The Oklahoma Sooners opened spring practice on Tuesday, hoping to build off the momentum of last year's Big 12 title and Sugar Bowl win. They have plenty of turnover, especially at the skill positions on offense, making this a crucial spring for the Sooners. Here is all the latest Oklahoma news & rumors you need to know:
Sooners shifting to 4-3 defense
Oklahoma is making the shift from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 defense for the upcoming season, according to Brooke Pryor of The Oklahoman.
When spring practice opens Tuesday, Oklahoma will be working to limit those five-man defensive sets, commonly known as a 50, 5-2 or 5-3 scheme, and operate mainly out of a 4-3 defense in an effort to get pressure on the quarterback more often. To run a 50 set next season, OU will have to bring up just one linebacker to join the four down linemen rather than two.
“We said we want to be more of a four-man front primarily, then sprinkle a little bit of the 50 depending on the sets we're getting,” coach Bob Stoops said Monday, a day ahead of OU's first spring practice. “We just feel we can hopefully get a little more base pressure, with more teams that are playing with three wideouts that we see.
“People go bigger and want to be more run-oriented, we'll still have our 50 to go to go as well. In the past, we've been a little more 50 than four-man fronts. We want to reverse that.”
While many teams in FBS football are instituting 3-4 defenses to combat the rise of the spread offense, Stoops is going old school.
Stoops said that there is still a place for the 3-4 defense and they will use it some, but they will be operating out of it much less.
Oklahoma receivers confident about replacing Westbrook
One of the big guns the Sooners have to replace this year is star wide receiver Dede Westbrook, but none of the receivers or offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley are concerned about that, according to Kelli Stacy of OUDaily.com.
Two receivers who may be able to give the Sooners more production are senior Jeffrey Mead and redshirt senior Jordan Smallwood. Smallwood said that both he and Mead understand it’s their job to step up as older members of the team.
“It’s my turn to step up and Dede was telling all of us older guys ‘I’m leaving now so you guys have got to work’ so that’s the whole idea now is to work to fill in those shoes because we had the best wide receiver in the country here,” Smallwood said. “He gave us a new level to reach (for) and we’re about to try to reach it.”...
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said he’s not concerned with finding a go-to receiver like Westbrook, but he’s also not concerned with spreading the ball around.
“You just need guys that can win in one-on-one situations and that can make plays,” Riley said. “Regardless of if one guy has a huge year like he did or it becomes more balanced, it doesn’t matter. It’s all about whether you get the production or not so we’re not sitting there saying we need some guy to go replicate exactly what Dede did, but we need to get the same kind of production whether it’s one guy or five guys. At the end of the day it’s still a point or a yard or a catch for the Sooners and that’s all we care about.”
Westbrook recorded 1,524 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns last season, while Mead had 150 yards and three scores and Smallwood had 52 yards.
Baker Mayfield also confident
Quarterback Baker Mayfield made headlines for the wrong reasons last month after he was arrested for public intoxication, and he says that he is happy to be back at practice. He also echoed the sentiments that Oklahoma has the talent on their receiving core to replace Westbrook's production.
“I am happy to be back on the field,” said Mayfield. “My game is good. We have some receivers that can go now. I said it last year before the start of the season that we were going to be more balanced, but I actually think we will be more balanced this year. Last year Dede (Westbrook) stepped up, and he is an amazing player, but we have a lot of guys that can really play right now. We have a lot of young guys that are here and making plays.
“It is really exciting because we have eight offensive linemen coming back, so I am going to have time to sit back there and throw it, and it doesn’t matter who is out there catching. It only matters that they are great players.”
Mayfield passed for 3,965 yards with 40 touchdowns and eight interceptions last year while also rushing for 177 yards and six more touchdowns.
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