Sooners Anxious to Take Field vs. Tulsa

NORMAN, Okla. -- Coach Stoops and Oklahoma players met with the media Tuesday to preview this week's season opener against Tulsa. View video from the press conference above. Quotes are available below.

Head Coach Bob Stoops

Opening comments:
"It's really exciting to be kicking off the 2011 season. I would like to first start by recognizing and thanking our great fan base. This is our 75th straight consecutive sellout. It's really pretty amazing when you are averaging over 71,000 season ticket holders. I was told that there are probably well over 10,000 people waiting to buy season tickets of those 71,000 so I just want to thank them sometimes it goes unsaid. That's really a great loyal fan base and we appreciate and thank them for being here. I just am going to encourage them to be loud and to continue to try to effect games. We've had a great home record here over the years, and hopefully they will continue to come and take part of it as they come follow us.

"As it is the first week everyone is excited to get going and we are as well. Our guys have really had a lot of good and solid preparation. Our guys have had a great attitude in the way they have worked. I thought we managed the heat really well. Last week was the worst of it being out there from 3:30 to 5:45 p.m., the hottest part of the day, but really our guys needed to experience that. We didn't have any issues, the guys worked hard, pushed through it and practiced hard and practiced well. I feel like we are in good shape coming into the year; really in all aspects of the game."

On the offense:
"I am really excited to see more play makers throughout the team, meaning Ryan Broyles deserves all the attention and credit that he has got as well as Landry Jones, but I think there are going to be more explosive players around them this year that are ready to make a stronger impact. James Hanna, Dejuan Miller, Trey Franks, Jaz Reynolds and Kenny Stills are all continuing to make a lot of progress and gain maturity. Runningbacks are going to be really interchangeable. They are all strong players who are capable of making plays. The biggest thing we have to do is that when a guy gets hot, we really need to work them and keep them in there to give him opportunities until he needs a break. The quarterback competition has been excellent between Drew Allen and Blake Bell. Those guys have made significant progress, which you would expect over time. They are really great workers and guys. Drew has a slight edge over Blake right now, but we are going to continue to work Blake."

On the defense:
"Defensively, losing Travis Lewis and Austin Box is a significant blow. We have to have some guys step up, but there are some guys that are totally capable of it. Tom Wort is a totally different guy than he was a year ago. He has a year of experience and understands our system. He is playing the most difficult position I believe to play outside of quarterback at middle linebacker. He just really feels at home now and it's really showing on the field. Corey Nelson has really done a good job. Hopefully he will continue to mature and grow in that area. In secondary they are growing as well with Gabe Lynn, Tony Jefferson, Joseph Ibiloye and Aaron Colvin. We aren't really deep in the secondary, but I feel good about the guys in there. They have a chance to be really good players."

On Tulsa:
"Tulsa is coming off 10 wins from last season with an offense that averages about 40 points a game. Beating Notre Dame a year ago shows and speaks to what they have been doing the last several years and the way they are playing. I have always been a huge fan of Bill Blankenship. I believe he will do a great job and I have great respect for some of his guys and the way they coach. We recognize it as a big game."

On not having Travis Lewis as a leader on the field:
"Travis has done a great job of being around, being vocal, doing what he is able to do but to be honest with you it is not easy to lead when you are not able to be on the field. He is doing it though and doing it well. It will be a challenge. I believe other guys will step up in the huddle when it is time. I think guys like Frank Alexander, Tom Wort, Jamell Fleming, Demontre Hurst and Corey Nelson will step up and have something to say."

On having a difficult schedule this season:
"Hopefully you are in a better position later in the year as a result of this type of schedule. I don't question it. Now without the championship game I think this type of schedule is really important. It would be hard if we are able to do well with this type of schedule to say that we haven't played some of the top teams. I have been totally on board with Joe Castiglione and our schedule."

On Dominique Whaley:
"He is a strong guy that makes plays. He is a pass protector with good speed. He is consistent. He works hard. That's not to say that we don't like our other guys, but overall throughout spring and summer he has done the best to be considered this position. There may be different guys that we look to use if we are doing something different. Those other guys are all going to play probably just as equally."

Junior TE James Hanna

On confidence of offense heading into the season opener:
"Our offense is based on just going against ourselves, but we've ran as smooth as we have since I've been here. I'm pretty confident."

On season expectations:
"It kind of feels like the 2008 season, my first year, just because of all the expectations. You can feel it from everybody. Everybody has put a lot of pressure on us but we're pumped up."

On playing with familiar players:
"We got Ryan (Broyles) back and we have a lot of good receivers and good tailbacks. Landry (Jones) is back; the offensive line has come a long way and I'm more confident in myself. We got a lot of good stuff going on."

On this being his best camp:
"I feel like I've gotten so much better, drastically better every year I've been here. That's the same for this year too."

On connection with Landry Jones:
"I kind of feel like it's always been there just because we've been pretty good friends. We've got a good connection."

On honoring Austin Box:
"I've never lost someone to a situation such as that, I mean it's rough. Basically all it means to me is that I'm going to play as hard as I can every play just because that's the type of player he was and that's what he would want us to do."

Junior DB Demontre Hurst

On excitement of starting the season:
"I'm just ready to get out there and play. I'm anxious and ready. Practice was great and we're ready to get out there and play another team. We've been going against the offense since last February. We're ready to see a different color jersey. It's going to be pretty exciting on Saturday."

On change of atmosphere in practice nearing the season opener:
"It's intense. We are ready. We've been jumping around and just hyped up. We're all anxious to get out there and go against another team. Hopefully we get out there and take care of business and get the win."

On the cornerbacks unit:
"I know that we are three pretty good athletes and we work hard each and every day to get each other better and do the things that we need to do for us to have a good three-team tandem. It's pretty amazing that people recognize that we're pretty good corners and that we have a lot to bring to the defense. We can play different positions. So for that matter, the three of us are going to keep doing what we have to do to get better and progress throughout the season."

Junior P Tress Way

On playing against his brother:
"This will be his first time playing in front of 85,000 and he doesn't know this yet, but mechanics tend to change a little bit and your mindset tends to change a little bit too when you're in front of that many people.

"We talked all throughout the summer and two-a-days, but this week not so much. I texted him this week and just told him that I'm proud of him and I love him and that we will just have to wait and see how it goes this weekend."

On being chosen as a captain:
"Whenever Coach Stoops was going through and he named the team captains during the team meeting and I'm sure you guys have seen the movie Miracle, but there is a moment in the movie whenever the team beats the Russians and Herb Brooks just has to walk away from everything and he just kind of goes off into the hallway and has a little moment, has a little fist pump moment. After the team meeting I walked into the locker room and that was just a big personal goal of mine, to really earn the respect of the guys and to one day be voted team captain. It was really one of the better days of my life and I am proud to say that I am a team captain and it means so much to me that my best friends were the ones that voted for me."

On the team:
"I'm really motivated for this year because obviously we have a talented team coming back. We have a lot of returning starters, but since I've been here, you can ask any of the other guys this too, this is the tightest team I've ever been a part of. I mean just all classes and everybody. We have a great time in the locker room. Obviously when we step out on to the field it is serious out there but once we get into the locker room, I don't know, it's just family, and I have not felt that since I have been here. We have had tastes of it here and there but I'm really excited to see how this season plays out, and it is already looking good."

On special teams play this season:
"Particularly this year, the reason I'm feeling so confident is that Patrick O'Hara has just been murdering the ball on kickoffs. He honestly has one of the strongest legs I've ever seen and it's been cool too because I enjoy doing kick offs but it has really hurt my leg. I've torn my groin about three or four times and it really has put some pressure on my leg and it hurts. So seeing a leg like O'Hara's is really cool. I've been working with him because he has asked me to just tweak it and work with him on his mechanics and he has just been killing the ball.

"Coach has been having our guys do so many different drills like running through different team's formations and different drills from other teams and it has been looking good. Plus the guys that are flying down on our kick off team this year are just nuts. Special teams all around have just been looking good.

"Obviously I am going to try to lead the nation in punt coverage, punt yards, punt average...everything.

"Jimmy Stevens has been really hitting his field goals well this week and he has a new mind set after last year, he just came through in the clutch for us last year big time. I really think we have the potential to really change some games."

On punters being able to change a game:
"Our offense is obviously very powerful and we have a lot of good players on offense and sometimes we are backed up in our own territory and Coach Stoops has done a good job of just letting me know where I stand with that and in respect that it's not that bad if we get pinned back deep like that because you can flip the field for us. You can put their offense in a hole after our offense just got out of a hole. So obviously I take a lot of pride in that; being able to have that God given ability and work to get those mechanics is just huge."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Anxious to Take Field vs. Tulsa

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