Sooners a little rusty in second scrimmage

John Shinn
The Norman Transcript

April 06, 2008 12:15 am

— Oklahoma got a few injured players back and unveiled a no-huddle offense for the first time this spring, but coach Bob Stoops wasn’t exactly thrilled with what he saw Saturday afternoon at Owen Field.
“It was just OK,” he said following the 92-play scrimmage. “We practiced only once all week and it showed. We weren’t too sharp and there were way too many penalties. But when one side isn’t doing well, the other is and that’s the way it is any time we scrimmage.”
The Sooners postponed two practices last week and only practiced on Thursday. The days off allowed some nagging injuries to heal. Middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds and wide receiver Manuel Johnson both participated Saturday after missing last week’s scrimmage.
But sharpness did suffer. There were a lot of yellow flags thrown.
Defense once again dominated, but not to the extent it had a week ago. The offense scored a pair of touchdowns Saturday.
Freshman running back Justin Johnson plunged through from 1 yard out on the scrimmage’s second series to cap a 70-play drive.
Quarterback Sam Bradford hit tight end Jermaine Gresham for a 3-yard pass midway through the action.
Bradford was 13-for-20 for 158 yards. Backup Joey Halzle was 14-for-22 for 177.
However, the big plays the offense covets were few and far between. It wasn’t like the unit played things close to the vest. It used three trick plays, a flea-flicker, a tight end reverse to Gresham and a reverse pass that turned into a run for Manuel Johnson.
None of them had much success.
“We played all that pretty good,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “They didn’t get anything off the trick stuff. I don’t know if they were open or not, but they didn’t hit them.”
“They didn’t work like we hoped,” Bradford said, “but we hadn’t practiced them so you expect much.”
The defense only yielded 77 yards on 33 rushing attempts. Mossis Madu led the way with 38 yards on 11 carries. Backup quarterback Keith Nichol added 23 on four carries.
Juaquin Iglesias had five receptions for 53 yards. Gresham added five for 52.
There wasn’t much room to maneuver.
Cornerback Jonathan Nelson tipped two passes and had the scrimmage’s only interception. Linebacker Travis Lewis and defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger both logged sacks, while linebacker Keenan Clayton led the team with 11 tackles.
“The corners played exceptionally,” Stoops said of his secondary. “Those guys have competed well. The defensive line has put on a lot of pressure too and that’s the biggest thing.”
The defense also held its own late in the scrimmage when the no-huddle offense the Sooners have been working throughout the spring was put into use.
It was put in play for six series toward the end, but none yielded a touchdown.
“It was the most game-like environment that we’ve had so far and I thought we moved the ball pretty well with it,” Bradford said of the no-huddle attack. “It’s going to take some more work, but it should be good for us.”
The scrimmage was the second of three scheduled for the spring. The Red/White Game is scheduled for next Saturday at 1 p.m.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com

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