Big 12 Coaches' Teleconference

NORMAN, Okla. -- The coaches in the Big 12 Conference participated in the annual teleconference on Tuesday with media around the country and the following is a portion of the call from University of Oklahoma head coach Sunny Golloway.

The Sooners open the 2007 season this Friday in Edinburg, Texas against Texas State in the UTPA Classic. The game can be heard via the internet on Yahoo with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play.

OPENING STATEMENT:
“We're excited like everyone else in the conference to get started. We're going to have quite a influx of freshmen and maybe transfers on the yard blending with what we feel are some very talented athletes returning (from last year). That would be Aaron Reza at shortstop, Joe Dunigan in the outfield, Aaron Ivey in the outfield and Jackson Williams behind the plate. So again, I think we will be a work in progress but we're very excited to get started.”

Sooners Picked 5th in Big 12 | 2007 Schedule | 2007 Roster

ON THE PASSING OF VERN RUHLE:
“We've spoke quite a bit about Vern in the past couple of weeks. He meant an awful lot not just to the Oklahoma Sooners but baseball overall. Vern could really hold court, the players loved hanging around Vern because he'd tell all those major league stories. He is sorely missed and it has been a pretty sad couple of weeks. We were fortunate to know him and have him around Oklahoma for four years.”

ON REPLACING 12 SENIORS:
“It's going to be tough and Ill be the first to admit. We can try to break it down player by player. You lose 12 seniors; Daniel McCutchen on the mound would be the starter. Ryan Mottern is very similar to him. He's a physical, right handed, power pitcher. He has some large shoes to fill on Friday night to be our Friday night starter, and we hope he stays injury free but he has the ability to do that. You lose Chuckie Caufield as a leadoff hitter you lose Russell Raley as a four year starter at second base. But then you have Aljay Davis, a junior college All-American who comes in and will lead off and play second base and we couldn't be happier with that. You could go right down the list, you lose Ryan Rollinger and then all of a sudden you have Vinny Biancamano, who started at Arizona State as a freshman and transferred to a junior college and is now at Oklahoma. We feel like we really have been able to replace some of our guys. Now how they play remains to be seen, but we're excited. They were a very highly talented recruiting class for the reason of their athletic ability and what they've done in the game to this point. There are a lot of freshmen, we'll probably start three freshmen on the yard in game one and we'll try and close with a freshman. There are three other freshmen arms that are going to have a big impact. They might pitch in the middle of that game so maybe up to five freshmen in game one if we use a freshman arm in the middle.”

ON REPLACING THE LEADERSHIP:
“We're going to really depend on Jackson (Williams), Aaron Reza, Aaron Ivey, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan (Mottern). Those are the captains. They have the same type of character but they're coming off of a year, last season, where they got to be the quiet guys in the clubhouse and the dugout and let the Caufields and McCutchens and those guys lead. They'll need to step up and we'll see how they do that during the course of the year. There will be some tutoring by me in this office where I'll call them in at times and help them develop that role. How they step up and lead and how they handle being in a more aggressive role, not just athletically but verbally in the dugout, is going to have an impact on such a young club.”

ON LOSING AARON REZA:
“It's probably going to take four weeks to heal completely. He's doing really well, they checked it again (Monday), did a bone scan and it's healing really well. He's a tough young guy. It's his left thumb and he can still field ground balls, throw very well across the diamond and moves really well. If push came to shove, he could be a defensive specialist for us late. But we don't want to push the envelope this early in the year so we'll turn to Bryant Hernandez. He's a freshman who played in the area code games in California from Oxnard, California. He's very talented and highly recruited right out of high school and we're very fortunate to have him. I've stated all along at Oklahoma you need to have depth. We're fortunate here at Oklahoma to have that depth. I think in the long run it will be good for us because it's going to give that freshman some experience to fill in by the time we get into conference play. He's going to get baptized by fire, no question, but he has the athletic ability to do it.”

ON JACKSON WILLIAMS HANDLING THE PITCHERS:
“He's going to be able to handle that pitching staff for us. We let Jackson start calling a lot of the games midway through his sophomore year. Now he's coming into his third year so he's going to be a three-year starter and in his two summers he played in the Cape Cod League. So there's a tremendous amount of experience with Jackson. When I first came back to help Larry Cochell, I identified Jackson Williams and Preston Clark, those were the two guys that I was making phone calls to once a week.. When we got the commit out of Jackson, we ceased the recruiting of Clark, who is now at Texas and is really a good catcher. He is the preseason Big 12 catcher but Jackson can't be far behind with his experience and what he's been able to do for us. We like Jackson and he is going to be a calming effect for those pitchers and we're very fortunate to have him.”

ON ALJAY DAVIS:
“He's going to be that offensive catalyst and he'll lead off. We had a great lead off hitter in Chuckie Caufield last year and Aljay will do that. When you look to a leadoff hitter its not just athletic ability, you want to have a speed guy, who can bunt, who can handle the bat, hit and run, move guys up, who will be patient and draw some walks also. He does all those, as Chuckie did last year. But it's that mental toughness the guy has to have. The mental toughness of a lead off hitter is very similar to the mental toughness of a closer on the mound for you and Aljay has that. We are very fortunate that our recruiting coordinator was able to land this junior college All-American. He is from Lakewood High School in southern California. He's a guy that when you watch him in the cage, it's not pretty but when you look at him at the end of the game he is always 2-for-4 or 3-for-4 and he's scored a couple of runs. He's going to be very valuable to us. He's originally a guy who was going to Oklahoma State but had to pick up a few more hours at junior college and we got in the mix and we were able to land him. He'll be our lead off and also be that second baseman to fill in where we lost Russell Raley. He's worked really well with Reza and now Bryant Hernandez, who will fill in for Reza as he is injured, on that double play combination up the middle. They work really well together and communicate well on the diamond.”

'07 Preview: General Outlook | Catchers | Pitchers | Infield | Outfield

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE
Season tickets for the 2007 OU baseball season are now on sale through the OU Athletics Ticket Office and SoonerSports.com. To order your season tickets please call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-4668 or click here for more information available on SoonerSports.com.

The Sooners' home opener is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 23 against Western Illinois at 3 p.m. The game is the first of a three-game series against the Leathernecks and the start of a nine-game home stand which also features games against Wichita State (Feb. 27), UC Riverside (March 2-4) and Creighton (March 6-7).

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