OU Football Holds Second Scrimmage

NORMAN — The Oklahoma football team held its second and final scrimmage of August camp Thursday morning under a sunny sky at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Just like they did five days ago, the Sooners scrimmaged for 90 minutes. And once again, head coach Bob Stoops said he was pleased.

"It was positive, it was good," commented Stoops, who has won eight Big 12 championships in his 16 years at OU. "The defense was much more consistent in alignments and communication and those kinds of things. Played pretty well. Offense, same thing. We've got a few penalties we've got to clean up, but I like what we're doing. Guys are doing a nice job of finishing here."

Unlike Saturday, the offense did not experience early success. That was largely due to flying flags.

"Penalties ate up about the first four drives," said offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Lincoln Riley. "We were moving the ball fine, but every one of them got called back by penalty. I thought some frustration set in and then we forced some balls, dropped some balls kind of in the middle. And then at the end we played pretty good.

"We got out of our tempo stuff today a little bit, tried slow it down and see some specific guys and some specific positions," continued Riley. "I thought we did a pretty good job of that and got to see those things."

The offense found the end zone twice, with both of those touchdowns occurring on the final two drives. Junior quarterback Trevor Knight connected with sophomore receiver Jeffery Mead on a seven-yard scoring play over the top of the defense. Junior signal caller Baker Mayfield then found freshman receiver Dahu Green on a similar play the next possession after a length-of-the-field drive.

thomas fall camp

Freshman receiver Dahu Green hauls in a touchdown grab during Saturday's scrimmage.

Defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Mike Stoops was complimentary of his defense, and praised the progress of the secondary. Defensive backs recorded multiple interceptions on the morning.

"The secondary played well," said Mike Stoops. "Our No. 1's have been a really solid group for us throughout camp. Jordan Thomas and certainly Steven Parker, a year of experience has really paid off for them. Ahmad Thomas is getting better. So overall I feel good about our secondary. Coach (Kerry) Cooks has done a great job consolidating that group and getting them all on the same page. We still have some communication errors that we need to work out, but all in all I think we are moving in a positive direction."

Senior receiver Durron Neal, who had a catch in the neighborhood of 50 yards, spoke highly of the DBs, particularly the cornerbacks.

"All those guys are learning," said Neal. "They are hungry, and they are all out there competing. They all want that job. They all want that title of being a lock-down corner. That is their mentality and that is how they go out there and play."

Mike Stoops said the defense's success Thursday was also keyed by getting pressure on the quarterbacks.

"Anytime you can get (Eric) Striker, Obo (Ogbonnia Okoronkwo) and Devante (Bond) on the edge, you are going to have a good pass rush," he explained. "We have been pretty good at that. If we can't get there with four, we are trying to develop our blitz packages."

Okoronkwo, a sophomore linebacker who had multiple sacks in the scrimmage, thinks the defense is ahead of expectations.

"The defense looked really good today," he said. "The defense is set up where we can be very disruptive. A lot of us were in the backfield today. I think we're well ahead of where we thought we were going to be. I like our first team a lot. I like our rotation and we have a lot of depth. I'm expecting really big things."

The Sooners will hold their final practice of training camp on Friday. Classes begin on Monday.

Players Mentioned

Trevor Knight

Baker Mayfield

Jeffery Mead

Durron Neal

Durron Neal

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

Steven Parker

Ahmad Thomas

Jordan Thomas

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