20 Comments

      • Matt

        Not sure what you mean, every clip has a play from Alabama and a corresponding clip of the play in Oklahoma’s offense.

        • ianaboyd

          Oh wow, missed that the first time around.

          However, if you watch them you’ll see Hurts execute them poorly and then Murray or Mayfield executing them well. Some of the reads and whatnot will be familiar, he’s right that some of the Air Raid passes are mainstream now, but how they are executed, when they’re called, how they’re run, that varies a lot.

  1. Matt

    Check out Jon Michael Terry’s play in the spring game. I’m curious to know what you think. He looked really good at the Jack spot. He covered Basquine and Brooks well on separate occasions and then beat both Ealy and Swenson on separate pass rush snaps. He could have a break out year there.

    • ianaboyd

      I guess that leaves Perkins to play down at DE though? Every configuration I’ve heard turns Perkins into a guy that has to hit interior gaps, which is a hard knock life.

      • matt

        I know you see him differently but to me Perkins is best at the DE spot. I haven’t seen the burst and bend from Perkins to win consistently on the edge. Terry looks like the better bet at Jack to me. I think if Redmond is healthy he ends up starting at Jack though.

        • ianaboyd

          I get that on the other jacks I just dont know if he can hold up yet inside. That can be tough, Sooner fans have collected some gifs of Hager’s struggles in that role and he was a warrior and a 270 pound senior that bulked up to do that in 2018. Still tore his shoulder and had some injuries and then got thrown down a lot by Cody Ford.

          • matt

            I think Perkins is just a different body type than Hager (no disrespect, RIP) was though. Perkins has a huge pair of legs and ass on him whereas Hager looked to carry a lot more weight in his upper body.He definitely may not work inside but in my eyes he looked better there than on the edge.

          • ianaboyd

            Dude was retweeting a deal about being the sack leader at OU with a “more to come!” tag. Currently listed at 253 and clearly wants to rush the passer. How’s he going to take to bulking up and being asked to plug B-gaps?

            LOL at RIP

  2. Matt

    I mean I’m just speculating based on what I’ve seen with my admittedly uneducated eyes. I have no idea what they’re plan for him in terms of weight is. They had Gallimore lose 30 lbs in the spring. Also, he could still like being a sack artist from the interior. Tapper had 7 sacks there in ‘15 in a defense that basically only wanted to bull rush so I think Perkins could be successful in this defense that wants to get upfield. In HS, he didn’t play on the edge either though. He played in a 34 DE spot. To me, he looks like he could win outside against Tackles I just don’t think he’s who you want trying to turn the corner on OTs.

    • ianaboyd

      Tapper was massive in 2015 though, he was 6-4, 285 by then. Perkins was pretty good and quick on the edge last year, if he gains weight he could be good inside as well but you’re talking about the most proven edge player on the team not being able to perform there anymore and also potentially going to a spot where he won’t be as effective. It’s a double whammy as you lose the best edge guy (maybe) and you aren’t good inside either as he’s probably not as good as Amani Bledsoe was in 2019.

  3. matt

    Tapper actually measured in at 6 2.5 at the combine and was only 270 then. He could’ve shed weight after he left OU though. I rewatched his HS tape and Perkins actually played a good amount at nose too. He may not be Bledsoe’s level in 2019 but I think he has a higher ceiling than Bledsoe there. He was the best Jack they had in ’18 but only because Jackson couldn’t hold up in the run game. I thought Perkins was pretty limited there as a pass rusher and extremely limited there in coverage. I think the biggest thing you are losing at Jack by moving Perkins was his run support not so much his pass rush. That brings me back to my original point in that I think JMT is the jack they were missing last year. Most people think Redmond will beat out JMT if he’s healthy but in the spring JMT looked really good there and that would allow Perkins to play on the line where he has his highest upside IMO. We’ve basically come full circle on this discussion haha. We’ll just have to agree to disagree I think. It sounds like we have fundamental differences in how we view Perkins so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

    • ianaboyd

      If Perkins is good at SDE that’s a win. I don’t recall impressions of JMT at jack, I’ll have to review or wait I guess.

      • ryan

        One thing you’re missing is Grinch doesn’t just run Tite front all game like Texas. So Perkins won’t constantly be plugging B gaps.

        Redmond will be at Rush, Perkins at SDE, Gallimore at one of the interior positions and my money is on Stokes for the other. Could also be Overton, just depends how they want to use Gallimore. I think speed wins.

        Perkins was at SDE for the spring game, fwiw.

        • ianaboyd

          I’m not missing that, I know they don’t plan to sit in the tite front. But playing SDE is still a chore in terms of the physical taxation, particularly in a scheme that will send him inside.

          I think the rush to anoint Redmond the starting rush LB is a bit premature, dude hasn’t been playing at all, no? How quickly is he going to take to starting in this defense in a single fall? Plus they have other guys there that are competing, like JMT who’s drawn positive reviews. Stokes as another interior DL makes sense, I bet he replaces Mann who was really weak in 2018.

          So probably they come out with Perkins to the field, Gallimore at the nose, then Stokes as the boundary DE regularly stunting into a 3-technique with the rush LB on his outside hip.

          • ryan

            Oh I don’t think Redmond wins the spot by week 1, he’s got some work to do to get back in game shape. But I think he’s there by the meat of the season. I’d guess he’s the starter by RRS. Mark Jackson probably starts before then.

            Mann is out, he had shoulder surgery and won’t be back until midseason.

            I wouldn’t call the boundary lineman a DE, when they’ll be inside nearly every snap. But yes, that’s where I see Stokes. Other fans predict Gallimore moves to 3T and Overton/Faamatau at NT. Like I said, I think speed wins.

          • ianaboyd

            Yup, that all makes sense to me. And yeah, I think speed wins as well. The goal here is to be able to create multiple fronts and try to keep offenses from keying in with their blocking schemes. If you don’t have the guys to hold the point across the front there isn’t as much value in playing one such guy with speed elsewhere. You want to either approach things aiming to use movement to help speed players or asking bigger dudes to hold the point. If you vacillate between those two (save for situational ball where obviously you may want to stick your sturdy guys out there) then you’re always presenting a weak spot either with Overton/Faamatau as non-threats in the stunt game or with Stokes/Perkins as easy pickings in the “hold your ground” approach.

  4. Jim Mulholland

    I didn’t see the whole Oklahoma/Army game, never was able to get a feel for it (though the silence of the crowd late in the game was notable via radio)

    But in reviewing the stats, TOP obviously jumps out at you, then again, OK punted only once…
    Is it as simple as “slow the game way down and be close at the end”?

    Was OK just “off” that week?
    It seems like there is something else at work here.
    If K-State goes big and plays slow in the Big 12, could they reproduce the results?
    Should every disadvantaged program run the option?
    Army’s run defense ranked 4th last year(?!)
    Pass defense 43rd.
    I feel like Monken has figured something else out.
    Maybe TOP has more benefits than we realize. I would love to read your take on it

    • ianaboyd

      Winning via the triple option like Army tries to do is pretty tough. Certainly it’s not appealing for bigger programs because you can’t recruit top players that way, at least not on offense. Part of what Monken has figured out is to go for it on 4th down all the time, that’s how they maintain possession so well.

      Oklahoma had little to no idea of how to defend the option and they were kinda soft and undisciplined up front as a rule regardless so it was a perfect matchup to expose their weak spots. Also Army really slows things down. That might be a path to permanent “we’re always interesting” status for a smaller program but anyone with bigger aspirations or access to recruiting in Texas has better options.

Comments are closed.