Tag: Troy Everett

Can Oklahoma Sooners running game find more success vs. Tulsa?

The running game for the Oklahoma Sooners was thought to be a positive heading into the season but so far hasn’t lived up to the hype.

After a great opening week performance by the Oklahoma Sooners’ offensive line, they put together a poor follow-up one this past Saturday. This offensive line could be one of the better units we’ve seen in recent memory.

The Sooners’ pass protection was pretty good, allowing only one sack and few hurries, but the run game didn’t hold up to their standard. The Sooners averaged only four yards per carry and were tackled for a loss three times.

McKade Mettauer told reporters that performance wasn’t acceptable.

“It wasn’t our best game,” Mettauer said. “We didn’t rush for five yards per carry which is our goal. We need to be better with penalties. Really changed our mentality. We had good effort on Saturday, but that’s not good enough for us to play the way that we need to play, especially with stuff like the running game, where we need to dominate. So, I think clean up penalties and change our mentality, knowing we need to have a really good effort like we have, but we need to clean up our technique.”

With five yards per carry being the goal, the Sooners have actually yet to hit that mark. In Week 1, the Sooners averaged 4.5 yards per carry which was probably the only negative from the week one win over Arkansas State.

If five yards per carry is the standard, then the Oklahoma Sooners aren’t meeting their own expectations to start 2023. For Oklahoma to have success this season, the offensive line will need to find more consistency on the ground.

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Oklahoma Sooners offensive line looks to get back on track in Week 3 vs. Tulsa

The Oklahoma Sooners offensive line looks to get back on track after underperforming Week 2.

The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off a bizarre offensive performance against the SMU Mustangs. Many thought the Sooners would dominate but that just wasn’t the case.

The most bizarre thing was how the offensive line seemed to get barely any push and rarely created holes. This is an offensive line that has been touted as one of the better ones Oklahoma has had in the last few years, which is saying something.

Offensive tackle Walter Rouse spoke with reporters after practice on Tuesday and said they have to be better going forward.

“Obviously, it’s always good to get a win. But when I say this, I mean the utmost respect for SMU with the type of program that I believe we can be and the type of program all of the coaches know we can be is that I think we could have done a lot better,” Rouse said. “I feel like we should have put that game away a lot earlier.”

Rouse went on to say he felt the effort and want to was there, but the technique needs improvement. The Sooners will take on a Tulsa team that generated a lot of pressure in their first game but didn’t last week against the Washington Huskies.

That is to be expected as Washington’s quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was only hit 16 times a season ago. The Sooners are going to need to duplicate that performance this week.

“Tulsa is going to come out and give us everything they have,” Rouse said. “(They will) show us things we’ve never seen before. We have to respect them, respect their defensive line and come out with good technique.”

The Sooners offensive line will get that opportunity for redemption this Saturday on their first road trip of the season. There’s little doubt the offensive line will play well. Because if there’s one position group that deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s the offensive line led by [autotag]Bill Bedenbaugh[/autotag].

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Report Card: Defense flies high, offense stuck in a rut in 28-11 win over SMU

In our report card for Oklahoma’s performance against SMU, the defense leads the way with the highest marks.

The offense didn’t put its best foot forward in the Sooners 28-11 win over SMU. However, the defense kept Oklahoma in control until the Sooners were able to put together a couple of late scoring drives to seal the win.

Oklahoma knows it will have to play better as the season wears on. They’ll need to improve in all three phases to be in the mix for a Big 12 title berth in November. But for this game, it was enough.

Instead of a shootout, we got a game where neither team even scratched 40 points.

Here’s how each position group graded out in the 28-11 win over SMU.

Offensive line hopes to anchor the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners

The offensive line is crucial to what every team wants to do offensively. Ever since Bill Bedenbaugh came to town it’s arguably been the strength of the Oklahoma Sooners.

Another day and another position group. This one is the position that doesn’t get enough credit, but it might be the most fun position to talk about.

The offensive line is crucial to what every team wants to do offensively. Ever since Bill Bedenbaugh came to town, it’s arguably been the strength of the Oklahoma Sooners.

But the Sooners will have their work cut out for them as they replace three starters from last year’s team. [autotag]Anton Harrison[/autotag], [autotag]Wanya Morris[/autotag] and [autotag]Chris Murray[/autotag] are gone.

They added transfer [autotag]Walter Rouse[/autotag] from the Stanford Cardinal to fill Harrison’s spot at left tackle. He comes in with a ton of experience and should help lessen the blow of losing Harrison.

[autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag] will slide into the right tackle spot replacing Morris. Guyton played a great deal at the position early in the season when Morris was out. They love his upside, and he has the potential to be a future first-round pick. He’s extremely athletic but needs to improve on his technique. He’s poised for a breakout season in 2023.

The replacement for Murray is a little trickier. Bedenbaugh doesn’t like to show his hand this early, but all signs point to Savion Byrd taking that role.

Byrd is a violent blocker. He’s reminiscent of how the 2018 line played: They just mauled you. Now, he has some technique work to do, but his performance against Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl was fun to watch. If he can refine some of his technique, he could be special.

I know [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag] started most of the games at left guard, but I think for this team to really have a dominant offensive line, someone like [autotag]Jake Taylor[/autotag] needs to take over.

You know exactly what you’ll get from Mettauer. He’s a steady piece with a lot of experience, but he doesn’t have the upside Taylor has. That guy can be similar to Byrd. He just plays mean.

The Sooners also bring back center [autotag]Andrew Raym[/autotag], who brings significant experience. He should be able to help solidify this line as it navigates the turnover experienced this offseason.

They also add transfers [autotag]Troy Everett[/autotag] from the Appalachian State Mountaineers and [autotag]Caleb Shaffer[/autotag] from the Miami (Oh.) RedHawks. Both of those guys will add depth to the line and should play a role on this team.

If you want to talk about some fun video, turn on Everett’s tape versus the Texas A&M Aggies. You’ll thank me later.

All in all, the Sooners have a lot of depth and have the potential to roll out the best offensive line in Norman since that elite 2018 line. Now, they still have to put things together, and players will have to progress the way a lot of people think they can, but the potential is there.

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Appalachian State transfer OL Troy Everett Commits to Oklahoma Sooners

Appalachian State transfer OL Troy Everett commits to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Troy Everett commits to Oklahoma out of the transfer portal after transferring away from Appalachian State. He was an offensive lineman for the Mountaineers and was just a redshirt freshman last season, so he has four years of eligibility left.

He started the first six games of the season at center for the Mountaineers and saw time in 10 of the 12 games in 2022. His first two starts came against North Carolina and Texas A&M. Appalachian State rushed for 288 yards against North Carolina then the Mountaineers ran the ball down Texas A&M’s throat in the fourth quarter to ice the game against the Aggies.

Everett totaled 478 offensive snaps and only allowed one sack in 262 pass-blocking snaps. Quality offensive line play is hard to come by, especially on the interiors. At 6-foot-3, 290 pounds he had a lot of interest.

Virginia Tech, Louisville, Maryland, Missouri, and Illinois were just a handful of the schools that Oklahoma beat out for his services.

This fit is great because of Bill Bedenbaugh’s past pedigree as an offensive line coach. He might be the best developers of offensive line talent in all of college football. That was on full display when he sent two offensive linemen to the NFL in last week’s draft.

Everett was a much-needed piece that helps fortify the line, especially with depth. With injuries along the offensive line, the Sooners needed more depth. The spring game didn’t create confidence in the depth along the offensive line, and now the Sooners have an experienced piece to add to the mix.

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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 Jake on Twitter @jake_faigus