11 Comments

  1. Travis

    My first impression is that the Big XII defenses seem as strong now as they’ve been in a while. It could be recency bias, but still. The front 7s in particular; I can’t really think of a team that is likely to get pushed around regardless of who they face in a bowl game.

    With so many of the teams being about the same quality this year, it makes sense that the All-Big 12 teams are hard to pick. The only guys I’d probably swap with someone else are Ramon Richards, Eli Howard, and Rodney Anderson (I think Justice Hill would do similar if not better things in that offense).

    Nice job on the shoutout to Ira Lewis. He was sneaky good this year with 16.5 TFL and 5.5 sacks, a lot of that out of a 3 man front. Bears should have quite a few contenders next season with Denzel Mims, Ira Lewis, Clay Johnston, Grayland Arnold (really came on late in the year), and who knows what a full season of Chris Platt and new WR Jalen Hurd look like.

  2. jobhr

    OU’s OL was so deep this year that they redshirted a senior who’d started in the past (Alvarez). Because of this depth, it’s unlikely that Moore or Walker see the field next year. OU’s got two classes of apparently serviceable OTs that are waiting in front of them.

    In addition, a reasonable (to me preferable) strategy would be for the Sooners to roll out the following lineup to start the game (L to R): Evans-Powers-Humphrey-Ford-Samia. This gets five experienced players on the field to start. Then bring in Swenson or Ealy to right tackle. Samia sits for a series and then slides to the guard subbing out Powers and Ford for a series.

    I’m a big proponent of rotating OL to plan for injuries (OU’s been really fortunate on this front this year) and build reps. This strategy would allow this.

  3. jobhr

    One feature of OU’s RB recently is tremendous core strength. That’s the strength you need withstand bump tackles and move forward. Anderson, Adams, Sermon, Perine, and Mixon all have it.

    For the Sooners, they are relying on their running game for efficiency, and this is a very important skill for efficient backs.

    I imagine OU’s recruiting players who have this (Perine and Sermon), or who the staff projects can develop it.

  4. System Poster

    Your list really is so much better than that put out by the coaches and media folks, both from the positions awarded to the actual attention to detail. Great to see Eli Howard getting some love. He really had a great season and made a bunch of splash plays from a position where that’s not typical.

    Out of curiosity, do you give the PFF weekly rankings a look when you compile your list?

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