Same problem we've had for several years, no fire in the special times.
Primarily, we refuse to try to block a punt or field goal.
We don't even attempt to block a punt, which, in turn gives the punter
several extra seconds to allow his tacklers to head down field and hang
a higher punt.
This lack of guts spreads through to the whole team and sets the tone
for how much effort the defense and offenses gives us.
There was a time when we blocked punts or made an effort strong enough
that we got into the head of the opponent's punter. Now, we're predictable
and our returns suffer.
I remember part of the 60’s the 70’s the 80’s the 90’s and now the 00’s.
I have seen a lot of good and great football not only from OU but from others as well.
While I do very much appreciate the job Bob Stoops has done at OU, something just isn’t being done right.
There are lots of ideas on why that might be?
IMO it’s mostly about whom he recruits and particularly the poor line recruiting.
But we have seen a great well motivate Alabama team whose roster of players in recent years has been largely made up of players from the state of Alabama.
The 2000 OU Orange bowl team had 12 starters on it from Oklahoma. This team had 4 starters that were former walk-ons and 4 starters were from Texas.
Every OU team that has won a national championship except by a very slim margin in 1985 had a majority of Oklahoma’s on the roster.
You can fact check this here. http://soonerstats.com/
People keep bringing up o-line recruiting when the problem is o-line attrition. If OU had everyone they expected to have on their o-line 2 months ago it would be one of the best in the nation.
I agree that OU needs a special teams coach. Stoops has been stubborn on this and OU's special teams have been terrible for the last 5-6 years.
It would have helped not to have had those players hurt / suspended but much of OU O-line attrition in Stoops time at OU has come for emotional and mentality reasons.
If you’re recruiting OL with the right emotions and mentality it lowers the O-line attrition rates and probably by a lot.
A good evaluatation will do much more than just evaluate physical talent. The best recruiters are good at spotting potential problems and perhaps move on to other players.
With all their natural advantages and except for about 2 QB’s look at how poorly Mack Brown has handled and recruited QB’s.
This stuff has an impact on the win loss records.
This has been a big problem on the team, but I'm trying to remember this being a big problem on the O-line, and I can't remember it... Can you provide examples besides the true freshman from this year? Otherwise, the problems seem to be somewhat minimal. Of the 5 guys that could have contributed 3 were injuries, 1 Juco lineman didn't qualify (but he was always a grade risk), and the freshman quit. Now, WRs is where character has been a huge problem.
This is just off the top of my head…. Most of these players quit, transferred or where kicked off the team. A few others had career ending injuries.There are several more OL who stayed but were but contributed very little.
The attrition is made worse when OU has signed such low numbers of O-linemen in the first place. There have been times when OU has been forced to play O-linemen before they were physically or mentally ready. This has cost OU games. As I previously mentioned most top teams keep more O-linemen on their roster than OU has under Stoops.
This doesn’t include current suspensions / injuries
2002
Abner Estrada
2003
Antonn Reid
Brandon Keith was a starter and 7th round of the 2008 NFL Draft
Akim Millington was a starter
Brian Zimpel kicked off the team
2004
Randy McAdams
James Quinn… scandal
Cameron Schacht
2005
Jesse White
Ben Barresi
Brandon Keith was drafted
2006
Chase Beeler… was drafted
Chad Roark
2007
Alex Williams
Kody Cooke
2008
Britt Mitchell
2009
Jeff Vinson
Josh Aladenoye
2010
2011
Dylan Dismuke
2012
Will Latu
The only thing that impressed me is their secondary and only allowing 37 pass yards
I liked all the mustard talk, I don't know **** about the O Line!
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