Published: April 02, 2007 09:34 am      

Table set for Red-White event

All eyes focused on OU arms race during Saturday scrimmage

With only a week before the University of Oklahoma Football team’s annual Red-White game, Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma Sooners took the field Saturday afternoon at Owen Field in Norman for their second scrimmage of the spring.

With the departure of Paul Thompson, the quarterback race has received the most attention this spring, much like last year’s Sooner squad that wound up winning the Big XII Championship.

The big question this year: can the Sooners once again overcome adversity at the quarterback position and put themselves in familiar territory with another trip to the Big XII title game and another shot at the national championship? Without senior leadership at the one spot where experience is needed, Stoops and company are looking for the answers as to who will begin to fill the void left by Thompson.

After competing in 7-on-7 drills, the team broke into the scrimmage and it was apparent early that OU’s defense would once again be a tough, punishing group. On Junior Joey Halzle’s first series, the quarterback hit Juaquin Iglesias for a long gain only to be hammered by senior DB and Lawton native D.J. Wolfe. Wolfe followed up that play with an interception when Halzle looked for tight end Jermaine Gresham in the end zone.

Next up at the QB spot was former Putnam City North star Sam Bradford who experienced the same demise as Halzle. When Bradford dropped back to pass and looked over the middle for sophomore Adron Tennell, the receiver inexplicably fell down and Reggie Smith intercepted the ball.

After Halzle and Bradford’s rough start, it was time for the crowd to witness Lowell, Michigan, product and true freshman Keith Nichol. The youngster looked steady hitting wide out Quentin Chaney for a long, thread-the-needle pass and following that up with a 15-yard strike to Gresham.

One might think that with Nichol’s lack of throwing interceptions, he might be in real contention for a starting job come this fall. That may be true and may be false. Nichol is working with a limited playbook right now. The coaching staff does not want to overload his mind with all of the OU playbook just yet, so young Nichol has a way to go in the “impressing the coaches” department right now. The frontrunners are who you should expect from a typical Bob Stoops staff are still Halzle and Bradford.

Simply put, they are more experienced and have had many more snaps in the offense that OU runs right now than Nichol. Traditionally, Stoops will go to his most experienced QB early in the year — and in this case that looks to be Halzle. Even looking back two years ago, Stoops started the season with a veteran Paul Thompson only to make the switch to Rhett Bomar. After the events that ensued with Bomar, one could only expect that Stoops will most likely put his trust in Joey Halzle this spring and possibly next fall as long as the junior shows the ability to correct his mistakes and learn from them.

Next weekend, we will get our last look at this “arms” race to see if one of these three young guns can put themselves ahead of the others in gaining the ground necessary to become OU’s next starting quarterback for the 2007-2008 season.

Other Saturday stars

As the day scrimmage went on, the rotation of the quarterbacks continued and the running game was also emphasized as Sooner fans may have come to expect. The good news here for fans is that OU — in spite of losing one of the greatest running backs in OU history (Adrian Peterson) — is in as good or better shape at the running back position as they were last year.

With the emergence of playmakers like former Las Vegas Bishop Gorman star Demarco Murray and Norman High School standout Mossis Madu, the Sooners look to utilize an arsenal of differing types of running backs that will almost assuredly give opposing defensive coordinators headaches.

Murray ran the ball 16 times on Saturday, scoring on a 2-yard run after ripping off an impressive 65-yard scamper earlier in the scrimmage. Last year’s starters Allen Patrick and Chris Brown also shared the load with Patrick seeing the ball 10 times for 35 yards and Brown getting 13 carries for 72 yards. Madu also had 9 totes for 20 yards.

As stated earlier, the defense was also impressive on Saturday. They combined for four interceptions, five sacks, a fumble recovery, two tackles-for-loss, and four pass break-ups.

Former Tulsa Union cornerback Dominique Franks led the Sooners in the INT department with two. Gerald McCoy, the 2005-2006 Parade High School All-American, was disruptive all day on the defensive line and had 1.5 sacks and a tackle-for-loss. Nic Harris led all tacklers with a total of 8.

OU’s linebacking corps looks to loaded again as coach Brent Venables is again showing the talent that he has consistently brought in to the OU football program under Stoops. Venables newest weapon to be unleashed — Yuba Community College transfer Mike Reed. At 6'1", 250 pounds, it’s no wonder why Reed was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in the JUCO ranks this past year. Reed is a force to be reckoned with when running the ball, and he is still improving his game. Venables could be heard throughout the stadium Saturday barking orders Reed’s way, keeping him in the right position in passing situations. Look for Mike Reed to make a big impact on this year’s team.

The other “big” story of the day was the soft hands and punishing power of OU’s tight end Gresham. The former Ardmore standout caught three passes for 73 yard and a touchdown. Gresham not only caught the ball well, but also showed off his brute strength knocking down would-be tacklers. On one such play, Gresham rolled to his left and caught a 5-yard out pass and ran to the sidelines and began to run down the line. When CB Jonathan Nelson attempted to make the stop, Gresham lowered his shoulder and knocked Nelson on his back while three other OU defenders hauled down the massive 6'6", 250-pounder.

Gresham’s strong performance may give offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson the icing on the cake this fall as he joines a talented group of wide receivers and fellow tight end senior Joe Jon Finley.

Briefly

• Garrett Hartley had a rough day kicking the ball. He missed several kicks from long distance, which may not seem like a bad thing, but when taking into consideration that Garrett was a finalist for the Lou Groza Award last year, one would expect more consistency.

• If you haven’t seen him yet, you will if you attend any OU games this year. Phil Loadholt is a gigantic football player. Towering at 6'9" and weighing in at 350 pounds, Loadholt makes even the biggest linemen on OU’s squad look small.

• Several players sat out the scrimmage due to minor injuries. WR Malcolm Kelly, OL Duke Robinson, OL Phil Loadholt, LB Ryan Reynolds, DB Lendy Holmes, and OL Brandon Walker.