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2012 Preseason Practice | OU Football Notebook | Sooner History & Tradition

Bell Named No. 2

OU head coach Bob Stoops announced Tuesday following practice that sophomore quarterback Blake Bell will enter the season No. 2 on the depth chart behind senior Landry Jones.

“The offensive staff and I have decided that Blake Bell has earned the backup quarterback position, so that is where we will proceed from here," Stoops said.

The Wichita, Kan., native played in seven games last season and finished second on the team in scoring with 13 touchdowns from the short-yardage "Belldozer" package.

The quality of play and work ethic of OU's quarterbacks has been highly lauded during the preseason. That's not expected to change as a result of Tuesday's announcement.

"It's not taking anything away from Drew (Allen) because he has competed hard and played well too," co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel said. "Obviously, it's tough for him. At the same time guys that have stayed the course have had opportunity come to them and have been in the position to make the most of it."

Overall, Stoops is pleased with the play of his gunslingers.

"Drew has done also a really good job and made great improvement," Stoops said. "I just feel Blake's may have been more consistent overall and is playing the way we need him to. Drew as well is getting there and he'll still continue to battle. He's had a great attitude and continues to work really hard also. We'll just take it from there as we go through the year."

Home Sweet Home

Senior defensive back Javon Harris took the off-weekend as an opportunity to travel down I-44 to his hometown of Lawton, Okla. But with his transition to strong safety, where he spent his first two years in Norman, he's felt right at home all preseason.

"I think one thing is you get to come in and hit," Harris said of the different between strong and free safety. "That's one of my specialties. You get to come in and hit and still get to go out here and cover guys. That's one thing I've been working on in two-a-days is my cover ability. I know I can run with any of these guys. I'm going to go out here, continue to work hard on covering and still maintain my hitting ability. I just need to put it all together and be a playmaker."

With Mike Stoops leading the defensive backs, Harris has had an easier time "putting it all together."

"I like the way his coaching is," Harris said. "It's a bit more intense to me as far as getting on me about things, making the plays I'm supposed to make and not making the mistakes I shouldn't be making. Just having him back there, letting me know what's going on and building that trust in a coach, I think that's one thing that's important to me."

Stoops has built trust in Harris as well.

“He has a better feel over there,” Mike Stoops said. “He's played very well. I've been pleased with Javon. He's got a lot of talent, and he can do all of the things we are asking him to do well.”

Sr. DB Demontre Hurst
"(Coach Mike Stoops) is up-tempo. He brings a lot of energy. He gets on you in and out of plays wherever you're at. He brings a lot of energy to the defense. Just instilling that confidence within us is going to help us a lot. We embrace it and we're feeding off of his energy."

Junior DB Aaron Colvin
"We've all been excited to finally hit somebody new. We've been hitting our own guys for a month now. We're ready to go out there and compete with some other teams."

Senior QB Landry Jones
"(Justin Brown) just gets more confident in what he's doing. He's a smart kid (and is) learning the offense really, really fast. The more he knows it, the faster he can play."

So. OL Tyrus Thompson
“I would say we we're all pretty tight as a group. We all trust each other. We all hang out. I think we'll be fine on the O-Line. Guys will have to step up, including myself. But we're all working really hard, and I think we'll be fine.

Coach Mike Stoops
"David (King) can play either place. He's going to play end as much as he's going to play 3-technique. He gives us some flexibility. We're just trying to get our best 11 on the field, however that's going to be. Week in and week out, we're just going to try to put it all together."

TUESDAY MEDIA SESSIONS
Select coaches and players were made available to the media following Tuesday's practice:

Media w/ Coach Bob Stoops
Media w/ Coach Mike Stoops
Media w/ Coach Josh Heupel
Media w/ Coach Tim Kish
Media w/ Coach B.J. Wright
Media w/ QB Landry Jones
Media w/ DE David King
Media w/ CB Aaron Colvin
Media w/ CB Demontre Hurst
Media w/ CB Gabe Lynn

11 DAYS TO KICKOFF!

Demontre Hurst has registered 11 PBUs in each of the last two years, leading the Sooners in 2011.

Sam Bradford's 11 300-yard passing games in 2008 are the most by an OU QB in a single season.

Against Missouri in 1986, Texas A&M in 2003 and North Texas in 2007, OU converted a school-record 11 extra points.

FOLLOWING THE SOONERS
Want the latest on Oklahoma football as fast as you can get it? SoonerSports.com has you covered 24/7. To catch up on the 2012 preseason, check out the links below and follow us on Twitter.

Preseason Practice Central

Sooner Football Notebook

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