26 Comments

  1. It’s already being reported that C Kelly and Ugwoegbu are going to move to the mike spot to replace Murray. Did you have any thoughts on the fact that sooners get Norwood and the #1 juco safety for their secondary next year?

    • ianaboyd

      #1 JUCO safety you say? Didn’t realize that. I actually just heard that Dashaun White will slide over to mike and then Kelly and Asamoah will be the wills. I like Kelly for will in the OU D, that’s the only true, full-time ILB in this defense if they run it back like they did last year.

      • JB

        Ian, appreciate your B12 analysis and all the articles you post here.
        I have read/heard the same as far as linebackers are concerned – White at Mike and Kelly at Will. Kelly actually played Will in the peach bowl and B12 championship game.
        You are actually more bullish on the 2020 OU defense than I am (OU loses the 3 best players in the front 7), but I guess its relative to how the rest of the league is going to look like.
        Word out of Norman is that Barnes red-shirted this year to put on weight so that he can move to..drum roll…..LB. I believe you predicted this in your recruiting class analysis a few years back. Kudos! My suspicion is that Jamal Morris (the other 6’2″ DB) is also headed in this direction.

        What do you think of Norwood as the Nickel? Probably needs to protected in the run game is my guess. He played that position in the B12 championship game against Texas and did okay in the pass game. Or who on the OU roster/recruits besides Bookie would you put there?

        • ianaboyd

          Norwood would surely be an upgrade over Bookie, he can do most of the same things plus he isn’t a punk.

          I forgot about Barnes, him moving to LB obviously makes a ton of sense. I like what they’re building at LB, a little worried about safety although I’ve always liked DTY.

          They’re losing some special athletes up front, that’s tough, but they have some other ones that could make a leap and I think the overall unit and mastery of the system will be better.

          My main concern now after watching the LSU game more carefully is replacing Parnell Motley. That’s probably the bigger area to watch than anything else with OU is whether they have a guy that can lock down his side of the field and let them roll coverage?

          • JB

            Good point regarding Motley. It will be interesting to see if Tre Brown can make take that development step.

  2. R

    Can Texas not have an LSU-lite surge? The talent is clearly there and needs to be unlocked with the right staff

    I’m not sure if the new coordinators are the right ones but it seems like the team could make a leap

  3. Clayton Davis

    Thought Proctor was done for OU, since he was a grad transfer who already played 3 years in the ACC. Still should have a lot of returning experience at OL, plus solid depth.

    • ianaboyd

      Is he? Oh well, he wasn’t even that good anyways. Just a versatile stopgap. I mean you love having guys like that but he wasn’t going to be all-conference.

      • Clayton Davis

        I think the concern is that he seems to have taken over for Swenson, who actually is returning. There’s some talent behind him though, and Bedenbaugh isn’t afraid to shuffle the line around either.

        • JB

          I believe Swenson played hurt most of the season; what I have heard is that its his shoulder. That’s one of the reasons Proctor played as much as he did. The other reason being neither Simpson nor Walker stepped up. Something to keep in mind is that Swenson suffered a shoulder injury coming out of HS.

          • ianaboyd

            That’s not good, it’ll be interesting to track if he can get that healthy or not.

            I think Wilkins is the hope there, Walker has not impressed.

  4. Brandon

    It’s beginning to sound like Hubbard may be returning next season.

    Also starting to sound like Todd Monken is going to return to the Cowboys. I think Gleeson has a deal with Rutgers. Monken would be a huge get. Dunn has decided to stay with OSU.

      • Brandon

        What would you make of Monken coming back?

        He’s held as a legend in the eyes of OSU fans. The guy is pretty damn talented and took that 2010 offense to the next level the following year. Our offense in 2012 with a revolving door of QBs was also really good.

        Things have changed a lot since 2012. Super curious what a Monken college offense looks like in 2020.

        Also forgot to add we picked up Josh Sills from WVU and grabbed a talented young lineman/linebacker from Arkansas.

        If Monken is truly returning, it seems like Gundy is going all in on 2020.

        • ianaboyd

          My memory of Monken is that he did a good job of maintaining the Holgorsen offense and then bailed for a new job. 2012 would be more the year to watch, in 2011 he got go run things back with Weeden and Blackmon.

          Josh sills flipped?

  5. Andrew

    It’s true that BU has a lot of questions, including:
    1) What will the OL look like or be able to do next year?
    2) What will the QB situation will be next year? (If CB is out & Zeno gets QB1, then will Bohannon transfer out to Arkansas?)
    3) How will the staff close out recruiting with HS, transfer portal & JUCO guys?

    Other than Rhule being back, the OL is important since it’s the lynchpin of their playbook. Everything they are trying to call is based on having a stout line. The OL actually has to block, open holes & protect the QB long enough to not have any concussions. They were very inconsistent this year, even if they improved a bit.

    • ianaboyd

      Totally agree. I think that the OL is an area for a lot of optimism though. With Galvin, Phillips, Bedier, Newman, Pines, and the Poly guy who’s name I don’t recall all back they’re virtually a lock to improve by at least some margin.

      I bet that Rhule leaves and the new guy uses the transfer portal to fill in some holes and make sure they can give a good go of things in year one. The argument for promoting McGuire would basically be that he knows where the program’s at right now and could get that process going more quickly and precisely than a new guy that needs to learn the roster first.

      Then if McGuire is bad they could have him as interim and replace him, or else lock him up if he’s doing a good job.

      • Andrew

        I guess we’ll see about the OL. I’m hoping they are consistently above average for a top 25 not just a B12 team. To me, other than CMR staying, that is key. You can’t establish the run game, pass to WRs in longer developing routes, or to TEs.

        I really think having McGuire as the annointed one will be supremely helpful in maintaining some sort of sustainability or even a modicum of consistency depending on how many in the staff CMR takes with him. McGuire has a defensive background & knows the TX HS offense in & out. He’ll carry forward a lot of the culture & process. He’ll also make whatever changes he seems necessary (not sure what though). I think the only way CMR leaves is if he can have an agreement for a minimum of 3-4 years to establish what he wants, personnel/staff decision & control, & the backing of ownership. I’m sure a nice $ payday helps, but he’s making more than at least half of NFL coaches.

        • ianaboyd

          Sounds like Rhule has the leverage to get what he wants from the Giants, so I imagine that he will and then he’ll take it. Stuff has floated out here and there about him staying in Waco but it’s always non-committal and when that and his contract numbers leaked out they seemed design to push his leverage with the Giants more than anything. “Hey, I’ll stay here. Waco is great, I’ve moved my NY fam down and we have a boat I can take on the Brazos made out of cash.”

          I don’t know much about McGuire. I know he moved to DEs this year and those guys certainly played well. They played pretty decent previous years too though, they just didn’t have any talent. If they like him tho it makes sense to give him an interim tag for 2020 kinda like Grobe and then lock him down if he’s good.

          If they already think he’s great they should lock him down before the season because if they slip in 2020, which I think is likely, then there will be pressure to use the purse to chase a bigger name and they could waste him.

          • Andrew

            Yeah, that’s the other part of Rhule leaving. Rhoades isn’t dumb & I’m sure has a short list of very capable candidates, but it’s late in the dance unless they do the interim bit to snatch someone up prior to the end of the 2020 season. I really doubt Gettleman will give up control of his area to Rhule, but if they want him that bad & he can bring some good staff, ownership may decide to tell Gettleman to play nice or leave. I guess we’ll see what happens the next week or 2. I’m just tired of the yearly should I stay or should I go noncommittal BS. Pick one & go from there, I really don’t care what he wants since he’s getting paid CFP $ & we ain’t there yet.

    • ianaboyd

      Dang. And he missed most of this season so he may have 2 years left. That’s quite a steal.

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