Well, after what Mitch put up a couple of days ago, these two previews are a bit like the blog equivalent of Hendrix opening for Escape Club. Nonetheless, I'm giving it a go with as little research as possible. Although, Mitch did his best Doomsday Mcgoo impression with his preview, I too have some doubts/questions/concerns.
QB
As I may or may not have mentioned, I'm not a fan of Lonnie Jones. With that in mind, it's telling that he's one of the reasons for optimism with this offense. I agree with Keith that two weeks at The Greatest QB Camp in the History of the World will not do much to change him. Supposedly he's moving better and he has improved his ability to "make plays" on the run. Everything is relative, and the ability of Lonnie to outrun his own farts would be viewed as a great improvement. I'm not sure mobility was his biggest problem last year, as he generally had ample time to throw (for a normal QB). It was his inability to find anyone other than "Option 1" and "the defense" that seemed to be his downfall. That said, moving may actually be a factor this year as the O-line looks to be a real unknown at this point. Blake Bell became everybody's favorite Sooner last year as he was the first Sooner in a while that could run when everyone knew damn well what was coming. Not sure if he can pass or not, but it'd be real feather in his cap if he could. Drew Allen, who knows really?
O-line
While losing Habern definitely hurts, it hurts more at LG than it does at Center as Ikard is a lateral move at worst, and might even be an upgrade. With the C locked down, that only leaves question marks at (looks at notebook) every other position on the line. There is limited experience at best. Despite the dressed up platter of shit the coaches are serving, signs point to them not having much confidence themselves. I recently heard (heard=read somewhere obscure/inaccurate) that there is a possible plan of having Lane Johnson backing up both T positions and rotating in and out. Either this is incredibly forward thinking or, as common sense tells us, a total lack of a good option at either position. This does not bode well for our offensive line production.
RB
This leads us to the next point of how the running game will fare. With a poor offensive line protecting a QB with all of the coolness of an angry chimp, there appears to be little motivation to not stack the box. This will make it tough to run the ball. Luckily, this is one position where we have some real talent. Whaley was an absolute man-child prior to breaking his ankle, and if he's even close to what he was before he's a genuine game changer. He'll keep defenses honest and hopefully afford some time to complete some forward passes. While Dom is the best option, Finch and Clay are both legit as well. Finch continues to make "wow" plays, and honestly I don't know if anyone looks like they give more effort play-in-play-out than Roy. Brennan Clay was an all-world recruit and while he's maybe been underwhelming with that thought in mind, he's been consistently solid and always seems to get a few yards. This doesn't even include some new guys that I've never heard of and am too lazy to look up, that are probably supposed to be awesome.
WR
Finally, there is probably no position on the field that has been talked about more this offseason than WR (in a bad way). We've all heard about the offseason troubles/suspensions etc. But even after all of that this looks like a talented group, if unproven. The Penn State guy certainly has size, and is probably going to be our punt-returner as well which he's supposedly great at. Stills, as Mitch alluded to, is living up to the Fuckin' Shitbag hype in all of its incarnations. I really don't know what to make of the young guys, but Bester seems like he might be real shifty fuck that could be exciting. Also, Metoyer is earning some ridiculous hype by supposedly not having dropped any passes in the spring. First, hard to believe as there is no qualifier with that claim. So none ever, not even fucking around in the front yard of his house? I don't know, seems like horse shit. Besides, even if it's true it really doesn't mean shit, not jack fucking shit. However, I'm hard at the prospect of him coming in and really being a stud.
K
I'm not wasting my time with kicker. Every kicker, at every program, at every level, in the history of time "spent the offseason working every day to get stronger and more accurate, and it's all paid off and they're all hitting the ball better than they ever have, and it's just popping off of their foot, and they're routinely splitting the uprights from 75 yards". Who fucking cares? Just make kicks from 40 and in and don't shank PAT's. Cool? Cool.
So?
I'm nervous about the O. We've got talent no doubt, but we're weak at the foundation and that shit gets exposed against good defenses. Couple a weak line with QB not known for his decisions under duress and you've got problems. Hopefully we can run the ball well enough to buy some time, and hopefully Mike Stoops makes enough of a difference that we don't need 38 points to win every game. I'm ready to start playing some games, I've had enough Berry Trammel "good-ole-days" puff pieces to make me stab my neck.
Boomer to the Motherfuckin' Sooner
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