Tag: Kobie McKenzie

Isaiah Coe’s message to his teammates following Saturday’s loss? ‘Just keep fighting’

Saturday’s loss was a tough one, but Isaiah Coe has a message for his teammates.

The Oklahoma Sooners fell to the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday in the final Bedlam game for the foreseeable future. It was a heartbreaking loss for the players and the fan base.

The Sooners had plenty of chances to separate themselves and come away with a win, but as we’ve seen too many times in the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]’ era, they were unable to win a close game. That’s beginning to be a bit of a trend for the Sooners. Mistakes that weren’t typical prior to the Red River Rivalry win have plagued Oklahoma in their last three games. It’s no coincidence they’ve gone 1-2 since the bye week.

Isaiah Coe talked about it after the game about what his message is to the team. “Just keep fighting,” Coe said. “The season is not done yet. We’ve still got a couple more games, a bowl game, you know, just keep fighting. Finish strong. Try to finish the course. Do what we came here to do. Have some pride.”

While the loss makes the conference title far more difficult, the Sooners still have a chance to show they are much improved from a season ago. We’ve seen it this year. The defense has taken major steps. Last year they were the No. 122 ranked total defense. In 2023, they’ve improved to No. 60 in the nation. That’s a major jump. They also rank 22nd in scoring defense.

It wasn’t all bad yesterday. Several young players for the Sooners got into the game due to injury and showed what the future might hold for this program. Whether it was [autotag]Kip Lewis[/autotag] with 15 tackles or [autotag]Kobie McKenzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Spear-Jennings[/autotag] with seven tackles a piece, the Sooners’ young stars showed out.

While yesterday’s loss stings, the future is bright. It’s going to be a bumpy road early on, but if they stick with it and let the young guys on the team grow, all of these struggles will be worth it in the end.

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’It’s like night and day’: Jaren Kanak getting more comfortable at linebacker

After showing flashes as a true freshman, Jaren Kanak is feeling more comfortable playing linebacker.

Outside of [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], there could be an entirely new front seven in 2023, per head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. One of those positions could be occupied by Jaren Kanak who would be replacing [autotag]David Ugwoegbu[/autotag].

Kanak will be battling with [autotag]Kobie McKinzie[/autotag] and [autotag]Konnor Near[/autotag] to start in 2023. He was someone that not only was new to playing linebacker last year, but he was also new to playing defense full-time entirely.

In 2022, Kanak showed flashes of one day becoming an elite linebacker with his incredible athletic ability. This offseason he’s work to put it all together. Kanak said this offseason he’s starting to get more comfortable playing linebacker.

“It’s night and day,” Kanak said. “The linebacker room has made a commitment as much as we can to try and learn and get an in-depth knowledge of this defense. Just get out there so we can get comfortable and play fast and fully understand what’s going on around us and use that to our advantage.”

He also believes having Venables with the linebackers during drills in practice makes them want to take advantage of every rep. “Brent’s always watching us, every rep is important,” Kanak said. “We take every rep like it’s a first-team rep like it’s the last rep ever. Having that in the back of our head, even if he’s not watching, the eye in the sky is watching and the eye in the sky doesn’t lie. We all take every rep and every opportunity we get and try to take advantage of that as much as we can.”

There are still a few weeks to go before the start of the season and the battle for this position is over, but Kanak seems to be making waves. But with the addition of “competitive depth” this year, expect multiple people to get their shot during games throughout the season.

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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.