Oklahoma Sooners

NORMAN, Okla. -- It’s rare to hear teammates rave about a player who has done so little on Saturdays. Offensive linemen who have to deal with him during practice at Oklahoma describe him with statements that include "future All-American," "the next Gerald McCoy" and "a handful."

Yet all that praise means nothing unless Jordan Phillips becomes a difference-maker at defensive tackle for the Sooners.

The last 12 months have seen progress from Phillips as he worked his way into the defensive tackle rotation in the season’s final few weeks in 2012. This spring, as all eyes turned his way as the lone defensive tackle on the roster with any experience, he continued to improve.

Sophomore center Ty Darlington, who spent a large portion of the spring battling Phillips, called him the toughest one-on-one matchup on the squad.

“He’s made me look like a child a couple of times,” Darlington said with a chuckle. “He’s athletic for his size, he moves so well and he has long arms.”

The sophomore followed up a strong spring with a strong Red-White spring game, as Phillips showed his continued improvement by spending a good portion of the game in the offense's backfield, finishing with three tackles and a sack. When he keeps his 6-foot-6, 318-pound frame low along the line of scrimmage, he can be a powerful force in the middle that is difficult for one offensive lineman to contain.

“He’s a monster on the inside,” defensive end Geneo Grissom said after Phillips’ inside pressure helped free Grissom up to record four tackles and one sack in the spring game.

Phillips, who can do a back flip and dunk a basketball with ease, has amazing athleticism. Those physical traits should provide a foundation that could make him a terror in the future for Big 12 offenses.

But the next three months could be the most critical time for the sophomore. And it could be even more important to the Sooners’ defense.

“He has to be a player for us,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. “Getting Jordan to where he can play 50 snaps a game is going to be a necessity for us to be successful and play effectively for 50 snaps. And that is where he has to have to have a great summer, with conditioning, for us to be able to rely on him for 50 snaps.”

In other words the Sooners are counting on him to approach this summer as if the success of the entire defense is resting upon his broad shoulders. And, in some ways, it is.

“Jordan is real good, he just needs someone to push him,” linebacker Corey Nelson said. “Going against the offense he’ll get a little gassed and I’ll have to say ‘Jordan, pick it up.’ He’ll pick it up and get to the next gear. His potential is far beyond any potential I can think of as far as our defensive line goes. he has the potential to be one of the greatest to come out of here.”

Phillips knows he still has a long way to go. And Nelson -- who has expressed a desire to be one of the senior leaders on this year’s squad -- believes he knows how Phillips can change his potential into production.

“Play fast, play with a motor and be physical, even when he’s tired,” Nelson said. “Being physical, being able to play fast and play smart, that will make him the player he needs to be.”

NORMAN, Okla. -- The first time he stepped on the field as a Sooner, defensive end Charles Tapper felt uncertainty.

“It was nerve-racking,” he said.

In the Sooners’ 2012 season opener, the UTEP offensive tackle on the opposite side of the line of scrimmage did his best to intimidate Tapper, then just a freshman.

“I was kind of scared to go out there at first,” Tapper said. “The offensive tackle was just staring at me and I was just shaking.”

So instinct took over.

“So I tried to do a basketball move and he just threw me out of the way,” said Tapper, who was a standout basketball player who didn’t play football until his junior year at Baltimore (Md.) City College High School.

Later in the game, Tapper got the best of his one-on-one battle, pressuring UTEP quarterback Nick Lamaison in the final minutes of OU’s 24-7 win.

“After my first snap I was OK, I was ready to play,” Tapper said.

Those moments in El Paso, Texas, define Tapper's first season at OU. During times of uncertainty, the raw defeensive end turned to his basketball roots yet when he focused on his football fundamentals, he saw success.

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NORMAN, Okla. -- Safety Ahmad Thomas and receiver Dannon Cavil recognized an opportunity at Oklahoma. With wideout Kenny Stills and safety Tony Jefferson declaring for the 2013 NFL draft following their junior seasons, a starting spot and playing time opened up for the Sooners at both positions.

The lone freshman early enrollees who have fully participated in spring football, Cavil and Thomas are already making an impression on their teammates and coaches. It started with their smooth transition into the program during winter workouts.

“He's handled the workouts,” head coach Bob Stoops said of Cavil shortly before spring football began. “That's when you can really tell if a guy is ready for it, and he's gone through all the workouts like he's a junior.”

Thomas was the same way.

“He handled winter workouts like someone who’s been around for a couple of years,” nickelback Julian Wilson said. “He didn’t handle them like a freshman.”

The duo continued to impress this spring by displaying playmaking ability that could earn them on role on the Sooners’ offense and defense this fall. Thomas is a hard hitter who is displaying terrific instincts at safety. The departures of Jefferson and Javon Harris, OU’s starters last season, leaves a hole in the secondary and Thomas is making a case to slide into that gap.

“I’ve never seen a freshman like him,” cornerback Cortez Johnson said. “He’ll play a big part in our defense, most likely this year.”

Senior safety Gabe Lynn is taking on a mentoring role with Thomas but has already noticed his natural ability. Thomas' instincts have impressed along with his hunger to learn.

“He has good instincts,” Lynn said. “You really can’t tell he just came in, it fits right in. Ahmad wants to learn more so it’s very easy to help him, he’s asking questions all the time.”

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Oklahoma's defense made it through the second week of November and had given up more than 21 points just twice. The Sooners lost both games, but any good Big 12 offense can feel good about its chances if its defense gives up just 24 and 30 points, especially at home.

New defensive coordinator Mike Stoops looked like he'd made an impact, but after beating Iowa State in Ames, the streak of strong defensive play from the Sooners stopped. It survived 34 points from Baylor and big plays late from quarterback Landry Jones helped the Sooners beat West Virginia and rival Oklahoma State despite giving up 49 and 48 points, respectively.

Jones' heroics overshadowed the defensive struggles a bit, but there was no hiding from an embarrassing 41-13 blowout loss at the hand of ex-Big 12 rival Texas A&M, lowlighted by 229 rushing yards and 287 passing yards from Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, who also accounted for four touchdowns.

"You can’t give up that many yards and that many points and expect to win. We’ve got to find ways to be better against those kinds of teams. That’s what we’re concentrating on [this spring]," Stoops said. "A lot of teams you can go out there and it doesn’t matter what you play, you can beat a lot of teams, but when you go up against the top-level teams, you’ve got to come up with something a little different and variations and that’s where we came up short, those kinds of games."

There's no excusing the points, but how much of those struggles were the Sooners playing poorly, and how much of it was going head-to-head with four teams that ranked in the top 10 in total offense and scoring offense?

"Our plan was off against Tavon Austin, they kind of caught us with our pants down, and we didn’t have really an answer. Structrually, you’ve got to be better than that," Stoops said. "A&M, I think that was probably one of the hardest teams we’ve had to defend here ever, maybe."

Austin spent almost all his time at West Virginia as a receiver, but the Mountaineers moved him to running back against the Sooners. He promptly racked up a school-record 344 rushing yards and had 572 all-purpose yards, seven short of the NCAA record. Against the Aggies, the Sooners' pass rush went absent and the linebackers and secondary consistently lost contain on Manziel, who turned broken plays into big plays on countless occasions in the Aggies' romp.

"Those three teams average more than 550 yards a game so that’s their average. You’ve got to look at it, but certainly we want to have our expectations," Stoops said of the Aggies, Cowboys and Mountaineers. "It’s a little bit of us not being good enough schematically and position by positon. When you get stressed like that when you play good teams, you get stressed across the board, and we have to be better than we were a year ago, and that’s individually and schematically."

Roughly 90 percent of college football programs would be thrilled to win 10 games in a season. Oklahoma is not one of those programs.

Sharing a Big 12 title? That trophy is a whole lot less satisfying when there are seven others waiting in the trophy case since 2000 that weren't shared with anybody.

"Our expectations are different than everybody else. Everybody’s not Oklahoma," defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. "When you have Oklahoma across your chest, you expect to win championships, and that’s never going to change here."

He knows firsthand. Stoops helped his brother, coach Bob Stoops, win Oklahoma's seventh national title back in 2000, and the Sooners came up short two more times, once losing in the title game with Mike Stoops in 2003 and again a year later with Stoops coaching at Arizona. Without him coordinating the defense, the Sooners gave up 55 points to USC, more points than any team has ever scored in the BCS National Championship Game.

Arizona fired Mike Stoops six games into the 2011 season, and the Sooners' struggling defense needed an offseason jolt, despite winning 10 games that same season. Mike Stoops returned and brought assistant Tim Kish with him to coach linebackers and help coordinate the defense.

"Sometimes change is good, new ideas are good always, and change is good sometimes," Mike Stoops said. "That happens for whatever reason, and whether it’s complacency or just being stagnant, those things occur. Just trying to reinvent ourselves is something we need to do."

In 2012, there were more late-season defensive struggles after a strong start, but yet again, a 10-win season and a shared Big 12 title weren't enough. Losing three games isn't good enough, and nobody wants to hear that all three losses came to teams that spent time in the top five last season. The Sooners want to get back to competing for national titles, and Bob Stoops went the route of coaching changes to help get Oklahoma back there.

Assistant coaches Jackie Shipp and Bruce Kittle were shown the door, along with offensive line coach James Patton. The Sooners scooped up Bill Bedenbaugh from West Virginia to replace Patton and brought in Jerry Montgomery from Michigan to coach the defensive line. Jay Boulware filled Kittle's spot on the staff after coaching tight ends at Auburn. The Sooners' reboot was complete, and they're working toward results in the spring.

"[They bring] a new perspective in some areas, new ideas. They’re not drastic changes," Mike Stoops said. "Obviously, the coaches we had in here were involved and knew our systems well, but there’s always little changes in technique and little things schematically that can help you, so we’re always looking for fresh ideas."

Ten wins tastes bitter when you're used to winning 11 or 12, which can be the difference between proving yourself as a very good team and a great team. Oklahoma won at least 12 games six times since 2000 and 11 games on three more occasions. Ten wins isn't good enough, and a few former players and one famed coach were more than willing to speak up about it, echoing fan concerns.

Barry Switzer started it in September when he told one local paper that the Sooners "just don't have the talent."

"We’re not as good as we have been," Switzer said. "We don’t have the Tommie Harrises or Gerald McCoys squatting down there in the middle [of the defensive line]."

Offensive lineman Jammal Brown, an All-American who played in Norman from 2000 to '04, said he was "mad as hell" about the Sooners' 28-point Cotton Bowl loss to Texas A&M to cap the 10-win season, calling the Sooners "soft." CBS analyst Spencer Tillman, a Sooners running back in the '80s, said Oklahoma lost concentration on what made the program great in the first place.

Considering the Sooners let Shipp go at the end of the season, it's hard to believe Bob Stoops didn't agree in part with what Switzer had to say. As for the rest of it?

"We may not be as skilled at some of the positions as we want to be, but our toughness and pride is what made Oklahoma what it is, whether it was Bud Wilkinson or Barry Switzer or Bob Stoops, I think that’s the common thread that goes to being a great team," Mike Stoops said.

"Some of those, from the outside, may have felt like we didn’t have that common thread between us. I never felt that; I always thought our teams played hard and together. They’re certainly entitled to their opinions, you know. We’ve got to look at ourselves, and if it’s true, we need to change it. The things we needed to change, we’re working on changing, and nobody knows our program like we do.

"There’s areas we certainly need to get better at, and we’re aware of those. Some of those take time. Some of those take adjustments each day to get better."

The Sooners lose a four-year starter at quarterback in Landry Jones from last year's team, along with seven starters from Mike Stoops' defense. The task of winning more than 10 games seems difficult in a Big 12 that's deeper than it has ever been.

"We just need to get better, again, individually and schematically and play better across the board and come up with better ideas and a better scheme. We’re not far off when you look at the big picture," Mike Stoops said. "We had a chance to win 12 games, we lost them all late in the game and down the stretch and didn’t make the plays we needed to, but again, we’re not that far off."

Nobody collects Big 12 title crystal bowls more than Oklahoma. The Sooners got another one last season (debate the merits of it all you want, but it resides in the Switzer Center no matter how much you complain) when it shared a Big 12 title with Kansas State.

That gave Oklahoma eight Big 12 titles since 2000, five more than any other team in the league. The Sooners have done that with a bunch of different quarterbacks, and they'll have to add another name to that list this year if Oklahoma is going to win its ninth Big 12 title.

Do you believe the Sooners can reload and win the Big 12 yet again with several players who are far from household names this spring?

Oklahoma returns just four starters from the defense that got off to a strong start but struggled late last season, never more so than in the loss to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Landry Jones quarterbacked an offense that bailed out the defense in dramatic wins against West Virginia and Oklahoma State. Without an experienced quarterback, any defensive shortcomings might be more exposed this season. Even with the personnel losses, though, could those defensive shortcomings be fewer in Year 2 in Mike Stoops' defense? The defensive line needs a lot of work, and there is a lot of turnover there, but the offensive line will be a strength.

What do you think of the Sooners' chances? Do you buy that Oklahoma will be in the mix yet again, despite all the turnover? Or will Oklahoma come up short and settle for an average season that doesn't come with a Big 12 title trophy?

Vote in our poll.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Asked about his individual goals heading into the 2013 season, Oklahoma safety Gabe Lynn answered without hesitation.

“Be a leader to my teammates and make as many plays as I can,” said the fifth-year senior from Jenks, Okla.

Make no mistake, Lynn will have plenty of eyes on him. From Mike Stoops to his defensive teammates to Sooners fans, every step Lynn takes will be noted this fall. As one of three senior starters on the defense, Lynn will need to emerge as a vocal leader and calm presence at free safety.

“I’ve been around here long enough, so it’s definitely something I have to be,” Lynn said of taking on a leadership role on defense alongside fellow seniors Corey Nelson and Aaron Colvin. “I have to be more vocal since I’m in the middle now.”

Adding to the attention is his move to free safety, a position that requires vocal leadership and was vacated when Tony Jefferson, OU’s leading tackler in 2012, left early for the NFL. After playing cornerback and nickelback during his first four years at OU, Lynn might have finally found a home.

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NORMAN, Okla. -- It’s hard to remember now, but just two springs ago, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops called then-sophomore linebacker Corey Nelson the “best player” on his defense and said “it’s not close.”

Nelson is a senior now. And, finally, it appears the Sooners are going to give him the opportunity to deliver on Stoops’ proclamation.

“I’m really looking forward to playing again,” Nelson said. “(Not playing) has ignited a fire under me.”

Nelson has reason to have fire in his belly this spring.

After a promising freshman campaign followed by that dominating spring, Nelson figured to be on the cusp of stardom two seasons ago.

Sporadic playing time since, though, has stymied Nelson’s development -- to the point he thought of joining fellow linebacker Tom Wort and leaving Oklahoma.

“We had conversations, multiple conversations, just throughout the season, just talking about how frustrated he was, and how frustrated I was at times,” Nelson said.

Those frustrations stemmed from the Sooners’ defensive regime change from Brent Venables to Mike Stoops.

While Venables built his defenses around his linebackers, Mike Stoops consigned Wort and Nelson to plugging gaps and funneling tackles to the safeties.

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After recruiting them for several months, Oklahoma's coaching staff finally was able to talk publicly about the players the Sooners added to the program on signing day. Over the next week or so, SoonerNation will review some of the key things coaches had to say about the players signed at each position group during their signing day webcast on Soonersports.com.

Lancaster, Texas, cornerback Dakota Austin caught the eye of the Sooners last spring during OU's football camp. His size, or lack thereof, was a concern, but his coverage ability and competitiveness were obvious strengths. The Sooners waited until late in recruiting process before extending an offer but eventually decided Austin's coverage ability was just too good to ignore, even if it came in a 5-foot-10, 149-pound package.

"We had him in camp, he wasn’t as big but I loved him in camp," defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. "His footwork, ability to change direction. The more I got around this kid the more I started to like him."

Stoops paid close attention to Austin during the camp and got an excellent feel for the player's coach-ability and knack for overcoming his size disadvantage against several bigger receivers during one-on-one drills. Nonetheless, Austin was lightly recruited leading into signing day, until the Sooners swooped in with an offer. And OU hopes the lack of interest from others will spur Austin to bigger heights during his time in crimson and cream.

"I think he’s got something to prove," Stoops said of Austin's limited number of offers including Nevada, New Mexico and UTEP. "Because I think he was slighted throughout the recruiting process. I think he’s going to have a chip on his shoulder and I think he can be an impact player."

After recruiting them for several months, Oklahoma's coaching staff finally was able to talk publicly about the players the Sooners added to the program on signing day. Over the next week or so, SoonerNation will review some of the key things coaches had to say about the players signed at each position group during their signing day webcast on Soonersports.com.

The Sooners are in dire need of playmakers in the secondary and Fresno (Calif.) Central East safety Hatari Byrd could fit the bill.

At 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds, Byrd has the size and athleticism to become a solid safety for OU. The Sooners coaching staff is hoping Byrd can help lessen the impact of losing leading tackler Tony Jefferson, who decided to enter the NFL draft following his junior season.

"[He's] a big-time player," defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said of Byrd. "He can cover a lot of ground, make things happen in the back end, he has great range. He plays like Tony -- great hitter, great tackler but has more range in his body type than Tony had."

With Big 12 offenses designed to stretch the field as much as possible, the Sooners are excited about the range of Byrd from his safety position, which could help him make plays from sideline to sideline.

“Hatari is a great safety, a big-time DB," head coach Bob Stoops said. "He’s got great size and range. He’s a huge hitter, but a great athlete. He can really run, and again, he’s got a ton of range to him, an excellent skill athlete.”

Byrd will be joined in Norman, Okla,. by his high school teammate L.J. Moore, who could help solidify the cornerback position this fall. Stoops was the only Sooners coach able to talk about Moore, who didn't announce his decision until late on signing day.

“L.J. has great size for a corner and tremendous coverage skills," Stoops said. "He’ll give a boost to our secondary."

After recruiting them for several months, Oklahoma's coaching staff finally was able to talk publicly about the players the Sooners added to the program on signing day. Over the next week or so, SoonerNation will review some of the key things coaches had to say about the players signed at each position group during their signing day webcast on Soonersports.com.

Spring football will be Sooners fans' first opportunity to get a look at freshman safety Ahmad Thomas (Miami, Fla./Central). As an early enrollee, Thomas will get the chance to earn himself a spot in the Sooners defense this spring with OU looking to replace three of its five starters in the secondary.

"He’s a guy that is already here working with us,” head coach Bob Stoops said. "[He's] a very physical and tough tackler. He’s a good cover guy."

The Sooners are expecting Thomas to bring a physical presence to the secondary and used the name of Sooners' legend Roy Williams when describing Thomas' hitting ability.

"A big physical, strong safety," defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. "Roy Williams' name will come up because of his size. How big and physical he is gives us a safety that’s going to have a lot of punch in the middle of the field. He has an incredible future here."

Mike Stoops is searching for answers.

The Oklahoma defensive coordinator is coming off a season in which his team faced Big 12 offenses that lined up in four-receiver sets 70 percent of the time. And the Sooners were ill prepared, giving up 2,251 yards in their final four games, including 778 to West Virginia and 633 to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.

“We didn’t have all the answers we needed,” Stoops said.

Stoops plans to change that this spring, as OU experiments with ways to be more versatile, flexible and adaptable within its defense. Talking to the local media two days before the Sooners open spring football, Stoops said he wants his defense to be more adaptable and more aggressive in 2013.

“We have to be able to create more big plays, more negative-yardage plays,” he said. “When you look at a year ago, we didn’t give up a ton, but we didn’t get a ton either.”

Starting this spring, the Sooners defense will become more aggressive with a goal of forcing things to happen instead of waiting for things to happen.

“Being able to be in position to be more aggressive defensively is what you have to be,” he said. “Not sit back and react to everything like we did a year ago.”

Yet being more aggressive doesn’t necessarily mean getting to the quarterback. The Sooners finished the season with 24 sacks in 2011, yet Stoops doesn’t consider that an unusually low number because of the low number of sacks in the Big 12 as a whole.

“People don’t hold onto the ball like they used to,” he said. “That’s just kind of how the league is. You have to put pressure on the quarterback, a least make him feel it, get in [passing] windows and knock balls down. That’s what we need to be better at on defense. Because in this league, good teams aren’t going to take sacks.”

Ultimately if the Sooners defense is going to get better, they’ll need to make key plays in key situations. Improving their third-down conversion defense will be key. They allowed 41.58 percent of opponents attempts to be converted in 2012, ranking eighth in the Big 12. Forcing more turnovers will be a priority after forcing just 16 turnovers, ranking ninth in the conference. And they’ll need to record more tackles for loss after finishing last in the Big 12 with 53 tackles for loss in 2012.

“You have to contest things down in and down out,” Stoops said. “You have to get negative plays, you have to get big plays, make interceptions and be better on third downs.”

Big 12 offenses are designed to stretch defenses then attack the weakest point of the defense be it a scheme design, particular player or area of the field.

“We just have to find better ways to handle some of the things,” Stoops said. “And having more flexibility and diversification leads into that.”

After recruiting them for several months, Oklahoma's coaching staff finally was able to talk publicly about the players the Sooners added to the program on signing day. Over the next week or so, SoonerNation will review some of the key things coaches had to say about the players signed at each position group during their signing day webcast on Soonersports.com.

Tulsa (Okla.) East Central cornerback Stanvon Taylor drew unparalleled praise from the Oklahoma coaching staff on signing day, as they raved about the versatility and upside of the No. 199-ranked recruit in the ESPN300.

"People were talking about how Stanvon could be a receiver, but you love it when a corner has receiver-type ball skills to go after the ball," head coach Bob Stoops said. "He reminds us very much of Aaron Colvin, just the athlete that he is. We believe he is special. We are excited about Stanvon at corner. He is a great athlete and will play for us early.”

The Sooners would be giddy if Taylor matches Colvin's career path. Colvin starred at Owasso (Okla.) High School before playing cornerback early in his true freshman year in 2010 and leading the Sooners in tackles as a sophomore safety in 2011. Colvin returned to cornerback and earned All-Big 12 honors as a junior and decided to return for his senior season earlier this year.

Taylor has the versatility and ball skills to remind people of Colvin, and his talents could be needed immediately as the Sooners look to replace three starters in their secondary.

"We’re projecting him to come in and solidify our depth at the position," defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. "I can’t say enough about this guy. He’s going to play corner for us and I think he has a chance to be a special player, an Aaron Colvin-type player, they’re very similar in their styles and versatility as players. He has all the qualities you want to be a superstar, [he's] your prototypical cover corner."

There were questions about what position Taylor would play at OU but both Bob and Mike Stoops made it very clear they expect Taylor to line up on the defensive side of the ball. Yet that didn't keep OU's offensive coaches from noticing the talent he brings to the program.

“A lot of people in our profession say he might be the best in our class when it’s all said and done,” running backs coach Cale Gundy said.