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Sooners on SI Podcast 370: Game Week Brings More Offensive Line Shuffling for Oklahoma · The Sooners On SI Podcast

• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Welcome on in everybody.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's game week and a few of the paying attention to anything Brent Reynolds you know with a Friday night kickoff.
• 0:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Today is Tuesday.
• 0:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's actually Wednesday and we record the podcast on Wednesday.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that is why I have the suitors on that side podcast.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's fire and off here.
• 0:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: on a Tuesday about 12 30 that timestamp matters as we'll get into here in a moment we've got the whole squad here right in Chapman hanging out here the fearless John Hoover John how are you doing trying to ramp us up into football season yeah man we're excited about the week of coverage we've got coming not this week not just this week but next week as well and just for the next
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're going to want to keep it here.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've got a ton of news and action coming at you for the next three months and beyond.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because then we're in the portal season and you're in the softball baseball season.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Basketball is in there as well.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oklahoma suitors on s i dot com is the place to be got a man Carson field with us as well.
• 1:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Carson, we were back in the mix yesterday or guess Sunday night first game week.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Meetings press conference of scrum's availability is with the players got been our buckle print.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Minibles yesterday, we we ready to fire this thing up.
• 1:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm very excited to be asleep to pride for the next 13 to 14 weeks.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the luxuries that comes with this job, but I couldn't be more excited.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Football season always a blast out of your obviously high expectations for the team this year.
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Has all the makings for a fun season for obviously those guys on the field, but us five at the students on a side team that cover the team.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yes, Brady is hard at work in the bunker.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll get to that here momentarily.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: But coverage you can find only here on Twitter's on the side.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: We did hire Ryan Abert to send him behind enemy lines.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oklahoma State, not on the schedule this year.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: But if anything goes down and still water here over the next couple of hours, he's got us covered.
• 2:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Abert, how are you, my friend?
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: not to not bad at all while y'all were out to everyone players on Sunday night.
• 2:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was opening my hockey season so getting a little feel for the cool, which hopefully we will have not too far down the road for now.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: It still feels like summer outside, but it's football time and Oklahoma as they say.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: And we are ready for it.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're just going to dive straight in.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oklahoma dropped their depth chart on Monday, Ryan Foge, one that job at starting center with Jake Michael out.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: But Oklahoma is going to immediately have to re shuffle that depth chart.
• 2:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I believe George Doyle over at Senator Scoopless the first one out.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: We are working continuously, but can confirm Ryan Foge
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: and hopes that he'll be able to get after it after sustaining an injury on Monday during practice.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Obviously, this is like the one spot that we had talked about is souped as the Jake Michael News happened that this was really the one spot on the line that you didn't have the flexibility.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: You have a guy like Ryan Fogey that has stepped up into that spot.
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now you've got Ryan Fogey and Ryan, you wrote about Ryan Fogey.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yesterday, I believe, because Ben Arbuckle and Britt Vittals were both asked about Ryan Foge and the versatility he brings to the position, all that.
• 3:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, let's go ahead and first off, I guess Britt Vittals was no longer surprised by the versatility, but he's going to have to scratch that at least for a week, because now the expectations we see Caleb Mida.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's, I mean, they were in a, as good a spot as you can be after losing Jake Michael, but as we've seen the last couple of years, some, some offensive line injuries can compound and then you're left shuffling and luckily for them, I had the competition.
• 3:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Anita, you know, is ready to go or is ready to go, is he's going to be, we talked to him a couple of weeks ago and he talked about, you know, playing against Essie and SEC program was a really a jumping point for him against LSU, but he's going to have to prove it.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, you tip isn't quite even what LSU is, but, you know, if he has to go beyond that obviously it gets much more difficult from there, I think the good of it is they've had that competition so need to is still fairly sharp.
• 4:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: and then that they don't have to shuffle around a couple different spots because they can slide either whether it's no a best or uh, ethosida and at the guard spot where we expect foj to be for the rest of the year.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: So uh, not ideal but if you can get
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Foget back fairly quickly, and Michael, back not long after that, then you still feel decent about this offensive line, but you're also sort of holding on tight to make sure this nobody, they don't lose anybody else, because then things can get really dicey really quickly.
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: The hope is that fojake can get held out of this game and that you can start to ramp every back up, headed to the big house obviously, which is gonna be massive on the on this YouTube game, not that anyone in Norman's overlooking them, we will move on.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Carson, I guess it puts you in a spot here.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Assuming that we operate in a world where Jake Michael is not able to make it back by Michigan.
• 5:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's just, this is the framework of the conversation.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: What is the level of nervousness level of concern for if you're able to hold foe jay out this week, but then throw him into the mix next week, where he would be making his first start at center, not just against a defense like Michigan's,
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: versus if things go well as they should, it's a UTEP defense with Caleb Needa.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: It puts, I think, Oklahoma and an even more interesting spot kind of weighing those pros and cons than they even were coming into Game Week where you're hoping to get Ryan Foget up and running and get those reps rolling.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think more than anything they just have to get them back by that Michigan game obviously you'd like to see and get some reps that center against U-TAP.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's yet to take snaps that are against a different opponent obviously has been working their impractice, but you'd really like to get incontriable against U-TAP, but the bigger thing is just having that option to have him available at center against Michigan, assuming Jake Michael is not back by then.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: We talked about this not being the end of the world that Michael went down, they have options.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Caleb Needa, they have Ryan, foe Jay, possibly know it best, and they don't have as many options, obviously losing a guy like Ryan, foe Jay, who's as versatile as he is, is big, they've got to just hope and pray, they get him back as soon as the cam, but Caleb Needa, to Avers Point, has some reps, he's played a fair amount of D1FBS snaps, and it gets better teams than you'd tap, so I mean,
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: As far as a one-week concern, that's not the big thing.
• 7:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, you was going to win this game by probably five or six scores.
• 7:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's more about how do they approach the next game like you said Ryan just going to the big house, playing a defense that maybe it doesn't have its identity, but that's a skill talented.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: A lot of blue shippers on that defense, so it does get significantly tougher.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if you could have foj available in any way for that game, that would be obviously massive.
• 7:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, Ryan, a year ago, we did see an odd quirk of the season, true freshman, Michael Fassusi, held out precautionary of the Illinois State Game.
• 7:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: He makes his first ever start in college football.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: against Michigan.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now, that game was in Norman.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ryan Fogey has played college football.
• 7:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's played in big time environments, right?
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's been to Knoxville.
• 7:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's been to Tuscaloosa.
• 8:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: whatever level of loud you want to put the big house out at next week he's at least experienced some of that is this two apples to oranges when you talk about everything that comes with playing center if everything goes to I guess now with the new plan would be which is the hope of him being back in or is this a spot that
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe you can draw some similarities with a guy that is just hearing his second season of college football, but man, oh man, this is what we talked about all last season long.
• 8:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: You might just be a sophomore, but as Ben Arbuckle said, he may be a sophomore on paper, but Oklahoma doesn't feel like experience-wise to everything that him and the softest of life have been through.
• 8:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: He doesn't feel like a sophomore, at least, to Ben Arbuckle and Bill Bean, though.
• 8:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think you can draw some lines there between the two, but I do think what Ryan Foge would have to do center for the first time in that environment, the big house.
• 8:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: I will say this, the big house does not hold sound quite the way that Neil and Stadium does,
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, some of the other really big stadiums in the SEC, just because of how sort of relatively low it is.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And slight angle as opposed to just to be in a bowl like Neil and Stadium where everything gets trapped.
• 9:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it is really difficult.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's you can't discount as much as maybe Ben Arbuckle wanted to discount the differences a little bit yesterday when he was talking about it.
• 9:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can't discount the difference between what you've got to do
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: with, you know, hearing snap counts, things like that versus what you've got to do at guard or tackle.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Ryan Foge has done pretty well at guard and tackle, but this is a different kind of animal.
• 9:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you obviously would have liked him, like to have him play against you, tap just to
• 9:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: get a feel for those things, but the other side of it is, nothing's going to prepare you for that.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: Nothing on Friday night against YouTube is going to prepare you for what it's going to be like in the big house in a week.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you just really hope he's ready to go and they're able to finally settle in a little bit, at least until Jake Michael returns and then they can have the lineup that they hope to have for the rest of the season.
• 10:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: John, we've seen throughout Vinnables 10 year, that first game, especially with some of the first games of Oklahoma's had, we've seen the sooner's put some guys and bubble at before, that's not new as far as this kind of goes and
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Unfortunately for Oklahoma up until I guess here these last 24 48 hours, you're going through and saying, hey, as far as the injuries go and camp, happen, had a concussion protocol situation earlier in camp, but he had made his way back, the micro situation she covered, Parker Livingston might be in bubble wrap this Friday depends on how quickly he's testing in and out of his own scare with concussion protocol, but other than that, it had been a
• 11:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: probably the best camp for Brett Venables and in this program, just as far as being able to get into the season, health, I guess we're so overall, as we start the season on Friday night, how big of a concern, just in general, top level is this offensive line situation right now, considering the fact that you had Michigan Week 2 Georgia Week 4 by Week and then Texas on the horizon after that.
• 11:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it doesn't get any easier, right?
• 11:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean,
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Brent likes to practice hard in the preseason, and when that happens, this can be the result of such a thing.
• 11:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: You get to run a preseason injuries.
• 11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: We've seen it obviously at wide receiver a couple of years ago was a disaster.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the deal though.
• 11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've got, he spent a, he and a staff have done a really nice job of building depth.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: at every position so you've got you know you got a guy that you can slide over from right guard if you're starting center gets her well if you're starting if you're back up center gets hurt you've got a guy that's already starting at right guard and a guy that now has played good experience uh good snaps at center so you've got depth but guess what?
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: As of now you don't have any of that depth anymore you you've run out of depth
• 12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: you're at the bottom of the well, so to speak when it comes to depth.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what Oklahoma is going to have to do from this point forward, you use the word a couple times bubble wrap, that's kind of how they're going to have to approach, I think, the rest of gain prep, you know, Michigan prep, everything else, their hardest part of their camp, their most physical part of their season.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: right now needs to be behind them and this is this is where coaches and players say hey the game should be fun practice was hard training camp was hard two days three a days back in the day was hard so you so the games wouldn't be hard but man when you talk about Michigan you talk about Georgia you talk about Texas those are going to be hard games
• 12:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And Carson, this is where I think the emergence of Noah Best becomes massive.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's not a new storyline, right?
• 12:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Talks about it a little bit during the spring and certainly through fall camp that he's a guy is a true fresh for that's come in and given himself every opportunity to not just play, but start for this football team and
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: as Thanos Oklahoma is behind microphosusian emeritus at tackle which now your swing tackle is also in bubble wrap, which is Ryan Voget.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: At least you have Eddie Pirouette left guard.
• 13:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: You've got no abest and heathosida at right court as we had mentioned that an obest could be an option there at center if you needed it really with needa.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is where things become, I think, really, really massive.
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Even beyond just
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: who makes the first starting lineup because the interiors where Oklahoma has its experience and says you see experience that if you can add a no a best into that group, if you can get Caleb Needer ramped up, it's also gonna be massive.
• 13:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's gonna be on full display here in the first couple of weeks of the season.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think this situation would be a lot more dire if not for a guy like Noah Best, just looking at how thin Centro would be specifically.
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: I believe now, with foe J, assuming he can't play against you to have, it's gonna be Nita and then probably Gunner Allen.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's not a rotation you could feel overly confident.
• 14:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Depthwise, obviously, Nita, we talked about he has plenty of experience there, but if something happens to him, you can be looking at that like, Oh shoot, what are we gonna do at the Centro Spot?
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: But having the guy like Noah Best that we've heard can play both guard and center just gives them so many more options with depth.
• 14:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: He can slide in and out between Osida and him at the guard spot.
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: If need I need some snaps off, he can fill in there.
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: So it definitely helps from a depth, depth standpoint.
• 14:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But still getting foj and Mike you look for that matter back as soon as possible has to be the priority.
• 14:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: And Ryan, this is also, this is a storyline and every camp, right?
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: We talk about iron-dropping iron and competitive death, and we all make each other better.
• 14:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that's great, and you can copy and paste some of those quotes.
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: When you're talking about the Oklahoma offensive line, going into the Oklahoma defensive line, there is credence to that, right?
• 15:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like you can talk about it.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: But we know, we know one of them is iron.
• 15:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, well, I was gonna say, whether in your personal rankings as far as if you, everyone out there, you can rank Oklahoma, Michigan's defensive line, Texas defensive line, Georgia's defensive line.
• 15:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: You can put those in one, two, three, four, whatever order you wanna be in.
• 15:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: But I think we can all agree, they're all operating in the same round, which is they are really,
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: really, really, really good.
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: And this is where, but whether it's Noah Best, whether it's trying to get the aggression that Oklahoma has wanted out to heat those either or where it's ramping Caleb Needa up and saying, you play it against a bad LSUT, but a good LSUD offense in Death Valley.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is where all of that value that, all the really hard stuff that who've talked about, this is where it needs to show up, as far as Caleb Needa, Noah Best, those guys, not at least having experienced,
• 15:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: on a consistent level, SCC defensive lines, but having experience in through spring and fall.
• 16:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is where you hope that as Brett Metables always says, like, who've alluded to it, done getting you harder than practice, this is where that needs to show up.
• 16:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it really does.
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it doesn't, you know, isn't an easy ramp up to the season outside of this week, obviously.
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: But beyond that, they're going to face some of the best defensive lines in college.
• 16:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, ball, lucky, luckily for them, they get to go against, you know, David Stone and J. and Jackson and Taylor wine every day.
• 16:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they, they should be ready for it, you know, from some of the stuff that we've heard certainly, they, they feel good about the progress they've made up there.
• 16:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: Michael Fassuci showing progress Ryan Fogey until his injury uh... push it in the right direction i'm see building up some depth there bill being bobs really excited about ethosida and the uh... steps that he is taken uh... but this is the time they're gonna have to prove it they're gonna have to prove it really quick and i i think we're gonna know uh... you know three games into the season four games into the season we'll say four
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: that where this offensive line stands and if they've made significant strides, because I think this is maybe the biggest piece to whether or not OE's offense is going to take a stride forward.
• 17:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, they've got to be better at quarterback.
• 17:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: John material has to be better decision-maker.
• 17:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, they've got to get more production and have tied in in both phases of the game.
• 17:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yes, they've got to run the football better with their running backs.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: But
• 17:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Every single piece of that hinges on what that offensive line does and if they're not better, it's going to be really hard for this offense to be better here, moving forward.
• 17:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: So they better start showing off the progress that they've made really quickly.
• 17:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: So group that David Stone, we talked to him on Sunday night, spoke really, really highly of.
• 17:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: He talked about, like, you can talk about all you want, but I feel it every day in practice, the pad level is better.
• 17:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: The way they fire off the football is better.
• 17:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: And you hope that that certainly translates because if we look elsewhere on the offensive debt chart guys, at Tackle, it was expected, Fassus, you started it left, Harris started it right.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Left guard, as expected, EPL, gonna be your guy, right guard.
• 18:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: You have the Noah best or heat those side of it.
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: as you would expect there.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: There's obviously not a quarterback competition.
• 18:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: We talked about the backups here in a second at running back.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: It was Lloyd about or Xavier Robinson in that first spot Tory play like or Jonathan Hatton behind those two guys.
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then elsewhere.
• 18:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think
• 18:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Everything else is kind of as if you read our debt chart projections, Oklahoma suitors onside.com, Hayden Hanson or Rocky beers at Titan.
• 18:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you went with Hanson, don't think that was going to be a big stunner or anything like that.
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_03]: Park River Lvson or Elijah Thomas is exactly what I had projected.
• 18:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll probably see ET there on Friday night.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then, yeah, Isaiah Satanya, trial Harris, like Carson on paper.
• 18:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is the group that I think that for the most part,
• 18:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think is not that the week when debt charges ever signalling something which it has in the past but I think this is a pretty good snapshot of what Oklahoma expects going into this first month of the season.
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, nothing overly shocking.
• 19:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought the most notable thing really was just avoid a buck.
• 19:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: We obviously have heard so much about him from various people and to see him listed as a co-star to there means that it isn't just service.
• 19:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: They think he is someone that is going to be a really big contributor to this offense, whether that's catching passes, running up the middle, running stretch plays,
• 19:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Um, so it sounds like his role is going to be legit, but I mean, defensively about what we expected for the most part on offense similar thing with Elijah Thomas that he's a co-starter with living stone means that they're very impressed with him.
• 19:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think a lot of people are rightfully excited and see what he could do after being such a big special teams contributor last year.
• 19:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: So nothing really shocking.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's not like last year when we saw Jayden not listed a third string, what backs wrong with him.
• 19:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Turns out that was a sign of things to come, but nothing
• 20:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: It'll be interesting too as far as we go through this.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: Two guys that got a lot of run and a lot talked about yesterday, certainly been our buckle and Britt Venables in that wide receiver room.
• 20:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Trell Harris and Elijah Thomas.
• 20:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ryan, I thought, let's start with Trell because I find his offseason to be fascinating as far as
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: we knew in spring ball he was going to miss that with the clean up procedure was pretty but it was announced that and then from there it was just going to be okay i i understand every local home up and it's like here we go again uh... but if every indication both from talking to the guys here the reports on a fall cap is that as trail harris has ramped up
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: He has hit the field, he has hit the ground running, and we talked to him sitting at right.
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just find the process for trail fascist.
• 20:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I want to hate he's a veteran guy.
• 20:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's learned a couple of different offices from Kint State to Virginia, and he's not like he's not been out there, right?
• 20:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's talked about it.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: The geometry has been in the mix with them, all that stuff trying to learn the offense.
• 21:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's another thing though for you to only take men to reps all off season, and then immediately take like a duck to water in fall camp.
• 21:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I think that's really, really impressive.
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: It has to be really exciting to know that
• 21:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: You're hopefully gonna get to see immediately Isaiah's Athenia and Trial Harris, that one, two punch, the local one, to put together, hit the ground running here in September.
• 21:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: They've got to do a better job spread in the ball out this year because Isaiah, it's a Tanya, was really, we've talked about it a ton, but really there are only serviceable consistent wider silver last year, Trail Harris brought in to immediately add a shot of experience to that group.
• 21:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I thought it was fascinating, one listening to Brent Vittables and Ben Arbuckle talk about Trail Harris in the way that he sort of,
• 21:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, ingratiated himself with the team, even while he was able to sort of build some of the things the chemistry without that, which, you know, it's easy to say we hear a lot, but doesn't always translate into action, but it appears like
• 22:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: just from, you know, what we were able to see in a couple of snapshots of practice and also what we've been hearing that he has translated that on the field as he's got in there.
• 22:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I also think it was interesting here in Elijah Thomas last week, talk about how technical or Andy Lai Bowen, I think, talk about how technical over route runner
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: that the other day was, he feels like, hey, at some point I'm going to get old and you know I'm going to have to be crafty the crafty veteran.
• 22:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I might as well learn that now and not have to wait until I'm have lost a step.
• 22:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think when you add that, I think it's got a chance to add a really dynamic option to this offense.
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: should be I'm very very excited to see trail get going and and who've I'm very very excited to see a guy that we only really got to see on special teams a year ago that's Elijah Thomas and it's someone that has been talked about multiple points throughout
• 23:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Just to get able to talk to Elijah and catch out with him a couple of weeks ago, like we mentioned on a previous pod and then listen to Ben Arbuckle just kind of talk about that it was pretty simple for Elijah.
• 23:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: He knew what he needed to work on.
• 23:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: He attacked that head on the sausages and didn't run from it.
• 23:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: If Elijah Thomas can step up and truly kind of live up to what we know his athletic billing is, which is fantastic, then I think you're really starting to talk about some depth at wide receiver and a rotation that Emmett Jones and Ben Arbuckle can utilize.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, man, at 6-1, almost 6-2, 198 pounds, that is the, to me, that's like the ideal size for a wider simply talking about explosiveness, elusiveness, catchability, separation from the DB, physicality, strength.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's got all the tools and he had a lot of the tools when he got to Oklahoma just in terms of athletic ability and football smarts and, you know, being a lot being on his plate, a lot being put on his shoulders and saying,
• 24:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey, can you carry this team for us?
• 24:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you carry us to the playoffs?
• 24:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can you get us down into the postseason?
• 24:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he did that, he did a lot of a lot of contributions that are receiving, rushing.
• 24:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously all the return games, guys explosive, guys fun to watch when he has the ball in his hands.
• 24:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a mental side, when you step up to playing college football, there's a mental side to reading the defense, anticipating what the safety thinks he sees, or what the corner thinks he's looking at from the formation.
• 24:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: and then reacting to that and doing it in sync, in coordination with your quarterback without saying anything.
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those are the hard parts and it sounds like from all accounts that he's picking that stuff up as well.
• 24:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's a, there's a, a scholastic side of the game, books, you know, playbook, studying to side of the game that wide receivers have to kind of master with their quarterbacks.
• 25:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the hard part.
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody, you know, everybody comes to college and they're physical and they're fast and they're explosive and can catch a ball.
• 25:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: But to be able to get separation from the defensive back, because you've done your homework.
• 25:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not because you're fast, but because you've done your homework, and you know what he's going to do.
• 25:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's the hard side of the game that is difficult for freshmen and sophomores to learn, but it sounds like he's picking that up too.
• 25:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then part of that is gonna be the guy getting the football to him, Jon material.
• 25:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: We've talked about Jon material all off season long and frankly guys, I'm just ready to see it happen on Friday night, then on the Saturdays after that.
• 25:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: So I think that we can catch.
• 25:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll have the full Jon material review.
• 25:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll have all the mechanics, all that fun stuff Friday night after the game.
• 25:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: When we do our big reaction show, but Carson Ben Arbuckle did kind of talk about the two guys that'll be backing Jon material up
• 26:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: But, Bentley, those guys listed as co-backups and or on the debt chart there, Ben did have, I thought Ben or buckle super candid, super comfortable here, entering his second season.
• 26:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: And he was even willing to share some stories about, you know, going back to spring, hand up.
• 26:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, there was so much like guys, what are you looking at?
• 26:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: But the development and the growth from both with new power and bo Bentley.
• 26:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that I think a lot of suitor fans hope will be on full display in the third and fourth quarters on Friday night.
• 26:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm with you.
• 26:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought he was very honest about just where the position group was to where it is now saying that you didn't want to say that were quote dark days, but like you said there were times that he was like, what the accurate you looking at.
• 26:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: But just talking about how both of those guys have developed cited how it's pretty natural that a guy like Bob it me would struggle a little bit when he gets to campus playing against defenses that are significantly better adjusting to playing in an SEC program is quite the jump.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: And we saw that in the spring game, obviously he was very rough in that one, but Arbuckle had nothing but good things to say about his development, how much better he looks now heading into his first college football season.
• 27:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: Same with Whitney Bower, he said that the two of them have really made each other better that there's been competition, of course, and I think they're still competing, given that kind of co backups on the dev chart.
• 27:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it's been nothing but good.
• 27:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: constructive competition that the rooting each other on, which he thinks is going to be a benefit for this offense, the quarterback room in the long run.
• 27:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, OU fans hope that John Mets here plays in all 12 plus games this year, but it sounds like if unforeseen circumstances happen, there's any injuries or anything, our buckle feels a lot better right now than he did three, four months ago.
• 27:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: which brings us to my one singular UTEP thought.
• 27:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ryan, I'm gonna toss this to your way.
• 28:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: You get to be the BS meter.
• 28:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: You get to be the man that says, Ryan, this is valid or Ryan.
• 28:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: I appreciate Goldstar effort, but UTEP sucks and let's move on to the defense.
• 28:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: You tip is a bad football team.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: No one's running from that and let me catch all this by saying there is no expectation whatsoever that Oklahoma should struggle in any facet of the game.
• 28:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: However,
• 28:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: What we are all very interested in seeing is this new Oklahoma offense, not new as far as it's still been our buckle all that stuff.
• 28:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: But is it real, is it legit?
• 28:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Does this Oklahoma offense run over an opposing defense on the way to Michigan?
• 28:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I do bring this up to say, I think for that matter, it's a good thing that you tap the experience.
• 28:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: They do have three other top six tacklers.
• 28:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: are returning.
• 28:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: A year ago at UTEP's level, the defense was not a tire fire for 80 means.
• 28:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: They were going on third down, all that stuff.
• 28:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think Ryan, this is a good thing because what I would find really, really valuable on Friday night is Oklahoma's offensive line mulling and in fear of opposition, Oklahoma's receivers running past guys, the tight ends of light and dudes up.
• 29:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't want to see from the UTEP perspective,
• 29:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: three or four massive plays because of coverage busts or things like that because I don't think that's going to tell us anything.
• 29:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Is it a night and day difference than what they're going to see in the next three of the next 40 if it's obviously the next 40 if it's this road to Mexico and sure, but I do think it is a good thing.
• 29:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you tap as going to have some experience back, it's on the defensive side of the wall to make Oklahoma, you would think at least have to go out there and look like oh, you've received that, which it should, but I just want to see that as much of a much of a middle coverage bust from you tap.
• 29:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think that that is going to be something interesting to watch.
• 29:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, heck, you just think about the season open in our last year against Illinois State.
• 29:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: The scoreboard wasn't competitive at the end, but we saw cracks in that offense that proved to be foundational for the rest of the year, especially when it comes to running the football, the offensive line, things like that.
• 30:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if they're able to go out there play crisply, avoid the penalties,
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: you know, where you're beating them because of how good your offense is systematically and not just because you're so much more athletic than they are, they'll be plays where they beat them just from pure athleticism standpoint, but you know, outside of that you've got to be able to have success to feel good about what you're going to face the next few weeks because, yeah, you tips got some experience coming back on defense, but that's nothing like the next four
• 30:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, like you said, even New Mexico State, they've got a pretty good one as well.
• 30:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we can start getting a barometer of just how much better this offense is, how much better the offense of line is, how much better the tight ends are, the system, things like that.
• 31:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think it's going to be still fairly vanilla.
• 31:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, we're not going to see some of the bells and whistles of this offense, but if you have a great performance with just your base offense here, you can start to feel like maybe you can build some momentum, you know, head and into Michigan and beyond.
• 31:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: happens, any New Mexico Lobos fans angry, please send your hate mail to at RY ABER, at RY ABER.
• 31:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: That brings us to John, what do you want to see from John material?
• 31:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Because like Brian said, this doesn't need to be a spot where this gets
• 31:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: You know, 35 pass or anything like that, different game, but you'll get bow-per-view on what we saw out of Virginia this past weekend.
• 31:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Virginia was running over, I'm healing you to throw the ball 11 times, so you probably didn't even throw the ball 11 times, but I do kind of go back to there's an interception in the Illinois State game, which was a precursor to the exact same kind of interception for the most part.
• 32:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Deeter against Michigan.
• 32:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: There were one or two moments where we saw that John material, the Gunslinger, and tries to force it here or there, and that was before,
• 32:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: the hand injury, what for you would show you, and maybe it's just as simple as getting to the big house, no interceptions, anything like that.
• 32:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: But is there anything you could see from it's here on Friday?
• 32:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: You go, okay, boom, that's the experience that we talked about.
• 32:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
• 32:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: No turnovers.
• 32:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
• 32:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: No answer to be strong with the football if you have to run it.
• 32:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's that's one Do not throw it to the other team.
• 32:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's to if you have to run it make sure it's one of those, you know Fourth and one at the three yard line kind of thing and you're trying to impose your will Early in the game.
• 32:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to see John material run the football more than four foot four times No, I'm I'm talking scrambles
• 32:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: He needs to get rid of the football, uh, no running plays in terms of, okay, this time we're going to isolate John, we're going to do it a little naked boot and see what he can do on the edge.
• 33:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Screw that stuff.
• 33:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Keep that guy healthy all season, get him in and out of the big house, get him in and out of, uh, the Georgia get him, get him in and out of the cotton bowl, healthy by not running him around.
• 33:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: don't if you don't have to get him out of the pocket.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean last year he got injured on a past play that he kind of broke out of the pocket and ended up throwing on the run and getting his thumb hit.
• 33:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: That stuff happens when you're outside the pocket.
• 33:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I want to see him have a command of the offense where he's
• 33:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: One, two, three, throw, one, two, three, throw, one, two, three, throw.
• 33:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's on time.
• 33:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows exactly where he's going.
• 33:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to guess.
• 33:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to stand and hope that somebody gets open.
• 33:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to wonder if he's read the coverage correctly.
• 33:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: I want to see a job and tear that is confident.
• 33:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And is very well steeped in this offense.
• 33:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was exactly where he has to go with the football at all times.
• 33:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And frankly, yeah, 11 passes.
• 33:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you have to throw the ball 15, 16 times, that's fine.
• 34:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oklahoma again no turnovers.
• 34:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to see a nice comfortable first half and then you want to see what your backups can do In any situation.
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: You want to get your game backups ready to play Whoever that is whether it's new power whether it's you know the new kid bow belly Doesn't matter get those guys in early because you've had such a good effort and such good productivity from your starters
• 34:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And Carson, that's where Saviour Robinson, who I know that he had the bad moment as far as the drop in the playoff game, but he's been a pretty sure handed guy when he's been out there for the most part.
• 34:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Louis Vuitton, we know it could be an option out of the back of the day and something that John Cusies has in the cubies coach, it talked about to us all the way back on media day.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think that Ed.
• 34:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: Much like some of the other stuff, every quarterback works on checking the ball down during the off-season and all that, but this should be a, again, you hope there's not a situation where he has to, but I think that this would be a really positive, you should have all the weapons available to you that if his internal clock's going one, two, three, nothing's there, where's Louis DuBot, where's Xavier Robinson, where's Jonathan Hatten?
• 35:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: I think that would be a real real positive because we know when the big games are coming, he's gonna do what he needs to do to get that ball in the end zone.
• 35:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'd love to see some check-downs.
• 35:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: I thought Tempo was one of the more complete offensive performances last year.
• 35:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: We saw that Xavier Robinson had a short touchdown kick pass.
• 35:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I felt like material really utilized tight-end running backs in that game.
• 35:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: So I'd love to see that against a team like YouTube.
• 35:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, not putting the ball in harm's way, I think that's the biggest thing for me.
• 35:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: He had that bad pick against Illinois State last year, just avoiding those.
• 35:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not doing too much.
• 35:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't need to put up 390 yards like he did against Illinois State last year.
• 35:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: We know what John material can do when he's throwing the ball well.
• 35:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But just need to keep him healthy.
• 35:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: We need to see better decision-making just to show that he has grown mentally, decision-making wise.
• 36:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Brian, on the other side of the ball, the first stands out is Oklahoma will be playing 12 defenders this year.
• 36:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: That will be interesting.
• 36:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: I also noticed that Oklahoma State also is going to start 12 defenders this year.
• 36:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: So might just be a sooner state thing that they're just, hey, you can sign NFL players.
• 36:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're going to try and put a 12, got in the field.
• 36:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: I kid, I kid.
• 36:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oklahoma listed Reggie Powers at the Cheetah Spot and then actually put a Samline Backer back on the Depth Chart for Cole Sullivan.
• 36:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is the coach you showed last night.
• 36:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Brett Middles just said,
• 36:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: Both of those guys are worthy of starting just because we have one personal package or another doesn't mean that either one of those is any less worthy of starting.
• 36:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: It reminded me Ryan of my joke was that it's like playing in CAA football way back to the day.
• 36:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I promise this recruit a starting job.
• 36:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: Gosh, darn it.
• 36:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: I will create a spot on the debt chart to the fill that promise.
• 36:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, you know, what didn't Bob soups think about that back in the, Atari vert said he was a promise to starting job back in the day could have just added
• 37:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, it's, it is what it is.
• 37:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's more just a separation of the cheetah between, you know, the linebacker version because the last couple years we've seen like Samuel and Seigo listed as a backup.
• 37:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well now they're listing Cole Sullivan as the starting strong sidebacker.
• 37:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm not a fan of constantly saying Sam and Mike and all that stuff, let's just say what it actually is.
• 37:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: uh... but uh... you know i think both these guys are gonna have to be uh... utilized obviously call Sullivan more that the linebacker type and uh... you know there's a chance we could see him in a couple of other spots there in the the linebacker group depending on uh... what happens but uh... you know that that group whoever it is is going to have to be productive i've said they feel really good about the the the line that they have
• 37:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: but when you bring back home on Hainaki, you bring back Kip Lewis and then you throw in, you know, Reggie Powers Achita and what Carl Sullivan can give you, you still feel pretty good about that group.
• 38:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, they've got to develop some talent behind them because last year, I mean, you think about the depth when we had Kobe McKinsey starred most of the year and then, uh, oh and Hainaki,
• 38:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: came in and he was probably their best defender down the stretch.
• 38:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So going to be fascinating to see and I don't know that they're going to get tested a ton this week, but as we said a ton here today, it gets the test gets real really quickly.
• 38:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: I get the sense, John, that I don't know what his official power rankings would be, but I think that Brent Venables is going to have as much fun coaching this defense this year as maybe any of his others.
• 38:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Just when you get into the fact that
• 38:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: you look up and down the depth chart.
• 38:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: And let's just say that Reggie Powers gets the official on paper start over, co-solve it on the first snap.
• 38:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Brett Reynolds could look out and look across his defensive staff and go, these are 11 guys that started their football careers at Oklahoma and are still at Oklahoma playing football.
• 39:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll throw the qualifier in there to clean up any hijinks with Owen starting at Ohio State, but not playing football at Ohio State.
• 39:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: But it could be a spot where truthfully,
• 39:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: We go in a time machine back 15 years ago.
• 39:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: These are 11 guys that the first half of football they played at Oklahoma was at Oklahoma and they're going to continue to play football at Oklahoma and actually developed all the way through.
• 39:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: I get to feel in the print venibles.
• 39:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: By not, he's talked about, you know, his appreciation for those guys staying and all that, but I think he's going to really, really enjoy going back in the time machine a little bit in coaching and print venibles defense of old.
• 39:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: It seems like.
• 39:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You guys were at the press conference yesterday.
• 39:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Did you get a sense from Brent and you've seen him this preseason face-to-face more at law than I have have you all gotten a sense from Brent that he's Really feeling good about this.
• 39:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's always positive.
• 39:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: He always exudes positivity and you know Just
• 40:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's he's he's always looking forward to the good is talking about the good doesn't like getting into the bad stuff But it just in terms of being positive this year.
• 40:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he's got a different vibe He's even pushing that a little further.
• 40:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: Am I am I off on that you guys think?
• 40:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, I think you're absolutely right.
• 40:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you do get that vibe that he is really confident.
• 40:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think as Ryan said, he seems to enjoy this process of one feeling good about the experience.
• 40:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: It comes back, but two, having a lot of unknowns, but having a lot of unknowns to us may be more than him.
• 40:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: that he's seen these guys develop.
• 40:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you look at Taylor one, you know, it took him a little bit to break in there and he was excellent last year.
• 40:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's, I mean, oh, and he's career path obviously is very unusual, but his path has been steadily up.
• 40:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's kind of a sad thing.
• 41:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sorry.
• 41:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, I just think he's so,
• 41:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: experience so veteran in terms of his being around great defense for so many years, whether it's at K State O, U or Clemson.
• 41:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows what it looks like and he knows you're going to need breaks.
• 41:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He knows you're going to need to stay healthy.
• 41:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when he has the players around him, when he has those first round draft picks like he did at Clemson, he's failing pretty good.
• 41:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's where he's at right now to answer your question Ryan.
• 41:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's where he's at.
• 41:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, he's proud of these guys.
• 41:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: He talked about it, having put the potential for 11 guys that he recruited to start the season opener.
• 41:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there's zero transfers in there.
• 41:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: They'll work the transfers in later, obviously.
• 41:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that was the story that the column that I kind of was hoping to write yesterday, I hope it carried across that he was these guys.
• 41:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're talking on tune about I think it was 18 players.
• 41:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: in the two deep who were recruited in the by Oklahoma's freshman and are still here and 14 of those are on defense.
• 42:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's when he looks around and sees that yeah he's confident he's smiling he's happy and for good reason because I think this this defense as you know remember how we felt about after statsman in the last ride it was like oh they're going to have to take a step back they were better.
• 42:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: somehow they were better after losing those two studs.
• 42:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Same thing this year we look look across some of the guys they lost you know all the experience defensive linemen.
• 42:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: well they're they're on paper.
• 42:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: They lost some guys.
• 42:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but they could be better this year and that's that's just It's got a big good feeling for someone like Brent who knows ball knows defense when he sees it Yeah, I mean this is this is sorry Ryan.
• 42:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: I hope this is all right, but it's an usual in this time You know, we talk so much about the transfer portal and how it's remade college football and I L things like that, but
• 43:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, mentioned Taylor one, he's a guy who could have transferred away and found a place where he could, you know, start a whole lot faster.
• 43:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: He didn't do that, you know, PJ is a guy who, as a five star hasn't gotten a ton of playing time, but he's stuck it out and now he's in a position where he's going to be with any a boy, another guy who, you know, has, you know, not.
• 43:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: that he didn't have a big impact last year, but the playing time wasn't at the level that a lot of people of his skill set would be.
• 43:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then, you know, on and on, you know, down the line, especially on the back end, more the defense.
• 43:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: You see some guys who, you know, have been there for a couple of years, Boge and Aloski, Omerian Robinson, guys like that, Jacoby Johnson, is one.
• 43:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's a lot of guys in this group
• 43:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: those kind of players are transferring away from a lot of programs, but Brent Venables with a couple of exceptions has been able to hold onto those guys and I think that's a big piece of being able to make what they've done the last couple of years on defense sustainable and not just a flash in the pan.
• 44:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and the words that Brent used yesterday at the press conference were humility and investment.
• 44:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: He talked about the investment that these guys, and he said, yeah, we're proud that they're here.
• 44:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's the quote.
• 44:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He says, the reason guys don't leave, or the reason guys make it, they've made it hard for guys to leave.
• 44:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: He said, I think the guys know that they're valued, they're care about, they're cared about, they're developed.
• 44:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: said the brotherhood means something to them speaks to their competitive character and they know they have an opportunity like who doesn't want to be a part of something bigger than themselves and have an opportunity right every single day he said it helps it helps to be good players he said if you're out there with a bunch of chump it's hard to do well
• 44:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But he said, when you're out there with a bunch of other savages that love to work, love to compete, love to be coached, that are going to do their job, he said there's a genuine connection to that.
• 45:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: You guys have gone through things together and it's hard to walk away from that.
• 45:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's why the guys who even, even the guys last year, I wrote about this earlier in the summer, the guys who did transfer and there were little four or five guys who could have finished their career, could have taken one more year at OU, they chose to leave.
• 45:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were all seniors.
• 45:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: all guys that did choose to leave were all seniors and had four years of playing high-level college football and wanted to see what else they could do somewhere else so I think that's the big smiley of the culture that Brent has really created at Oklahoma.
• 45:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: And, of course, I feel like the last step here, the last little box to tick off, and I have faith that it will get ticked off and certainly this just comes from the track record of printmanibles on the defensive side.
• 45:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: But, you look at it and go, they've been able to replenish the front line guys.
• 45:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now they've been able to say, you have an armace and Thomas, a grace and hold and those guys head out to the NFL and be able to have established guys back and you look up and down that first 11.
• 46:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now I think it's like the final form of it, Brett Reynolds and he arrived as he's when he's laying out the vision that, hey, eventually when you get to year four or year five, you're going to have guys who have been in the system for so long that if you have to bring a freshman and or you have to bring a transfer in to be a bandated spot or two that you can ramp those guys up to speed as fast as possible.
• 46:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: We saw a little bit last year with Kindle Daniels now it's about.
• 46:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's see how quickly, how much faster did Cole Sullivan learn this off season than he would have three off seasons ago because all the other members of that lineback room are there to help him out?
• 46:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: How much faster can Bishop Thomas run the back in Mark L. Ford who missed the spring, but be in that too deep at safety because he's got the learning from everybody else.
• 46:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's going to be interesting and it's something that I think is going to keep getting better the longer the carnival since the coach.
• 46:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: We saw that team your point with Kindle Daniels last year, Marvin Jones, Jr. means in plays down the stretch to really curious to see how co-sold and looks right out of the gate.
• 46:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, he was great for Michigan last year.
• 47:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: You mentioned Bishop Thomas, we've really good things about him.
• 47:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: He was kind of on his last chance at Georgia State was awesome there in his second season in Atlanta.
• 47:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now he comes back to the power of four level.
• 47:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think Kenny Yosu almost a pretty interesting player too so there's there's a lot of guys like that to code a field in the second area just seeing how quickly they can become big pieces.
• 47:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's something that you might get to see quite a bit of them against a team like you tap because as we've talked about bad football team it's going to be a lot of side it should be able to empty the bench pretty well so hopefully that we get the chance to see a lot of those guys make a lot of a lot of snaps against you tap.
• 47:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: So other news and notes out there on the coach show on Monday night, Brett Minimals did mention five walk on that they put on scholarship.
• 47:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oklahoma soldiers on SI dot com if we're to read all about that.
• 47:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oklahoma sooners on SI dot com.
• 47:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: I have vindication for Ryan Avery and I as we have stepped in to the stadium multiple times or these last couple of weeks and months.
• 48:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: As we see the paint being laid last night, Ryan and I do in fact know what primer looks like.
• 48:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: We also know what actual paint looks like.
• 48:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the goalposts are going to be white.
• 48:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was waiting.
• 48:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was waiting.
• 48:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: I was waiting.
• 48:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Everyone can get out of our mentions because that will be one of the big aesthetic changes Ryan going back to an old look that Oklahoma had for years, and years, and years.
• 48:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, no kidding.
• 48:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: I don't like it.
• 48:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think it'll be pretty cool to see in person as a Tate Sandil set a couple of years or weeks ago, excuse me, you know, maybe not be the easiest if they do a wide out.
• 48:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Maybe if they do a strike the stadium thing, they got to make sure that the in zones are all red.
• 48:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: on the the seating chart, but I think it's going to be really cool.
• 48:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: And yes, it was very clear to me walking out there that it was paint and not primer.
• 48:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's a difference and it looks like they're going to be white.
• 48:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, so it's a good look.
• 48:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a good vibe, certainly excited for that.
• 49:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Something else that brought me to the most tossed down, which is not the, I would not say it's like the top of the list, but just make your plans.
• 49:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Gonna be a little bit of shift this year.
• 49:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: They're gonna honor their seniors on home game number two.
• 49:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: He said the senior leadership council met with them and basically said, hey, when you look at the back in in the SEC certainly, those are really big football games, one less distraction, one less thing that we have to worry about.
• 49:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: So the senior council asked if there's something that they could do, they're really gonna have a planning done.
• 49:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: So Carson, something that we, I guess put a pin in
• 49:37
  [SPEAKER_03]: senior day will be home game number two, which I think is totally fine and I have no objection to whatsoever, especially with the leadership council came to him and said, hey, can we just get this ceremony out of the way?
• 49:48
  [SPEAKER_03]: Any other time, it's not that like softball has done.
• 49:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: They've picked like senior weekend so that you have whole weekend to celebrate before, you know, the last official home game.
• 49:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a little bit odd admittedly not seeing a blast home game of the year because that's been the staple at so many programs forever and I mean if that's a big distraction going into your last home game that might say something about how one's running a program, but I don't think that's the case it owe you.
• 50:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: a better than you tap New Mexico team, so it's, it makes sense if you're going to not do it on the last home game of the year.
• 50:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: That's the one to do it.
• 50:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: That or Kentucky, probably.
• 50:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it's just not that big of a thing like you said, it's gorgeous to mark your calendar kind of thing.
• 50:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't really change.
• 50:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: The games will be played against the same opponents.
• 50:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: It'll be five something else to that I think is easy to be forgotten all that we just see the ceremony that happens on the field ahead of time, but also pregame and we're going to put all of our step up for press conferences everyone's family tons of family coming in organized and all that if you can imagine think everyone listening.
• 51:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Imagine your family coming in just for a week in the summer.
• 51:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Now imagine doing all of that planning while you're also trying to cram and get ready for A&M for local homo hopes will certainly be a massive, massive playoff swing type game.
• 51:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: So we'll see as far as that goes, uh, John, we'll get to a real update here in a second.
• 51:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just think it's notable as someone who asked if you have nine captains, do you have any captains, Los Angeles Rams named 11 captains.
• 51:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you have any thoughts, uh, or any criticism?
• 51:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know that Aaron Donald was not one of them.
• 51:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: The guy who was going to be playing part-time and was invited back for at least one season at $20 million a year.
• 51:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not a captain.
• 51:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: But everybody else is, that's fine.
• 51:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they only got 53 people so you see I got a 1 in 4 chance almost to be a captain if you're ran.
• 51:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: I just thought it was a notable.
• 51:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's up to the historical vector on a serious note.
• 51:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Like I said, our time is yet we started this podcast at about 12th 30. Who do you have further updates as you've done some more digging as this podcast is enrolled on on Mr. Bojack?
• 52:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, our intention has been kind of divided, which is tough for someone like me,
• 52:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: What we have is that it is a knee injury for Ryan Foget.
• 52:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is expected that it's not an ACL.
• 52:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: It is expected that it is another MCL.
• 52:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Low grade knee injury out a few weeks at this stage.
• 52:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's either having an MRI today.
• 52:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll have an MRI tonight.
• 52:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's in the process of figuring it out how the extent of it.
• 52:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the hope right now is that he'll be out just a short time, like my killer, two, three, four, five, weeks, six weeks on the back end.
• 52:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe he'll be back sooner than what everyone was expected.
• 52:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you for that hoop.
• 52:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Obviously drop it in and we'll circle back to everything we said at the top, which
• 52:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Caleb need to come on down.
• 53:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: You are going to be a very, very important piece of this, and that is where part of the experience at the end of last year, I think, and having the disruption with my club and an infection that you know and can plan for, right?
• 53:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: But no injuries, everyone's fault, but certainly that one is outside of the bounds of
• 53:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: What about the practice game?
• 53:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Did it feel like that?
• 53:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Having to move, we will over and then completely shuffling the whole right side of the line.
• 53:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Bringing in Caleb Needa was hopefully a remedy for that.
• 53:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I wonder how much of Foges' versatility versus just needed missing on that time and spring, would have been taken a bunch of mental reps. And that's where I think that if we go all the way back to Media Day, I sat down.
• 53:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: I stood across from a Jake Michael who was sitting down and and he just talked about how much fun he had in the spring of him and Caleb needa after every practice every moment.
• 53:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Michael are going through and kind of quizzing needa needa quizzing Mikela why are you seeing it this way that way things like that and as I think it was noted by.
• 54:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Oh gosh, it was someone last week I apologize need a engineering major supposed to be a hashtag spark guy and every time we've talked to him, he's given off hashtag spark guy energies.
• 54:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: So Ryan, I think he just gets all the way back to I don't know how much tinkering you're now going to have because one of my initial questions entering the week was going to be.
• 54:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you start with fojay at center and then do you do any need at center fojay at right guard, need at center best right guard just to try to get all the combination some in-game reps I think it might boil down to pick your five and go because this is your dress rehearsal for a very very good Wolverine front.
• 54:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's going to be really hard for them to do much shuffling, obviously, you hope that we can see a guy that know a best in there at some point, even if he's not the starter, you know, with ethoside out there.
• 54:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: But, yeah, these injuries, you know, Bill Beaton will talk to you about it when I talk to him at Media Day and how
• 54:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: tough the last few years have been just because of how many guys they've had out.
• 55:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you just look at the center spot and the number of guys that have run through there.
• 55:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, the last two seasons, they've started three centers in each one of those seasons.
• 55:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: They haven't had a season where a guy started every single game at that position since 2020 with with Creed Comfort, he did it a couple years in a row.
• 55:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it's certainly going to make the job tougher.
• 55:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: For Bill Beatingbow, luckily it doesn't seem like these are going to be long-term injuries.
• 55:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: So if they can survive it, if they can survive these first five games of the season and be okay in the offensive line, then
• 55:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: This time could be a really big help because you've got some guys who are going to be more seasoned, more experienced against really talented defensive fronts, but at the same time it's going to be, you know, whitenuckling it to get there, given what they're going to face with, you know, not their absolute top line top five guys.
• 56:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: Lenty of intrigue guys, everyone, my great stand in Norman, kick off at seven o'clock on Friday night.
• 56:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let me just lay out here what it's gonna look like for us throughout the season as well.
• 56:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: First off, Oakmasoooters onSI.com.
• 56:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: Keep headed there.
• 56:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: All of our content is 100% free 24, 7, 365 on top of everything.
• 56:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you want to read Hube and Brady kind of tag team in the fochi injury updates, obviously it is up there as well as with the Michael injury and all the fallout from that that we had had as well as our normal slate of content all throughout the season will be firing up the live blog.
• 56:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: yet again this year it's one of the favorite things that we do also it's very stressful in the fourth quarter of some of those games, but that'll get going about an hour and a half before kickoff.
• 56:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: We usually sync that up with once the players are coming out onto the field and we can hop up there in the press box, get word from Carson Brady on the field if anybody's in a boot or something like that, we can get the binoculars out.
• 57:04
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that's about an hour and a half before kickoff.
• 57:06
  [SPEAKER_03]: That's a really easy thing for you to follow.
• 57:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you've been in there before, just pull it up, refresh.
• 57:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: We will go through an update so you have to hit the refresh button, but it's one file everything we see here all that fun stuff throughout the game We'll be there.
• 57:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll have our full post game coverage per usual Oakland sooners on SI dot com head to hoops YouTube page john Hoover media for all those videos and things the four amigos Carson Abraham myself and Brady We will have our post game which doubles as our on field wrap the podcast slash
• 57:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: video so you'll have it in your podcast feed or on who's YouTube page will stand out there on the field until they turn the lights off basically and talk until we're blue in the face about everything we saw from the Sooners and all of that fun, Oculus Sooners on SI.com is the place to be.
• 57:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: I also didn't want to get out of here without mentioning this.
• 57:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: The sooner it's on SI prediction show, which if you didn't catch it last week, we talked a little bit fall camp, things like that, but we predict everything from conference championship games across the country, things like that.
• 58:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't think any of us had our conference champion technically go down in week zero, which is a plus.
• 58:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: But
• 58:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: 24 hours after we record the prediction show as Brady and I both picked New Mexico as our group of five spoilers, their quarterback goes down.
• 58:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: So that the sooner or so that's like curse, it might not have made its way to the actual field quite yet, but we quite literally can't get 24 hours out of that thing without some news pop and news breaking things like that, which is just incredible how it happens every single year.
• 58:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: But let's all just come together and say a big thank you that we are not doing anything that TCU is doing on the field or off the field.
• 58:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know how you could have bigger losers from week zero than trying to kick out a media organization who, by the way, got the story correct as we've gotten more and more information about former OU committee as a comma.
• 58:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: And then on top of that, go out there and to do whatever that was, shout out to one for five on fourth down.
• 59:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: Shout out to a week zero for getting us entertained.
• 59:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: But thank you guys.
• 59:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: We are only 48 hours away from everybody at the top level of a conference about getting it underway with some Thursday to actually, that obviously will be in the stadium on Friday night.
• 59:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: Gentlemen, as far as our week goes from here, have I missed anything?
• 59:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Next week, we'll be back to the normal schedule.
• 59:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: So if you're really interested in everything Monday night is when we talk to players,
• 59:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Tuesday is when the Brent, Vinibals, and Ben Arbuckle Press Conference is our will be back to Wednesday or normal Wednesday.
• 59:30
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is our Wednesday today, the sweet dough as we all know.
• 59:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: But we'll be back onto the normal sketch with the podcast and content on the site.
• 59:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: But as far as that goes, I think we're just ready to kick this thing off boys.
• 59:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Congrats to those five dudes that got scholarships, football scholarships, kind of tricky that the way it is now with no walk-ons and everybody has 105 roster limit, but yeah, those dudes got scholarships, trade brown, case in Kalmas, Kenneth Wormie, Sean Hutton, and Liam Evans are all now officially on football scholarship, according to Brent Vettables on his radio show yesterday.
• 1:00:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: Very, very nice.
• 1:00:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll get that off and run in an under way.
• 1:00:13
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll get kicked off under the lights, in Norman, on Friday night.
• 1:00:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hey everybody.
• 1:00:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hi, Tray.
• 1:00:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: If you're going to tailgate, go into the gate, start drinking water now, my guys.
• 1:00:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: And girls, it's going to be hot.
• 1:00:24
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hopefully we'll be good by the time the sun goes down.
• 1:00:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: But...
• 1:00:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: For Ryan Avery, for Carson Field, for Brady Tranton, in the bunker and for who.
• 1:00:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much for lock it in with us, can't wait to get this 26 season underway with all of you guys.
• 1:00:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: And for the sooner songs I podcast, we'll talk to you lately, Friday night after Oklahoma and Utah.
• 1:00:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: We'll see ya, have a good one.