Welcome to the Steamroller

Welcome all to the Steamroller. This is a blog initiated by my good friend Mitch and I. We are feeling it out as we go, but basically we've been talking Sooner football for the past 10 years or so and decided we'd put it out there on the interweb, more or less to keep track of what we talk about. Our plan at this point is to make a couple of preseason predictions, discuss some of the new faces on both sides of the ball and get ready for another fall of OU football. If you're looking for in depth analysis, statistical breakdowns, or coherent family friendly fodder you are most definitely in the wrong place. We have no inside scoops or connections to break any stories. Basically we are two fans who love the sooners and will try to make each other laugh a little bit as the season unfolds. As Mitch put it so adeptly, we aren't trying to be Berry Tramel...because nobody likes Berry Tramel (Berry with an E? Really?). Each week we hope to talk a little bit about the previous week and the upcoming game as well. It's likely conversations will stray from OU to other programs on occasion, and possibly even to topics outside of football. Anyway, I suppose I should quit rambling on and get into some football.

This past offseason saw some notable losses to our team on both sides of the ball. I personally think defense was hit a little harder, and the reason is because we essentially lost Sammy and Gresham last year even though technically they were on the team. The loss of McCoy is huge, we haven't had someone that dominant in the middle since Tommie Harris, and we'll be lucky to have someone that dominant as soon again. That said, the loss at CB may be more substantial based exclusively on the fact that we lost two starters there. Dominique Franks and Brian Jackson were really outstanding starters for us last year. Brian Jackson might have been the most underrated all around corner in the Big 12 last year. Solid in coverage and against the run, he will be tough to replace. Pair that with the loss of Franks, another very solid CB and that is one giant hole to fill (insert Jenna Jameson joke here). However, the company line is that the young guys stepping in are more than capable. As far as I can tell, the current favorites to replace them are Jamell Fleming and Demontre Hurst. From what I've read, they both seem to be smallish guys with serious speed and athleticism. Both have experience on special teams, and Hurst played a lot in the Sun Bowl and piled up 14 tackles (where the hell was the front?).  Even though Fleming is the more tenured of the two (a junior to Hursts sophomore), he has less experience. Coaches of course rave about their ball hawking skills and athletic ability and etc. Not a surprise to hear that sort of talk of course. Hopefully we'll know what they're really made of by the Florida State game or at least the Cincy game so that if changes need to be made we can do so before Texas. A nice insurance policy is that Jonathan Nelson can move over from Safety and play corner which would allow a more experienced Sam Proctor into the lineup to replace Nelson, if either Hurst or Fleming suck. Gabe Lynn is also someone likely to get playing time even though he seems to get little press. A couple of true freshman are getting a little mention as well including Javon Harris and Aaron Colvin. Both appear to be great cover guys, which is always key given the pass happy state of college football. Colvin already has earned a nickname...slick. Hopefully for his play, although I haven't seen if he sports a jheri curl or not. The mainstain in the secondary is of course Quinton Carter (more on him later), who I think is poised to break out this season into some national attention. I wouldn't not be surprised if he winds up getting some mention for the Thorpe award basically because he's a tremendous badass. Mitch told me the other day about how he did some MMA training in the offseason which had me believing we may see our first death on the field this year for an opposing player.

Next I'm tackling (get it? because it's about football?) the LB's. Travis Lewis is a rock. He gets the quietest 100+ tackles every year. The epitome of solid. Never blows my mind, but also doesn't miss many plays either. He's poised to take the "Old Steady" moniker from the departed Chris Brown. In the middle it looks as though Tom Wort is the guy we'll be starting the season with after the injury to Austin "Soggy" Box. Though Soggy had evidently made some nice strides and was looking like the real deal in the middle (finally), let's not forget that the coaching staff couldn't stand up from behind a desk without catching their boner on it over Tom Wort before he got hurt last year. Which leads us to Ronnell Lewis who the coaches seem equally eager to let take their daughters innocence this season. Already being proclaimed hardest hitter (EVER) by Venables, he's certainly got some expectations to live up to. I think I'll be let down with anything less than him leaving his victims with messed jockey's. Seriously though, if he's half as good as everyone seems so sure he will be, the Sam will be aptly manned, and our LB corps seems like it will be really solid.

Finally, let's talk DL. As I mentioned before McCoy is really irreplaceable, at least with who we have. Though, we might not be able to trade out one All American with another top 5 draft choice, we have some seriously capable guys up there. First of all Jamarkus McFarland will hopefully live up to the hype he had as a recruit. He wasn't terrible last season, but next to McCoy it's easy to look inferior. Plus, without McCoy soaking up 2 or 3 blockers on each play, things should only be tougher for McFarland or whoever earns the starting nod. Stacy McGee and Casey Walker are currently battling for a starting role (or at least at my last check they were, that may be established now), but really it doesn't matter too much who starts, because it's likely that all three will rotate fairly heavily unless two really rise up. Adrian Taylor is still a ways from coming back, and likely even farther away from mattering when he does. The outside of the line really looks good though. Jeremy Beal and Frank Alexander are both potential all conference players maybe even all american. Either way, they are two players that offenses absolutely have to plan for and who are capable of making game changing plays. However, behind them David King and Pryce Macon are still largely unproven.

That's pretty much the state of the defense right now. Though there are certainly going to be some new faces, the returning starters are a really talented bunch which should help hide some of the growing pains that we'll see on the outside in particular. I'll be back later to discuss some preseason predictions, and I think Mitch is working on reviewing our thought process for handing out our annual MF award, likely the most prestigious preseason award handed out anywhere. Mitch, feel free to verbally depants me on any mistakes, omissions, or egregiously ridiculous points, it's likely that my first entry is littered with them.