OU Quotes Following Monday Practice

NORMAN, Okla. -- The following are quotes from Oklahoma coaches and players after Monday evening's practice. The team worked out at the Bud Wilkinson Practice Facility south of the stadium in preparation for Saturday's game with Nebraska.

The Sooners host the Cornhuskers at Owen Field in the 2004 season home finale at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally by Fox Sports Net.

Head Coach Bob Stoops
On quarterback Jason White...
"You can compare his numbers up against anyone in the country and they're as good or better. His work in the past two games -- away from home with rowdy crowds -- it's not easy to throw eight touchdown passes and no interceptions. The other night (at Texas A&M) he had five TD's, no interceptions, no penalties -- in that atmosphere -- it's special."

Sooner Gameday Central: Nebraska

On White's statistics...
"It's play calling, it's more opportunites, it's the way people are trying to stop our run -- it's all of that. You know, the more you crowd the run, the more opportunities he has."

On field goal situation...
"There's no sense in worrying about it. I'm not particularly pleased. He (Trey DiCarlo) did make all his extra points -- that's the positive side of it. He missed a fairly long field goal. Hopefully he'll make them when the time comes."

On Adrian Peterson's health...
"He practiced today. He'll be ready to go."

Will Marcus Walker be the starter on Saturday?
"We'll keep looking at it, but right now -- yes."

Co-Defensive Coordinator Bo Pelini
On communication within the defense...
"You've got to make sure that everybody's on the same page all the time. Some of the things that happened the other day (at Texas A&M) weren't about being on the same page. It was maybe a guy trying to do too much, maybe a guy reacting too quickly to something that's not there. You have to be disciplined. You have to stay back and see things -- see your threats.

"You have to make sure, above all things, to take care of the deep ball first. We've done that well up until the past two weeks. We hadn't given up deep balls. We've just had some lapses. That's unacceptable. Not only to myself -- but the players are upset about it too."

On communication within the defense...
"You have to recognize sets -- there's so many things. Maybe a couple of checks or adjustments. And there's formation recognition -- what certain teams like to do out of certain sets. There's a lot that goes on. The more you talk, the more you understand you have to be on the same page. If it isn't helping you, it's helping the guy next to you."

On adjustments at Texas A&M...
"There were guys across the board. Not just on the back end -- that's just the thing you notice the most. It's a team deal. Just the most obvious things result in a touchdown. Obviously that's the entire secondary's responsibility. (Eric Bassey) wasn't the only one at fault. I just felt it necessary to shake things up at that point in the game. With the way things were going, I felt it was time to make a change right there."

On defense's confidence level...
"It's fine. Our guys aren't lacking in confidence. They know what they can do. They've done it for seven or eight weeks and I have a lot of confidence. I feel good about our team and our secondary. Heck, we're 9-0. That's the bottom line. That's all we care about."

On pulling the reshirt off Marcus Walker...
"It was a tough decision. He's showed he's getting better. He's a young guy that's growing up in the system and he's learning. At that time, it was a gut reaction and I felt it was time to make a change and shake things up. He was the guy that I felt at that point I was ready to go with."

Was it a message to the rest of the team?
"Oh, it's a message to the guys that maybe aren't getting a lot of playing time. You know, the redshirt freshmen -- the young guys. Hey, your time could come at any point. Our job is to win football games. It isn't about saving a guy's redshirt -- it's about doing whatever we need to do to win them all -- because that's what our goal is."

On Walker's performance...
"I put him into about the toughest situation I could put him into." He responded well and he played solid. Obviously, he had a lot of nerves going in there. He responded the way you hope a guy would respond in there -- like a champion."

On Antonio Perkins...
"He is a heck of a football player with a lot of experience. We don't have a lot of experience back there at the cornerback position. It is what it is. Obviously Perk has played a lot of football. We hope we can get him back sooner rather than later. He gets better every day. Every day the things they have him doing to test out that knee -- they keep adding to it."

Co-Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables
On Chijioke Onyenegecha...
"He's still inconsistent, more inconsistent than we would like him to be. But, he's made some progress -- he's still a work in progress."

On improving the secondary...
"We've got the athletes. It's about playing technique and making the right checks and adjustments and positioning on the ball. It's about communication. It's about a variety of things. You know, we've been really good at times and then there's been a few times when maybe one guy breaks down. But that's your defense in general. It isn't just about the secondary."

On pass rush against Texas A&M...
"Our pressure was better than it has been all year. I think our sack numbers were indicative of that. We missed multiple opportunites to get more sacks. We doubled the amount of pressures we had vs. any other game this year. When you get an athletic quarterback -- like both the quarterbacks (A&M) had -- it makes it much more difficult to contain them. You're challenged in different ways. Sometimes your athletic ability -- your aggressiveness -- can hurt you in those situations. And it did at times. But, I'm real happy with the overall pressure in the game."

On Marcus Walker getting advice from teammates...
"Oh, he got talked up every time he came to the sideline. The other guys did a good job. We try to encourage all our guys to be prepared -- whether you're a one, two or three -- to help each other out. There's going to be a time when everyone's going to be called on and we need them to show up and pull through. That was a situation where our backs were against the wall and you appreciate the players for pulling together and pulling out the win."

Offensive Tackle Jammal Brown
On being recruited by Nebraska...
"I was being recruited by Nebraska but Coach Stoops came in and turned me around. Plus, Nebraska gets real cold. And my car I had then didn't work too well in the cold. Obviously, I believe I made the right choice."

On his final home game in Norman...
"It just went by fast. As a freshman, I couldn't wait for this day. Now that it's here - I try and think about it. It will my last time to walk out on that field and play a game on that field. It's going to be kind of sad."

On accomplishments of the line...
"It's hard work to play offensive line and do the things that we do. You really have to watch film, pay attention in practice and go through all your plays. The things as a team we are able to accomplish, it is something to appreciate."

On his teammates...
"The guys I came in with, the guys like Dan Cody, Brandon Shelby -- we all redshirted together. And the other seniors, guys like Vince Carter -- we all became great friends. We're a tight group of seniors. Since I've been here, I think this is the biggest senior class we've had. We just gell well together. A special group of guys."

On maturity at Texas A&M...
"Yes, I think that had I been a sophomore or something like that, I would have panicked. I mean, we were down 14-0 and it felt like the stadium was about to collapse on you. You couldn't hear yourself breathe. Wow. We just kept our cool."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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