 "Photo: Chris Kominczak")
Sooners still favored in South
After winning three of the last four Big 12 championships, the Oklahoma Sooners were picked to finish first in the South division in the Big 12 media poll.
Coach Bob Stoops and senior offensive lineman Jon Cooper, defensive back Nic Harris and receiver Manuel Johnson addressed the media Wednesday.
"I think the sky is the limit for this team," Cooper said. "We have so many good players returning and even the players that are not returning starters are very good and while they are unproven, they are certainly proven to us."
Sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford, the nation's leader in pass efficiency, returns to lead the offense. While the team lost Allen Patrick at running back, junior Chris Brown and sophomore DeMarco Murray should be able to shoulder the load. Murray rushed for 764 yards as a freshman, and he is recovering from an injury.
"According to him and our trainers he is on schedule and everything, is good and he feels great," Stoops said. "He's an explosive, exciting player. He's just one of those athletes that everyone notices the great speed and moves he has."
Junior defensive end Auston English is expected to wreak havoc for the defense up front, while Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes will shore up the secondary. After being sent home from the team's bowl game due to an off-the-field-issue, All-Big 12 defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger returns for his junior season.
"He's done everything we've asked of him in the offseason," Stoops said. "He's working to become the type of player and guy we want on this team. He's a physical force for us inside."
No-huddle offense for Sooners
For Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops to remain on top as long as he has. It's taken a lot of innovation and changing with the times.
With the new NCAA rule of using a 40-second clock after the last play is over rather than using a 25-second clock once the ball is set, the Sooners are going to a no-huddle offense to try to get in more plays.
"More and more teams are doing it, and it makes it harder on defenses and helps quarterbacks establish pocket presence and get in a rhythm," Stoops said. "It changes how you operate at the line of scrimmage though. We have to get plays in quick since in college we don't have a transmitter to get plays in. It's all through signals. Of course we'll be smart with it and we're not going to hurry up when we have a pretty big lead late in the game."
Changing the offensive strategy won't be an issue for the players.
"It's been a gradual change," said senior wide receiver Manuel Johnson. "We've been doing it more and more and now we're just going to go with it outright. I'm excited about all the things we are going to be able to do with our offense this year."
Chizik gaining experience
Former Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, who won a national championship while at Texas, is confident despite coming off a 3-9 season in his first year.
That confidence comes after now having a full year under his belt as Iowa State's head coach.
"I made a journal of that first year and am looking back to see what I did right and what I did wrong, and that's really helped," Chizik said. "A lot of the questions last year were hypotheticals for me because I really didn't know what to expect. We feel like the foundation has been laid and we're ready to go down the road. We're ready to get the season underway."
Chizik reunited with Mack Brown while in Kansas City and says he speaks with the coach on a regular basis.
Video games over playbooks
New coach Art Briles takes over at Baylor this season from Houston and with him comes a complete overhaul of the playbook.
Literally. Briles has gotten rid of the playbook altogether and will coach without one just like he did at Houston. Briles has a video-game system set up to show players the plays instead.
"In my experience, if you give a young guy a 300-page book and a video game, they'll play the video game instead," Briles said. "It's a good learning tool for them to visualize things. It has all our base offenses and then we just make modifications to those in practices and throughout the games. We probably coach a lot different than any other school in the Big 12."
The players don't seemed to mind.
"I like the video system because I can pause it when I need to see things better and it helps us line up better on the field," said senior offensive tackle Jason Smith. "When things are drawn up on paper it doesn't necessarily translate to the field, or at least that's been my experience. I think this way is a better tool and a lot easier."
Who will be running Briles' innovative offense has yet to be determined. Blake Szymanski, who is ranked 12th among Baylor's all-time passing leaders heading into his junior year, will face off against senior Miami transfer Kirby Freeman for the job. Highly touted freshman Robert Griffin will also get a chance at the position.
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