Old and new fill secondary

By John Shinn
The Norman Transcript

August 20, 2008 12:29 am

— Oklahoma safety Nic Harris summed up the Sooners’ secondary.
“I think we have a good balance between young and old guys,” he said.
Whether it’s the right mix, however, remains to be seen. If it is, the Sooners could have the best secondary in the Big 12 and the Sooner defense could maintain its dominance in the league.
The veterans are the main reason OU doesn’t expect a drop off. It has two well established players in the back end. Harris is entering his fourth season as a starter at safety and has been a regular playemaker throughout his career. Lendy Holmes is making the jump back to safety after two seasons at cornerback. His skills in the secondary have been well defined.
Together, they’ve combined for 43 starts, 10 interceptions and have been part of defenses that have won Big 12 championships the last two seasons.
“It’s a tremendous luxury to have those guys,” defensive backs coach Bobby Jack Wright said. “They’ve played in a lot of games for us and are athletic enough to play a lot of positions.”
Their versatility is nice. Harris has played both safety spots and linebacker during his career. Holmes has played just about everywhere over the last three seasons.
The concern is at cornerback, where Brian Jackson and Dominique Franks have emerged as the leaders to replace Reggie Smith and Marcus Walker.
Both have talent and displayed serious ball-hawking skills during spring scrimmages. But until they show it games, their coaches will struggle to relax.
With the Big 12 dominated by good quarterbacks and prolific offenses, there couldn’t be a worse time to be breaking in new cornerbacks.
“With the capability {of) the offenses today, and … with what we see in our regular conference and what we will see in our non-conference, that is a real concern,” Sooner defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “You feel good about the quality of players you have, but with the experience and without the ability to go out on to the field yet and really do it, you don't know what you might have there.”
Franks and Jackson understand why the concerns are being raised. Franks got only one start last season, in the secondary for an injured Reggie Smith. Jackson is coming off a redshirt season. But they believe they’ve done all that’s required to alleviate any fears as best they can.
“We are going against one of the best offenses in the country every day. So going against them every day in practice will get us ready to play on Saturdays,” Franks said. “People see us as new faces, but at the same time we have done everything that we needed to do to get prepared for the season.”
Stability is a key. If Jackson and Franks are up to the task, it could be a unit that flourishes.
If not, there are capable backups and the coaching staff isn’t afraid to use them.
“What we like is the competition that keeps everybody on edge, keeps everybody focused and everybody working to get better,” Wright said. Any time a player gets to a certain comfort level where he thinks he doesn’t have anybody that can take his spot or take his job, then you quit developing.
Jamell Fleming and Jonathan Nelson are expected to push for playing time at the cornerback spots. Sam Proctor and Quinton Carter are the backups at the safety spots.
Linebacker Keenan Clayton, a former starter at safety, has emerged as OU’s nickelback in five-defensive-back alignments. Harris played there the previous two seasons.
As is the case with any position at OU, the cupboard is far from empty. Still, the secondary will have to prove itself early to end any doubts.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com

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