Media Day: Stoops & Defensive Staff

NORMAN, Okla. -- Head coach Bob Stoops and Oklahoma's football staff met with the press Friday morning during OU's annual Media Day.

A transcript of the press conference follows:

HEAD COACH BOB STOOPS
On the offense:
“To be quite honest I don't see things a whole lot different when you look at the number of years Paul Thompson brings in. The respect he has from his teammates, the way he has worked in this program, offensively I'm excited.

"I think that the players around him, receivers especially, are more experienced and have the chance to make plays for him. We have a strong backfield, tight end situation and our offensive line is not much different than a year ago.

"Hopefully, as we build through the summer I think that we can keep up because of the size and ability up there. That has to come together but we have the potential to be a good solid unit.

2006 OU Football Preseason Central

"Paul at the quarterback brings great experience in the years he has been in our program he has worked hard and been through the system. It isn't like we are replacing a guy who has had a lot of experience; he had only started for one year. We are excited about what the possibilities are."

On the quarterbacks:
“We like all of our quarterbacks but they just don't have the experience that Paul has and the maturity. They are guys that need to continue to develop as we go through this year.

"Overall, we felt that experience at quarterback was a factor in Paul's ability to make plays. Yesterday after practice we were very encouraged and excited about what we saw. Paul stepped in and handled the huddled wonderfully.

"He was excellent in his pass skill and team situations, between him and John Cooper, there wasn't a bad snap for a guy who is getting back in there and just managed it all in a great way. I was very excited about it.

"The very first play of team practice he hit Malcolm Kelly for a 50-yard bomb. That got everybody excited. I expect that there is a great opportunity there for him to be really strong.”

On the defense:
“Defensively, there is no question that we are in a far better place than we were a year ago. There is much more experience up front and great experience in the secondary having gone through an entire year with guys in positions that we really like.

"There is a guy that is going to step in at safety that we are really excited about just after one practice and the way he tested yesterday. Keenan Clayton looked really good and tested really well. You can tell that he has worked hard this summer by watching his tests and watching him practice yesterday. That's a big plus.

"He has got a lot potential. He is a great hitter and in that mold of those good strong tackles and hitters that we've had at safety. That is a big bonus to have him coming in.

“Getting all of the defensive ends back that we played without last year is a chance to boost us in a big way along with all the experienced linebackers we have returning. One of the guys that has really stepped up that we figured would was Demmarrio Pleasant. He had as good a spring as anyone that we had out there.

“Special teams-wise we worked hard yesterday with our punt unit with Eric Mensik snapping. Derek Shaw, a walk on, was also very impressive and sharp out there in his first day. The two of those guys look good and we'll work them hard.

"Michael Cohen, a new guy punting-wise, and Garrett (Hartley) hit the ball in a good way too, but those guys will be competing with Mike Knall. We will see who will be the most consistent but we were encouraged that it was our first go at it.

“Reggie (Smith) looked good in his returning, I said all along I think he has the chance to give us those big plays you like to see in our punt return game.

"We were limited a year ago, the surest hands we had last year were Jejuan Rankins and he did a great job, especially being injured, but we are hoping with Reggie we have a chance to get some big plays. We are going to work hard and make sure that we spend extra time on our special teams. They need to be better this year. They need to consistently be a factor for us in each game.

“We need to play great defense and on offense we need to take care of the foot ball, be smart and not hurt ourselves with foolish penalties. Again, we need to play to Paul Thompson's strengths and to what he is comfortable in, run the plays he is comfortable running, work Adrian, get some big plays from our receivers and manage our game that way.”

What do you think Paul's strengths are?
“He's got great speed and athleticism, but also Paul throws the ball well. We have always felt that way.”

Given the situation on offense, do you expect the defense to be on its game early?
“Yes, but I expect our offense to be on our game early as well. That needs to happen and I believe it will because starting from day one we know what direction we are headed. I think that Coach Kevin Wilson will do a great job getting us geared to what we are good at and what we can execute on offense, but our defense needs to come out and be great right off the bat.”

How do you see DeMarcus Granger fitting into the rotation?
“He has worked hard and really had a great year. He showed up yesterday in our testing and looked good. We are counting on him to be a big factor up front.”

Why do you think Kevin's play calling fits into what you want in an offensive coordinator?
“He has had great success before coming here and he has been an instrumental part of our success over the last five years. He has been calling plays with Chuck and setting the plan up of what is going to be called.

"He understands what our players can do and philosophy wise what I believe is right and how to attack defenses. He designs the plan, figures out the weaknesses and decides what we need to go after. I've got great trust in what Kevin will do.”

Kevin likes to push it and gamble a bit, is that what you like about him?
“Sure, I would say I like more where he is going with it. When Chuck was here we had a lot of big plays. We could go back and look at how many big plays Jason White threw. We are going to mix it up and we understand that you can't run the ball without throwing it and vice versa. You have to be able to have a good blend and try to keep people off balance.”

What do you think the philosophy differences are between Chuck Long and Kevin Wilson?
“I am not going to compare the two. To some degree there won't be a lot of change in formations and what we do and in other parts we might tailor it to fit Paul, even if Chuck was here in this situation. They have been doing the same things together for five years.

"There are some difference and some similarities. We are going to work through this in the next month to keep doing things that work for us and that Paul likes. We may add some things to take advantage of this season.”

After a year absence how has Larry Birdine come around physically?
“He looks fantastic. Yesterday I watched him workout, test and practice. He has gained about five pounds and looks as quick and fast as ever and excited to be back out there. Larry is a guy that has a chance to give us a big boost on defense with his energy and how hard he plays. He is really ready for the season and has worked hard.”

How do you feel about the freshmen?
“What we saw yesterday, watching them workout and train, they look really good. They are a very impressive and close-knit group which you love to see. I think that has helped that they can all come in together now. They get a really great bond early in the summer before school starts and they spend a lot of time together. It is an impressive group and we are really excited about them.”

Are there any other freshmen that stood out?
“Watching, some guys strength wise that really stood out were Adrian Taylor up front with Gerald McCoy and Jermaine Gresham as a tight end. Jermaine is an incredible looking guy that works hard. He doesn't look like a freshman and he catches the ball well.

"In those positions there are a lot of those guys that really look good and we are going to do our best to get them all ready to play as long as they are going to play significant minutes and going to make us better. Brandon Caleb was another guy that stuck out, but we will see.”

Do you expect Adrian's carries to go up any?
“No, I think that last year we ran him as much as he needs to, but it depends game to game. He needs to get a significant number of carries and play in more touches throwing the football.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRENT VENABLES
On the defensive expectations for next year as a result of the loss of Bomar and Quinn:
“We hope they are good early, regardless of the situation that transpired on the offensive side of the ball. We've felt that we have chance to good this year and we need to be better than what we were last year. If things fall in the right places, we get the right leadership and we stay healthy all of the pieces are there for us to play great defense this year.”

Why do you feel this defense will be as good as you speculate it will be?
“We have premier playmakers up front. Again, we have great depth across the board up front. There are no name-brand type guys in the interior as far as experience, but we recruited kids that have the chance, athletically, to be really good and can develop into playmakers.

"We feel that we have adequate depth inside and, hopefully, some of those guys will emerge as pass rushing threats as well. We have some awfully good players across the board but still it is somewhat of a youthful group.

"Based on what we saw in the spring and what we saw out there yesterday, I know what our players are capable of. They get it. All of the pieces are there. Now it is about being consistent, developing the chemistry, having the right leadership that Clint (Ingram) and Dusty (Dvoracek) provided and putting our guys in playmaking positions.

“There are a lot of factors and dynamics that happen on game day that we can't control. We need to play great defense. For us to be any good as a team pre-Rhett Bomar, post-Rhett Bomar or with Rhett Bomar all of that is irrelevant.

"It is about us and our side of the ball getting the ball back, playing great defense, keeping people out of the end zone, eliminating big plays and all of those types of things. There are a lot of things that we can't control and this happens to be another one of those things. What we need to do is be a great defense.”

CO-DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BOBBY JACK WRIGHT
In the last couple of days, did you meet with your defense and give them a new challenge of any kind?
“Our thing, defensively, really is that we need to play up to our potential. It goes back to say that we have a talented group of guys on defense. They need to play to that potential.

"If we will play as a top-ten defense in the country because we have the talent to do it that is the challenge that we are throwing out to our guys. They all need to play consistently week in week out, game in game out, play in play out as a top ten defense in the country.”

On this season's defense:
“We have a veteran group that is still young. The great thing about it is that those freshmen are now sophomores and they've now got 12 games under their belt.

"We finished up strong at the end of the year winning six of our seven ballgames, including beating Oregon in the Holiday Bowl. We've got a lot to build on with a youthful team, but it is now a young team with experience under their belt. We expect them to play consistently as a top ten defense in the country.”

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