Tag: kennedy brooks

Oklahoma Sooners Week 1 Report Card from win vs. Tulane

How did each unit for the Oklahoma Sooners perform in their week one win over the Tulane Green Wave?

Now that the dust has settled and we all have taken a night to gather ourselves, it’s time to try and grade Oklahoma’s performance against Tulane before we look ahead to Western Carolina.

It wasn’t as glorious as the general population would have liked it to be for the number two team in the country, but they most importantly got the win. There’s a lot to improve on as Lincoln Riley mentioned yesterday.

As we’ll do each week, let’s take a look at each position group and hand out some grades from the Sooners 40-35 win over Tulane in week one.

Stock Up/Stock Down from the Sooners’ 40-35 win over Tulane

It was an inconsistent week one performance, so let’s take a look at whose stock rose and whose fell in the Sooners 40-35 win over Tulane.

The first game of the 2021 season has come and gone. Oklahoma narrowly escapes a game that no one saw being remotely close. Mistakes, questionable effort and just getting outplayed by a Tulane team that lacked the natural talent the Sooners had but made up for it with execution, energy, effort, and toughness.

Oklahoma was able to overcome some sloppy play and inconsistent performance to come away with the 40-35 win over the Tulane Green Wave. On the day, there were some good performances and some that left a lot to be desired. Let’s take a loot at whose stock rose and whose dropped after game one of the 2021 college football season.

Offensive keys vs Tulane for the Oklahoma Sooners

Offensive keys to the game for the Oklahoma Sooners in their week one matchup with the Tulane Green Wave.

It’s time.

No more speculation, no more reports about training camp battles and who could conceivably win this spot or that spot. We can all shift our attention on a week to week basis about the opponents in front of Oklahoma.

Another journey to try and scale the proverbial college football mountain begins in less than 24 hours.

Offensively, Oklahoma is lead by one of the presumptive Heisman favorites in QB Spencer Rattler. His development is a significant part of Oklahoma realizing the lofty expectations headed into this season.

Rattler’s great and he’ll elevate the Sooners, but he can’t do it all on his own. Here are the offensive keys as they start the game against what is likely to be a very spirited Tulane team.

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Top storylines as the Oklahoma Sooners get set to face the Tulane

As the Sooners get set to kickoff the 2021 season with their matchup vs Tulane, what are the top five storylines heading into week 1.

Less than 24 hours from now, the Oklahoma Sooners will open the season against the Tulane Green Wave.

It sure feels good to type those words. Tomorrow, starting at 11:00 a.m. CST, the Oklahoma Sooners will finally begin their journey toward the national title.

As they get set to host Tulane’s home game, the Sooners will defer choice of uniform to the Green Wave creating the possibility the Sooners will be on their road whites on Saturday.

As “talking season” as Lincoln Riley likes to call it, comes to a close, let’s take a look at the top storylines heading into week one.

5 burning questions as the Sooners prepare to face Tulane in week 1

As the Sooners get set to take on the Tulane Green Wave in week one there are still some burning questions about a team ready to contend.

The start of the 2021 college football season is now just four days away for the Oklahoma Sooners. This is a season that most are expecting to be an incredibly successful year for OU.

As they get ready to announce their presence in earnest with a home matchup against the Tulane Green Wave, the Sooners are looking to win their seventh straight Big 12 title, first College Football Playoff game, and first national championship since 2000.

This is as good a team as Lincoln Riley’s had during his tenure as head coach. And yet, this is a team that still has questions to answer as they head into the 2021 season.

Much ado about something? A look at the Oklahoma running back position over the last few years

A look at how things have gone for OU’s running backs and a look at what there is to look forward to going forward.

Like life, college football personnel has its highs and lows. There are times where you’re able to recruit, develop and send players to the league at an astonishing rate. Conversely, there are times when you experience turbulence within a position group seemingly every year.

It may be on field production (or lack thereof) or off the field issues that just deplete your position group.

The Oklahoma Sooners over the last decade have seen both sides of the coin.

From recruiting guys like Samaje Perine, Joe Mixon, Rodney Anderson and watching them go to the NFL to having running backs transfer in and practice for less than 14 practices and then transfer back out in less than 2 months, OU has seen it all of late.

Let’s take a look at the Sooners running back issues and where they are headed going into the future.

Jay Boulware, former Sooners running back coach helped recruit the men mentioned previously in Perine, Mixon and Anderson. Much to the chagrin of the Sooners faithful, he will be remembered for his misses in recruiting in the state of Texas more than anything.

He was let go largely due to the lack of production and development of guys he brought in. In stepped DeMarco Murray.

Murray, a former Sooners running back who went on to play for the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles and Tennessee Titans took over after his first coaching stint at the University of Arizona.

Murray has suffered from some of the same issues Boulware dealt with. Failures to close on guys that were seemingly within reach (Camar Wheaton) or having to deal with suspensions/ineligible guys (Seth McGowan, Marcus Major, Mikey Henderson). The latest wave of running back problems has left OU with two scholarship running backs in a year where the Sooners are more equipped to win the national title than they’ve been since 2008.

How do they bounce back going forward to push this horrible string of mishaps and lack of depth behind them?

It starts with the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes first and foremost. OU is at a big disadvantage with a week until the start of the 2021 season. There’s no real solution for this year outside of hoping walk on Jaden Knowles can be serviceable and eat some carries to spell Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks.

That’s also contingent on Brooks and Gray remaining healthy. Things could get real desperate if one/both is injured at any point.

H-Back Jeremiah Hall will likely see carries this year too. Just maybe a receiver lower on the depth chart converts over or Micah Bowens (transfer QB from Penn State with some real mobility) steps up and becomes a RB.

Regardless, this year’s problems will have to be fixed in house.

2022 will see Raleek Brown, Gavin Sawchuk and possibly one more RB (high school recruit or grad transfer) come in to Oklahoma for next season. One of the duo of Gray and Brooks is almost a lock to leave for the NFL after this season with Brooks being the likely one. Gray could leave if he has the season that many anticipate and the Sooners win the national title.

In that scenario four running backs at minimum would need to find their way to OU next year assuming Marcus Major is eligible next year of course.

Four-star running back Jovantae Barnes out of Las Vegas, Nevada has a close relationship with RB coach Murray. Can Murray seal the deal and fight off Alabama and USC for the young man’s pledge?

In 2023, Treyaun Webb has gotten the ball rolling for running backs. Listed as the nation’s no. 3 RB on 247Sports, Webb is an excellent notch on the belt of Murray as long as he can keep him in the fold for the next two years. Guys like Richard Young and Reuben Owens are other names the Sooners are looking at for the class of 2023.

There’s no doubt some of the issues that OU has faced are completely out of the control of the guys in the program. But as we all know to be true, being proactive instead of reactive is the way to go.

Grinding on the recruiting trail and locking down these recruits will go a long way to providing stability in OU’s running back room and preventing such turnover and uncertainty heading into future seasons.

Twitter reacts to Tre Bradford’s departure from Sooners

Is it business as usual or are the #Sooners championship dreams already over? Twitter had a wide variety of reaction to the surprising news about Tre Bradford.

Just 24 hours ago, we discussed how Marcus Major’s ineligibility would impact OU’s backfield. Now, for the second time in as many days, Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners are suddenly without another running back in Tre Bradford.

Bradford’s unexpected departure leaves running backs coach DeMarco Murray in strange territory. On the one hand, there is no immediate cause for alarm as Oklahoma still possesses two starting-caliber backs in Eric Gray and Kennedy Brooks (with two more four-star prospects on the way in 2022).

On the other hand, the Sooners have no immediate depth. And if something unthinkable were to happen to either Gray or Brooks, then a position of strength within the offense could become an unexpected liability.

As you could imagine, back-to-back blows to the running back room have sent social media into a frenzy. Especially with the season opener versus Tulane just nine days away.

While some are downplaying the Sooners’ bad luck, others declare their title hopes dead before the season even begins.

Others are simply choosing to smile through the pain.

While whispers that Bradford is returning to LSU are nothing more than speculation at this time, here’s what Patrick Conn of LSU Tigers Wire had to say about the notion: 

Given his familiarity with the running back room, could Tre Bradford find his way back to Baton Rouge with LSU? This is pure speculation but it would make sense if he suddenly had a change of heart. Bradford was expected to be the No. 3 for Oklahoma, but with the injury concerns surrounding Tyrion Davis-Price and John Emery Jr, he could see more playing time this season with the Tigers.

Both Bradford’s reason for leaving the Sooners and his desired landing spot is unknown. What we do know, however, is that we haven’t heard the last of this story.  Sooners Wire will provide updates as they are made available.

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Report: Tre Bradford, LSU Transfer is no longer with OU football team

In a bizarre turn of events, the Oklahoma Sooners find themselves down yet another running back.

Categorize this under the  “straight out of left field” category. In the most bizarre set of circumstances it looks like Oklahoma has lost yet another scholarship running back for the 2021 season.

Tre Bradford, who transferred from LSU to OU in June is no longer with the team. According to the OU Daily, the student newspaper at Oklahoma, Bradford had missed the last two practices. The paper reached out to the athletic department for details but received no response.

This news comes absolutely at the worst time as just this week the Sooners coaching staff received news that Marcus Major was ruled academically ineligible for this coming season. In the aforementioned article, Tre Bradford was directly mentioned as someone that would benefit most from the loss of Major. In less than 96 hours Bradford himself is gone.

The Sooners are left with two scholarship running backs in Kennedy Brooks, who returned after opting out due to concerns about COVID and Tennessee transfer Eric Gray. Jaden Knowles, a walk-on running back could see some meaningful carries going forward.

Could Bradford be heading back to LSU in a bizarre happening of events? Our friends at LSUWire speculated it as a very loose possibility. Is there a chance he still ends up playing at Oklahoma this year? That remains to be seen. Whatever the case may be, it’s certain that this is a very unfortunate turn of events for an OU program snakebitten by some tough personnel issues in their RB room.

With less than two weeks until the season, Lincoln Riley and DeMarco Murray are left trying to pick up the pieces as they get ready to try and make a run for a national title.

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5 Sooners featured on ESPN’s top 100 players entering 2021

With talent across the board, 5 Oklahoma Sooners are featured on ESPN’s top 100 players entering 2021.

The Oklahoma Sooners are one of the most talented teams in college football. After a strong finish to the 2020 season and few, albeit significant, losses from that squad, the Sooners take a deep team with rich talent across the board into the 2021 season.

As it has been since he took the job as offensive coordinator, Lincoln Riley’s offense is loaded with skill position players and an offensive line that should be one of the best in college football this season.

On the defensive side of the ball, Alex Grinch has his most talented unit to work with at every level of the defense.

Today, ESPN released their top 100 players entering the 2021 college football season, and five Oklahoma Sooners were featured.

Top 21 players for the Oklahoma Sooners entering 2021

As the Oklahoma Sooners get set to continue their reign atop the Big 12 and contend for a national title, here are the top 21 players for 2021.

Heading into the 2021 season, the Oklahoma Sooners have one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the country. On both sides of the ball, the Sooners have great players throughout the lineup that will make big impacts on Saturdays this fall.

On offense, the Sooners are led by Heisman Trophy front-runner Spencer Rattler and a high-powered passing attack. On defense, the Sooners have four guys that can create havoc in both the running game and rushing the passer.

This is a team that should be one of the more exciting teams to watch with their blend of big-play offense and suffocating defense. With just 15 days until kickoff, let’s take a look at the top 21 Oklahoma Sooners heading into 2021.