quigley

I had to delete the gif because I couldn't type while it was playing. Mims would be hated worse than Riley if he transferred to UT. Apparently less likely that he's leaving, right now.

@FunkSoulBrother Mims would fit most of those criteria. Recently leaning towards staying per the OU 9.95ers. Wease wasn't fast to begin with, and now has had a couple of injuries. Unless he makes an impressive recovery, I don't really care if he stays at OU.

Coombs is gone.

Why is this a positive for UT? Did he not like Bendenbaugh?

He's a terrible position coach too. Ohio St is the Harvard for DB: attract great talent and let the talent compete -- with such a high baseline level, the winners will have to be excellent. And it's obvious that Coombs is the coach who leaving. Coombs doesn't have a role moving forward.

Isn't that the likely outcome? Coombs is a great recruiter, but a terrible position coach.

Is there a reason UT (and I think OU) backed off? Is he just not that good?

Even if CW stays, the rationale (the weak rationale) for not taking at 2022 QB is now gone was the 2023 commit has de-committed.

Or apparently now, USC (shrug emoji)

I repeated with Schulz2.0 said.

2015 was the mirage season for OU's defense, specifically the DBs. The Sooners played three ranked teams with potent offenses to end the season, but all three teams lost their starting QBs (Baylor, TCU, OkSt). What happened the next two years that led him to be fired? How did he recruit? Why was Tech his next landing spot? Why couldn't he get an on the field gig after getting let go there? Context is everything.

From an OU fan, sounds like Rovelle is serving as a mouthpiece for schools recruiting against UT. His arguments seem lame. He runs like he's in pain. Why would he allow video of him running to be posted on the internet?

Putting him in the cocaine capitol of North America is not a great idea.

Kerry Cooks will replace Raymond. Cooks coached the most comedic DB play I've ever seen during his tenure at OU (2014-17). He was an analyst for the last couple of years. There is the potential for a cataclysmic fall off in secondary play based on Cooks track record. WOW

FIFY

We agree about the defense, but the bar isn't that high there. OU's defense was in the 56th by advanced metrics (average of FPI, SP+, FEI). I feel confident OU hits the rather low bar of "stable production" on defense, but there is the possibility of improvement if there isn't a massive portal exodus. The offense has already seen massive flux, and is likely to see more so I have little certainty here. Riley's last OU offense was very good by advanced stats (9th averaging FPI, SP+, FEI), but not outstanding. But good defenses had figured out that you could play a drop 7 zone shell with a spy for Williams. Versus defenses that would play this way, Sooners couldn't beat you running the ball, and Williams couldn't throw with timing and accuracy. I think there's a less than 50% chance that Williams stays. If he does, he'll continue to show the growth that, looking closely, you could already see from the Baylor to Ok St game. If he stays, the odds of Mims and Mario Williams staying improve. Those are the only two receivers I care about. Other than those two, it'll be more important that Braydon Willis (TE/HB) stays than any of the other pass catchers. I assume Kennedy Brooks will go pro, but OU has one RB recruit who's already said he's sticking with the Sooners (Sawchuk, #5 back nationally) and another who remains a Sooner lean (Barnes, #10 nationally). Brooks was good, not great. The OL keeps their coach, and may have an easier system to master. Lebby's version of the of the veer-and-shoot is attractive to throwers, catchers and runners. The portal taketh (?Caleb Williams) and the portal giveth (?Dillon Gabriel). Keeping a top 10 offense will be hard, but OU's inability to punish specific defensive schemes showed this year. If the offense has more diversity, some regression overall may not matter that much to the overall record.

Kyler Murray had an all-time season in his one year as starter. His offense averaged 48 points per game. His passer rating was 199, and he averaged 7 yds/carry on about 10 carries a game (none of the rushing numbers are sack adjusted). Watson's offenses averaged 27, 37, and 37 points per game in the weak ACC. His passer rating dropped from 190 to 155 to 150 his final year. There were some people questioning his ability as a passer. He was a strong, but not explosive runner who averaged 4.4 yds/carry on about 10 carries a game. Lawrence's offense's averaged about 45 points per game, again in the weaker ACC. His passer rating was in the 150 - 160 range throughout. He is an excellent runner with power and long speed and had about 7 carries a game and averaged 4 yds/carry. You can split hairs between them. Kyler is at least a in the ballpark.

Don't care. I think the speculation is stupid and distracts from the task at hand.

The same argument was made by UT fans here after the 2019 season when OU lost Murray (1st rnd) and Gallimore (3rd rnd). The same argument was made by UT fans here about the OU DBs after the 2020 season when OU lost Tre Brown and Tre Norwood, both of whom played in the League. OU's defense improved in 2020 and the DB were a push last year. The overall point is that OU' can realize immediate benefit because they're recruited pretty well and there are two glaring inefficiencies: - maddening personnel decisions over the last couple of years, especially in the defensive backfield. - poor development of talent in the back 7 OU loses AT LEAST 6 defensive starters from last game: DL Isaiah Thomas, Winfrey, Bonitto DB Turner-Yell (possibly), Fields, Broiles Winfrey was overall underwhelming. The Sooners have JAGs that did as well as he did coming back. Bonitto and Thomas will be missed, but if Jalen Redmond comes back and is in shape, he can give you a good Thomas impression. Grimes and Clayton Smith will replace Bonitto, and I'm excited to see both of them. Turner-Yell was by far their best S/NB. He may come back, and if he does, I hope to see him as NB against teams that play smaller receivers in the slot and don't run much. He covers well (not great), but he doesn't tackle well in space, which is a pretty important job for a safety. OU's got several good options to replace Fields and Broiles. Both were effort guys, but should've been supplanted by more talented guys developed in the system. I think you'll get an improvement in LB play at least with Venables coming in. LB play and development was a hallmark of his time at OU (Marshell, Calmus, Lehman, Mitchell, Ingram, Alexander, Lofton, Harris, Clayton) and at Clemson (O'Daniel, Anthony, Boulware, Simmons). OU's LBs looked lost in coverage, especially zone. This will improve. I'm assuming the back 7 will be better because of the above points. The DL has talent on the edges to approximate the production of Bonitto and Thomas, and the DTs just need to be their JAG-selves again.

The imprint of the 2018 line was set prior to that season because all the players had been together (Creed was there for only a year). The great point is that Bendenbaugh's OU OL were better from 2014-2017 than they've been since that 2018 class left despite the "star ratings" of the recruits.

Bedenbaugh's best OLs played when he and Schmidt (apparently) had tension, right? What do you think about Schmidt returning? I'm ambivalent about the "A Team"- like approach that's being executed. I hope Schmidt has updated some of his demeaning tactics in the last few years. I guess Lebby's hire means his reputation post-Baylor has been rehabilitated.

This was known. There were thoughts that Winfrey would go pro last year. If OU can keep the portal defections down, there may be overall improvement in the defense.

To save you the trouble, from OU's 9.95ers or publicly, three more commits have indicated they're at least wavering: Gentry Williams (top 100 guy), Kip Lewis, and Xavion Brice. This is not unique. LSU's had players leave too. The portal will be interesting this year.

I would give Thibbs credit for Kevin Gilliam and Ethan Downs also, both of whom seem promising and seem to be relatively scheme flexible also. The firing of Thibodeaux had to hurt both of them because Thibbs played for Venables at OU. I view Cain as the bigger loss. If Todd Bates (current Clemson DL coach) ends up as DL coach, and can recruit like he did at Clemson, it won't matter.

Should've had a plan on the plane coming down.