre-Louis, a redshirt sophomore who started six games at left guard.
Jake Maikkula, a redshirt senior who made 10 starts at center after transferring from Stanford.
Ryan Fodje, a sophomore who played in every game last season, starting four at right tackle and two at right guard.
Heath Ozaeta, a redshirt junior who made seven starts at left guard.
E’Marion Harris, a redshirt senior, who started 11 games for Arkansas last season, primarily at right tackle, before transferring to Norman.
“I think there’s going to be a better version of all those guys,” Venables said. “I think they’re stronger, more confident, there’s more chemistry, cohesion, certainly there’s an experience factor, [which is] what it takes to be better in the SEC.”
Others talked them up, too.
“I would argue they’re the closest position group on the team and that’s what makes them super, super connected and super talented,” Wein said.
“I love being around them. They love being around each other,” Mateer said. “But obviously, [in] the weight room, they stay after it more than anybody. I see it and I love seeing it. They’re getting on each other, like … the standard has been raised.”
When a few words mean something (about tight ends)
Mateer offered a fairly innocuously sounding quote when he said this about first-year tight ends coach Jason Witten, who’s most famous as an all-timer tight end for the Dallas Cowboys, for whom he turned in all-pro seasons in 2007, ’08, ’10 and ’12.
“He calls me and he gives me that wisdom,” Mateer said. “He wants to share his wisdom and we’ve seen that in the offense.”
Here’s the key part of that quote: “and we’ve seen that in the offense.”
That tells us there’s been changes.
It tells us there’s a new package for the position.
It probably tells us, given Witten’s contributions and those of newly-minted assistant head coach for offense Kevin Wilson — who also coordinated Bob Stoops’ Sooner offenses from 2006 to 2010 — Sooner tight ends playing under offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle this season will not only be a bigger part of OU’s blocking schemes, working more cohesively with the offensive line, but should also be a more consistent part of the passing game.
Though it doesn’t seem like it, tight end Jaren Kanak actually caught 45 passes last season for 533 yards. However, the first 18 catches, over the first four games, accounted for 307 yards and the last 26, over the last nine, accounted for just 226.
For whatever reason, Arbuckle and Mateer took one of the offense’s most profound weapons and turned Kanak into a check-down receiver, making him a very diminished weapon.
But if Mateer says Witten’s impact can already be “seen” in the offense, well, it would appear to signify change, which would seem to be good.
Welcome to the hot seat Ben Arbuckle
A lot of Mateer quotes appear to be getting into this “four things” column and here’s another one, telling by way of what he didn’t say.
The question mentioned many coordinators have their quarterback follow them to their new school, but most don’t get two years with their old quarterback at the new school. Given that, what’s Mateer looking forward to the most given another year with Arbuckle and what’s the biggest benefit of having another year?
He said this:
I think the relationship. You hear the relationship between the offensive coordinator and the quarterback is the biggest relationship in all of sports and I believe that.
Our relationship is only tighter now than it’s ever been, and that’s probably because of the struggle. Struggle brings you closer. And so I love that guy. And we’ve both learned so much together and it’s going to be real good.
Call me a naysayer, but my read of that quote is the best thing about Mateer and Arbuckle’s two-plus seasons together as starter and coordinator has been how close they’ve become under the strain of failure.
Sue me.
Because no quarterback in America’s stock sunk any faster than Mateer’s last season, plain and simple. He wasn’t accurate, period. He could not throw downfield, period. He became less effective as a runner. His mechanics were a mess … all under the tutelage of his good buddy Arbuckle.
So here we are.
The offensive line appears to be far better. The running back room is stocked. Everybody’s excited about the receiving trio of Sategna, Texas transfer Parker Livingstone, and Virginia transfer Trell Harris and maximizing the tight end position.
That leaves the quarterback and his position coach, who is the coordinator.
That leaves the coordinator.
It would seem to be a very big season for Ben Arbuckle.
Yes, we can save the defense for another day.