Sooners Complete Second Two-a-Day

NORMAN, Okla. -- OU completed its second two-a-days session on Thursday with an evening practice at the rugby fields on the Norman campus.

The Sooners practiced for a little over two hours featuring 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 drills and special team work.

"It was normal practice today," said OU head coach Bob Stoops following the evening session. "I appreciate the guys working hard for two practices and it was another good day today."

Sooner running back Adrian Peterson participated in every drill in the morning session and was again at full strength in the evening. In the later session, the sophomore flashed the speed and agility that made him shine as one of the nation's best at his position a year ago.

August 11 Evening Practice Photos | 2005 Preseason Central

"Even when he is at three-quarter speed, he is going fast," said Stoops. "He looks good and it seems like he is feeling good out there."

Coach Stoops also offered praise to the development of the Sooner secondary.

"Those guys are doing well," said Stoops. "D.J. Wolfe is really coming on and Eric Bassey and Chijioke (Onyenegecha) have made a lot of improvements. We also expect Marcus (Walker) to return shortly. I think we will be fine in the secondary because all those guys will do a good job."

While a lot of attention has been on OU's current quarterback situation, Thursday's focus turned to former signal caller Jason White. The 2003 Heisman Trophy winner announced to members of the Nashville, Tenn., media on Thursday that he was retiring from the game of football.

"The number of practices and the length of the preseason were really bothering his knees and he was not able to hold up," said Stoops. "At least he has the piece of mind that he did try out. He feels strongly that he was doing well enough that he could have helped the team, but unfortunately he does not have the health to do that."

During Thursday's press conference, White touched on wanting to stay close to the sport, possibly as a coach.

"I would love to see him do it," added Stoops. "I think he would be great at it because he really understands the game. He is just like Josh Heupel. Their leadership ability and understanding of the game makes them a natural for coaching."

OU returns to the field tomorrow and Friday's lone practice, originally scheduled for 5:30 p.m., has been moved up to start at 9:30 a.m.

The second of OU's three preseason scrimmages takes place Saturday at 11 a.m., at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Complete information on the scrimmage will be posted on Friday at SoonerSports.com.

Unless otherwise announced, all practices will be held at the rugby fields west of Lloyd Noble Center and all scrimmages will be held at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

All preseason practices and scrimmages are open to the public. Spectators should park in the west LNC parking lots.

Updated Aug. 11 Printable Roster (PDF)

The numeric roster provided above is one page and is updated throughout the preseason. The roster is in PDF format. Most computers already have the program required to view and print the roster. If your computer does not, download the free Acrobat PDF reader program here.

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