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April 10, 2013 | Spring Football Central | Football Notebook | Roster | Twitter

Brotherly Love

There is a unique dynamic that exists within each position group on the OU roster. But because there are only three players in the Sooners' QB room, the individuals at that position enjoy a camaraderie that is hard for many to comprehend.

Competitors, teammates and friends all rolled into one. While Blake Bell, Trevor Knight and Kendal Thompson are all vying for the right to lead the Sooners this fall, co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel takes great pride in developing the chemistry among this trio, a fellowship that Heupel has experienced himself as a former OU signal caller.

"We've always had that at this position," Heupel said of the bond between his QBs. "It's a unique position in sports. Typically only one guy is playing. They are very competitive inside the room and on the practice room, at the same time they're pushing each other to be better and obviously trying to do it in a great way for our football team."

Trevor Knight experiences "brotherly love" from Bell and Thompson, as well as from his fraternal twin, Connor, who is both brother and teammate.

"The best part is having a guy here who I've played with my whole life," said Trevor of having a twin on the team. "It's really a blessing that we get to play together. The annoying part is that I have to watch out for what he's doing. I have to make sure he's doing everything okay and when he's not I try and get on him, but when he's doing great things it just makes me happy."

According to Connor Knight, there's upside and downside of having your brother competing for the starting quarterback job.

"Well he is just a freak athlete so it's always kind of like I'm being compared to him," he said. "But it's just awesome to kind of push myself to be almost as good as him."

Although the Knight brothers aren't identical, they do bear a strong resemblance, which did lead to a lighter moment on a recruiting visit.

"A G.A. (graduate assistant) started talking to me like I was a quarterback and started telling me what routes people were running," Connor mused. "I was just like 'oh, all right.' Trevor was just standing there on the side taking it in. It was pretty funny."

One thing the two Knight brothers can agree on is the fact that neither of them is the best athlete in the family. That title would belong to elder brother, Tyler.

"Tyler is a big dude," explained Trevor. "He's built like an ox, he's huge. He's an offensive line type of guy, just naturally strong like you wouldn't believe. He didn't really get into sports but he's just an absolute monster."

So, does Tyler compete in the WWE or fight in an octagon? Not exactly.

" He grows green beans, carrots and all of that good stuff for Del Monte Foods down in South Texas," explained Trevor. "He's our farmer."

Of course Tyler takes plenty of pride in his two younger siblings.

"He's always sending us pictures of him down in the spinach fields and stuff," Connor added. "He put an Oklahoma Football sticker on his truck and all the guys he works with are just ranting and raving about it. It's awesome."

More Than a Belldozer

Tabbed "The Belldozer" by Sooner fans for his effective role in short-yardage and goal line packages, junior quarterback Blake Bell is using this spring to prove he has more tools than just his feet.

"I would say just reading stuff," Bell said of the biggest improvement he's made. "Last year, all I did was run. Now this year, I'm just trying to show that I can throw. Starting to do that is just getting in the film room, making the right reads and being accurate with the ball."

Bell has rushed for 361 yards and 24 touchdowns on 102 carries in two seasons but hasn't had quite the same opportunity through the air. Playing behind Landry Jones, Oklahoma's all-time winningest quarterback, helped prepare Bell for this spring, however.

"(When) I would make bad read or something like that, going over to Landry and ask him what he what he would do or what he saw and stuff like that was always a big help," Bell said. "Now it's the role of the older guy to get in the film room more and make sure that was the right read or things like that."

The Wichita, Kan., native completed 14-of-19 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown in last year's spring game. He wouldn't mind a repeat performance on Saturday.

"I'm hoping to go out there and play the best that I can and show that I can throw it around a little bit," Bell said. "Other than that, just have fun. I'm really excited. It's always fun to get out there and play in front of some people."

The Next Generation

Kendal Thompson is the son of former Sooners QB Charles Thompson, who is a frequent attendee at practice. For some players, the pressure of high expectations might be tough to deal with, but the younger Thompson seems to appreciate the uniqueness of following in his father's footsteps on Owen Field.

"It's a great opportunity," Kendal said. "He's been a great mentor for me. He's given me a lot of good advice. He's very supportive, but he is also tough on me. He and Coach Heupel are always critiquing my game, but that's a good thing. Having him on my side has been an advantage for me. It's cool for him to see me out there because he's proud to see his son playing the same place where he played."

While Thompson's biggest fan calls him "son," you'll more commonly hear Thompson referenced as "Therm." Apparently that moniker was dropped on the quarterback at Southmoore High School in Moore, Okla., by current OU defensive back Julian Wilson, who was also Thompson's prep teammate. Of course, Blake Bell has a different explanation for the nickname.

"Long ago we just thought he looked like a Therm, so we just started calling him Therm," Bell matter-of-factly explained. "Most of us call him Therm, but you can call him Kendal."

While Thompson and Bell may disagree on the origins of "Therm," they both agree that Trevor Knight is the most annoying of the three in the quarterback meeting room.

"We give him a hard time," Thompson laughed. "He's the youngest of our group, so we kind of pick on him like he's the little brother."

According to center Ty Darlington, there's one easy way to distinguish when Thompson is in the lineup barking out his cadence.

"The one thing about Kendal that gets me is his voice is very deep so when he goes to call stuff sometimes it's hard to understand," he joked. "Kendal's got this deep baritone voice going on. He's got such a deep voice, sometimes everything gets muffled."

"Yeah, the linemen have all given me grief about that," Thompson nodded. "I've been working hard this spring trying to clearly enunciate at the line."

TUESDAY'S PRACTICE
The Sooners practiced inside the Everest Training Center on Tuesday, marking OU's 12th workout of the spring. Here's the latest:

Photo Gallery (44 photos)
Video

Spring Practice Report No. 12
Video

Mic'd Up: Coach Josh Heupel
Video

Coach Bob Stoops w/Media
Video

  Sooner Sound Bytes
  Coach Stoops Quotes
  Post-Practice Quotes

INSTAGRAM P.O.T.D.
The Sooners warm up with a brief walkthrough before Tuesday's practice. Check us out on Instagram at @ou_football:

TUESDAY NOTEBOOK
The Sooners practiced inside the Everest Training Center on Tuesday with gusty winds in the Norman area. OU will return to the practice field on Thursday for one more workout prior to the Spring Game on Saturday.
Head coach Bob Stoops indicated that DE D.J. Ward has been cleared by the NCAA to begin practicing with the squad. Ward will wear #87 for OU.
When asked about what he's hoping to see from his quarterbacks on Saturday, Stoops said "consistency." "What all of them have to learn to do is not have the really bad play that changes a game," he continued. "You can't just gamble and try to make the big play and have the bad one. There are enough good players around them that we will be successful moving the football if they trust them and don't gamble with the football."

A LOOK AT THE QBs
RS-Junior Blake Bell | Bio
Played in 20 career games, completing 10 for 20 passes for 115 yards, adding 104 rushes for 372 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Played in every game last season, tying for the team lead with 11 touchdowns.
Rushed for four touchdowns against Texas and had a 4-yard touchdown run with four seconds left to send the game into overtime against OSU.

So. Kendal Thompson | Bio
Did not play in 2012 after redshirting for the Sooners in 2011.
The son of former Oklahoma quarterback, Charles Thompson.
During his junior season at Southmoore High School, completed 166 of 259 passes for 2,793 yards and 29 TDs.
Also rushed for 466 yards and 10 touchdowns as a prep junior.

RS-Fr. Trevor Knight | Bio
Redshirted in 2012.
Four-star recruit named the No. 5 quarterback in the country out of high school by Rivals.com.
Threw for 2,092 yards with 27 TDs and three INTs as a prep senior, rushing for 943 yards and 15 TDs.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Stay in tune and go behind-the-scenes with Oklahoma football via our primary social media platforms on Twitter and Instagram:

Twitter: @OU_Football
Instagram: @OU_Football

SPRING CENTRAL
Track all of our spring football content from analysis to video and photos in Spring Football Central, as well as a practice schedule:

Spring Central | Schedule

QUOTABLE

Coach Josh Heupel
"Collectively as a group, they've competed in a great way. They've gotten better each and every day. We've broken it into thirds, looking at the first five days, second five days, and each and every one of them have made improvements in the areas that we want them too, so it'll be interesting to see how we finish up. The spring game is a huge opportunity for them to compete in a live situation in front of a crowd so it'll be a big day for us."

"As a whole you want guys to go out and compete, take advantage of the opportunity in front of a live crowd, handle the things that you've given them, play smart football. Especially at the (QB) position, as much as anything, learn how to not get us beat, take care of the football, operate the offense, communicate efficiently, if they can do that, we're headed in the right direction for fall camp."