SB Nation - Donald Stephenson

2009 OU Football Preview: O-Line

ccmachine — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 05:07:00 -0000

The gauntlet has been thrown down for Oklahoma’s offensive line. Who knows what is being said behind closed doors but among the general public and most media outlets the `09 Sooners are only going to be as good as the offensive line allows them to be. Fair or not, that is the challenge set forth for a unit that will feature four new starters. At first glance its logical to be concerned going into the season but taking a closer look at the guys up front should shed new light and confidence in the line.

Left Tackle

Starter – Trent Williams, Sr.: The lone returning starter from last season, Williams will be the veteran leader in `09. He’ll be moving from the right to the left tackle position to help protect Bradford’s blindside. Williams was a first team All Big 12 selection last season and recorded a total of 131 knockdowns. In the BCS Championship game he had a career high 18 knockdowns against the Gators.

Donald Stephenson, So.: Played in seven games last season as a reserve.

Jeff Vinson, Jr.: Rated as the #52 JUCO player in the nation last year by Rivals.

Left Guard

Starter - Brian Simmons, Sr.: Has played in 35 games over the last three seasons. Last year (as well as `07) he played in all 14 games as a reserve, for a total of 421 plays, in which he recorded 50 knockdowns.

Tavaris Jeffries, Jr.: Played last season at Coahoma Community College last season.

Center

Starter - Ben Habern, Fr.: Was given a medical redshirt last season, after seeing action in three games, due to an ankle injury. Against Baylor he had nine knockdowns in nine plays.

Brian Lepak, Jr.: Transfer from Colorado State. Recorded no stats in 2008.

Right Guard

Starter - Stephen Good, So.: Played in seven games last season as a reserve. Against Nebraska he recorded his season high four knockdowns.

Tyler Evans, Fr.: Was ranked as the #52 offensive guard in the nation by Rivals.

Right Tackle

Starter – Cory Brandon, Jr.: Played in nine games last season as a reserve and tallied 148 plays in which he recorded 16 knockdowns.

Jarvis Jones, So.: Redshirt season in 2008. Played in seven games as a reserve at LSU in 2007 as a true freshman.

This unit may not be as big and powerful as last season’s but they should be a lot quicker. As you can see the cupboard is far from being bare and there really is a lot of experience there. Its not like OU will be tossing out an All-Conference guy and four others who’ve never taken a snap in a major college football game. The biggest challenge for this unit will be for them to gel together and its something that they must do quickly. If they don’t the BYU game could be interesting and the Miami game down right scary.

April 24th Sooner Sports Notebook

dishingoutdimes — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:33:02 -0000

It's amazing how fast they grow up nowadays, right? That must be what Jeremy Tyler's mom is telling herself after her son decided to skip his senior year in high school and play ball in Europe.

Speaking of high school basketball players, Xavier Henry has decided to play for Kansas, meaning Kansas is loaded for next year. Henry was a highly sought recruit who was ranked #1 by ESPNU. It's all good because Willie Warren has proved he can handle Xavier; here's a video of Willie dunking on Henry:

Good stuff! The Sooners will be counting on Willie next season to deliver, as the Tulsa World points out, earning them the Captain Obvious Award of the day.

Quotable

“I want to win a national championship or at least go to a Final Four. I won (a championship) in high school, and I just want to get one at every level if that’s possible.” --Willie Warren

In The News

The Lloyd Noble Center was more packed this year, and at least one game made an impact on recruit T.J. Taylor.
Rhett Bomar is likely to be drafted at some point this weekend. It will be interesting to see where the quarterback who left OU in disgrace will wind up.
Baseball and softball have big series coming up. Softball is in Columbia, Missouri. Baseball is playing Baylor.
An obligatory article from the Oklahoman about Sam Bradford and his decision to forego the NFL Draft.
Another OU football player was arrested for failure to pay a ticket.
Craig Brackins decided to return to Iowa State.

Secondhand Reports & Rumors

Apparently Orlando Allen has been working very hard this offseason and has his weight way down. If he can keep working hard and improve his hands in the low block, he could see a significant increase in minutes.
Jeff Capel was in Ames, Iowa watching an open workout for 5-star recruit Harrison Barnes, according to Rivals. John Calipari was there, as were assistants from UNC and USC.
T.J. Taylor hinted that Cameron Clark might want to play with Taylor, and that they had discussed the process already. Taylor committed to OU, so things are looking good in that department. FYI, Cameron Clark is a talented 6'6" SG/SF who is expected to make a jump into their top 50 recruits for 2010 shortly.

And since it's quiet, we'll take a quick trip around SBNation, and I'll try to link to a few interesting articles:

The Syracuse blog has started a Greg Paulus watch.
Niners Nation takes an astoundingly in depth look at drafting quarterbacks and then applies it to Stafford, Sanchez and Freeman.
Corn Nation gives a report card for their spring game, and also recaps other Big 12 spring games.

OU Football Spring Preview Part Three: The Trenches

dishingoutdimes — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:52:25 -0000

Gerald McCoy, in the process of getting "face-masked" above, will anchor a solid defensive line in 2009.

Previous Spring Preview Issues

Part Two: Offensive Skill Position Players
Part One: Who Is and Isn't Back, Exciting New Players

Two opposite stories in the trenches for the Sooners this season. The offensive line lost 5 players, 4 of them starters. The only starter who is returning is OT Trent WIlliams. This isn't to say that OU didn't recruit solid offensive linemen, but they will need to mature as a unit and get some game experience before they would get anywhere close to as good as our offensive line was last year.

Meanwhile, the defensive line lost two rotation guys, and no regular starters. Additionally, there will be some added depth and DT Gerald McCoy is back despite having the potential to be a high NFL draft pick.

The good stuff after the jump...(click the link below)

Offensive Line

#51 JR Brian Lepak, 6-4 285, transfer from Colorado State University
#59 SO Donald Stephenson, 6-6 275, Blue Springs H.S. in Blue Springs, MO
#61 rFR Ben Habern, 6-4 275, Liberty Christian H.S. in Argyle, TX
#70 JR Cory Brandon, 6-7 308, Coriscana H.S. in Corsicana, TX
#71 SR Trent Williams, 6-5 308, Longview H.S. in Longview, TX
#74 SR Brian Simmons, 6-5 304, Hargrave Academy in Raleigh, NC
#76 SO Jarvis Jones, 6-7 294, transfer from Lousiana State University
#77 SO Stephen Good, 6-5 305, Paris H.S. in Paris, TX
#78 SO Alex Williams, 6-6 300, O. Perry Walker H.S. in New Orleans, LA

JR Jeff Vinson, 6-8 350, Lackawanna College in Lancaster, PA
JR Tavaris Jeffries, 6-5 320, Coahoma Community College in Memphis, TN
FR Josh Aladenoye, 6-6 340, North Mesquite H.S. in Mesquite, TX
FR Tyler Evans, 6-5 280, Strafford H.S. in Strafford, MO

Despite losing some great talent to the NFL or graduation, the Sooners are still looking stout on the offensive line. Anchoring the line will be senior Trent Williams who will move from his position of right tackle last year, to left tackle this year. He'll be charged with protecting Sam Bradford's blind side. Not bad to have a first team All Big 12-er protecting your blind side. Backing him up on the depth chart will probably be JUCO transfer Jeff Vinson who is absolutely huge (6'8" 350). Think Phil Loadholt. If Vinson doesn't latch onto the offense fast enough, expect Donald Stephenson to be available here as well. Stephenson saw the field in 7 games last year.

At the opposite tackle position, expect Cory Brandon to open up at the top of the depth chart. He played in nine games last year, recording 16 knockdown blocks - 5 each against Chattanooga and Washington. He was on the field for 148 plays. Backing him up, and possibly competing for the starting job will be LSU transfer Jarvis Jones who had to sit last year out. Also wouldn't be surprised to see Jeff Vinson getting some real playing time over on this side given that he's a huge body like Loadholt. Lack of experience in Division I and in the OU offense could keep him behind Brandon on the depth chart though.

The left guard position appears to be locked up by Brian Simmons, who the coaches consider a returning starter basically. He's a senior, knows the offense inside and out, and has had playing time the past couple of years. He led all reserve linemen last year with 50 knockdowns and 421 plays. He has played in all of OU's games the past two years, and even started twice in 2007. Behind him, expect either big bodied JUCO guard transfer Tavaris Jeffries, or perhaps CSU transfer Brian Lepak.

At the right guard, it looks like Stephen Good will have every opportunity to earn the starting job, as he has been impressive in spring practice so far. He was a highly touted recruit and he played in 7 games last year. Competing with Good will likely be Jeffries (the JUCO transfer), and Alex Williams. Williams played in 6 games last year.

And finally, at center, it looks like Ben Habern might have the edge. He got a medical redshirt last season after playing as the backup center for 3 games. He got injured against Baylor, but before the injury he had 9 knockdowns in 9 plays. Pretty impressive, but not surprising as all the recruiting services had him highly regarded. Behind him, probably Brian Lepak, or one of the backup guards perhaps. The two freshmen may not see the field much this year unless they really impress.

It's really up in the air right now. It's hard to project the offensive line. The final starting 5 will be determined not only by talent, but by the chemistry they have. If I had to call it right now with very little knowledge, I'd say from left to right: Trent Williams, Brian Simmons, Ben Habern, Stephen Good, Cory Brandon. In any event, the offensive line has the potential to actually be quite good.

Defensive Line

DE #33 SR Auston English, 6-3 253, Canadian H.S. in Canadian, TX
DE #44 JR Jeremy Beal, 6-3 253, Creekview H.S. in Carrolton, TX
DL #53 rFR Casey Walker, 6-3 285, Garland H.S. in Garland, TX
DE #84 SO Frank Alexander, 6-4 249, Southern Lab School in Baton Rouge, LA
DT #86 JR Adrian Taylor, 6-4 295, Mansfield H.S. in Mansfield, TX
DT #89 SR Cordero Moore, 6-2 295, Horn H.S. in Mesquite, TX
DE #90 rFR David King, 6-4 240, Strake Jesuit Prep in Houston, TX
DE #91 rFR R.J. Washington, 6-4 242, Keller Fossil Ridge H.S. in Fort Worth, TX
DL #92 rFR Stacy McGee, 6-4 260, Muskogee H.S. in Muskogee, OK
DT #93 JR Gerald McCoy, 6-4 295, Southeast H.S. in Oklahoma City, OK
DE #94 JR Pryce Macon, 6-1 249, Carroll H.S. in Corpus Christi, TX
DT #96 SR DeMarcus Granger, 6-2 302, Kimball H.S. in Dallas, TX
DE #99 SO Jonte Bumpus, 6-3 226, Muskogee H.S. in Muskogee, OK

DE FR Jarrett Brown, 6-4 245, Bowie H.S. in Arlington, TX
DE FR Terry Franklin, 6-4 210, Legacy H.S. in Mansfield, TX
DT FR Jamarkus McFarland, 6-3 285, Lufkin H.S. in Lufkin, TX

QUESTION MARK ????????? Justin Chaisson

This defensive line unit has a tremendous amount of talent and depth. All four starters from last year will be returning. On the edges look for Auston English and Jeremy Beal to continue starting. English burst onto the scene as a sophomore and last year was an All Big 12 Honorable Mention. He's got an unbelievable motor and nose for the ball. A similar player is Beal. He was an All Big 12 First Team by the AP. He led the team with 8.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss.

Reserve defensive ends include Frank Alexander who was able to start and get significant playing time when Auston English has been banged up. He was an All Big 12 Honorable Mention and racked up 3.5 sacks on the year. Jonte Bumpus and Pryce Macon are depth guys, but will probably get passed for playing time by two extremely promising freshmen who redshirted last year. The first is R.J. Washington, who was the #1 DE recruit and #11 overall recruit on ESPN two years ago. He was an EA Sports and Parade All American. He holds his school record for sacks. He's an unbelievably talented and explosive player, and it will be hard to keep him off the field. The other guy who redshirted last year was David King, also a highly regarded recruit. He was named as the #11 defensive end nationally by Scout.com. Both King and Washington have the talent to get playing time this year.

At tackle, Gerald McCoy and Adrian Taylor should continue to start. McCoy is good enough to be playing NFL ball next year, but decided to come back for another season. He was an AP Second Team All American, and a Sporting News First Team All American. He led interior linemen on the team with 30 tackles and also was second on the team with 6.5 sacks. He plays well in the big game, getting 2 sacks against Texas' Colt McCoy and intercepting Tim Tebow. Adrian Taylor is pretty good himself. He tied for third on the team with 4.5 sacks. He had a career high 6 tackles in the National Championship Game.

Behind them there is some good depth. DeMarcus Granger had back surgery, so he's a bit of a question mark, but if he's healthy he has the talent of a starter on a Division I team. Cordero Moore is a senior, like Granger, and was part of the defensive tackle rotation last year. Casey Walker and Stacey McGee probably need to add a little weight before they'd be significant players in the the rotation. Both redshirted last year. But the guy who may jump up to the level of the first DT off the bench could be incoming freshman Jamarkus McFarland. He is a 5 star recruit on Scout.com. He has the size, quickness and strength to compete immediately. He needs to get better at getting a push up the middle to get to the quarterback.

Overall, the defensive line is about 2 starting quality players deep at every position, with all of the current starters being exceptional players. The defensive line could be one of the top units on the team this upcoming season. They say that interceptions and stops on defense come from great pressure. All of the starting defensive lineman can certainly pressure the ball, and with a defensive line to anchor the defense, I think we will be much improved from a year ago.

What If...Jeremy Maclin Hadn't Injured His Knee in 2006? (Part One)

Bill C. — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:00:08 -0000

Even though we knew Jeremy Maclin's Friday announcement of his pro intentions was coming, it's still sparked a small wave of nostalgia. It's a shame that the guy was quite likely the best wide receiver in Missouri history only played on Faurot Field for two years. It's hard not to wish for at least a third year. And while there was obviously little to no likelihood of his coming back for 2009, we were really gypped out of another year: 2006.

So let's put on our "What If..." cap for a bit. In 2006, Missouri flew out of the gates at 6-0 and stumbled a bit down the stretch, but still ended up exceeding preseason expectations with an 8-5 campaign. They were a pleasant surprise overall, but they struggled at times, especially against Iowa State, when pretty much every receiver on the team other than Tommy Saunders limped off the field at some point, and a last-second comeback attempt fell short. What if Chase Daniel had had Maclin to throw to that day...or any other? What would that have done for the 2006 squad? And if it would have helped that squad (as we know it would have), would it have helped recruiting too? Jeremy Maclin's legacy is already deep and well-defined, but what if Mizzou really had gotten three seasons out of him? What if...Jeremy Maclin hadn't injured his knee on July 25, 2006?

2006

I didn't necessarily believe the reports at the time--that Jeremy Maclin was tearing up summer practices, and that there was no way Missouri would be able to keep him off the field in '06. It seems the main goal of the practice reports you read are to pump you up for the fall. Knowing what I know now, I'd say they were probably pretty damn accurate. Knowing what I know now, the odds of his starting the season high on the depth chart were astronomical.

Week 1 Depth Chart	With Maclin
Will Franklin (Jr) Brad Ekwerekwu (Sr) Tommy Saunders (So) Jared Perry (Fr) Danario Alexander (Fr) Jason Ray (Jr) Greg Bracey (Jr)	Will Franklin (Jr) Jeremy Maclin (Fr) Brad Ekwerekwu (Sr) Tommy Saunders (So) Jared Perry (Fr) ~~Danario Alexander~~ (redshirting) Jason Ray (Jr) Greg Bracey (Jr)

If memory serves, Perry was too impressive to redshirt more-or-less from the get-go, but Alexander was a late decision. With Maclin dominating, I think the staff would have decided not to play all three true freshmen, and Alexander would have donned the red. Ekwerekwu had appendix surgery toward the end of August, and his status for starting in Week One was a bit uncertain for a while. This uncertainty, plus the likelihood that Maclin really was that good as a true freshman, would have resulted in two St. Louis natives atop the WR list.

So here's the next question: how much would Maclin have contributed? Let's do this: let's look at what percentage of overall Mizzou WR catches he nabbed in 2007 as a redshirt freshman and apply it to 2006.

(And if you couldn't care less about the data, just skip down to the "2006: Old vs New" table after the jump.)

Catches by 2007 Mizzou WRs
WR	Catches	% of all
Jeremy Maclin	80	34.6%
Will Franklin	49	21.2%
Tommy Saunders	41	17.7%
Danario Alexander	37	16.0%
Jared Perry	13	5.6%
Jason Ray	8	3.5%
Greg Bracey	3	1.3%

Let's look at how the distribution was in 2006 without Maclin:

Catches by 2006 Mizzou WRs
WR	Catches	% of all
Will Franklin	48	28.9%
Jared Perry	37	22.3%
Brad Ekwerekwu	32	19.3%
Tommy Saunders	25	15.1%
Danario Alexander	15	9.0%
Jason Ray	6	3.6%
Greg Bracey	3	1.8%

Now let's look at how Chase Daniel's tendencies changed from 2006 (without Maclin) to 2007 (with him). This will actually be quite telling, as there was almost no personnel change in the WR/TE unit from '06 to '07--they just replaced Ek in '06 with Maclin in '07.

Completions by Position, 2006-07
	2006		2007
Position	Completions	% of Comp.	Completions	% of Comp.
Wide Receivers	166	57.0%	231	58.6%
Tight Ends	111	38.1%	136	34.5%
Running Backs	14	4.9%	27	6.9%

Obviously not a lot changed as far as Daniel's pass distribution numbers are concerned.

One last thing we need to look at: Chase Daniel's overall numbers.

Season	Comp	Attempts	Yards	TD	INT	Comp %	Yds Per Pass	Yds Per Comp
2006	287	452	3527	28	10	63.5%	7.80	12.29
2007	384	563	4306	33	11	68.2%	7.65	11.21

The first thing to notice is, Daniel's per-pass and per-completion numbers actually went down in 2007 with Maclin in the rotation. I wouldn't have guessed that. Looking at the numbers, you really can't say Daniel's yards-per numbers would have changed all that much with Maclin. And while his INT rate improved (2.2% in 2006, 2.0% in 2007), Daniel's natural maturation process has to account for some of that.

So basically the only thing that might have changed is completion percentage. Daniel's completion % went up 4.7%, from 63.5 to 68.2, between 2006 and 2007. Again, a lot of that has to be attributed to maturation. But all? If he's throwing to Maclin instead of Brad Ekwerekwu, Saunders instead of Perry, Perry instead of Alexander, wouldn't his % have gone up at least a smidge? We're going to say yes. A smidge. We're going to say that with Maclin, Daniel's 2006 completion rate would have been 65.1%. That assigns 1/3 of his rate improvement to better options, 2/3 to maturation.

So now let's work backwards.

65.1% of 452 passes = 294 completions, an improvement of 7 balls. Other passers (Brandon Coleman, Tommy Saunders, Brad Ekwerekwu, Chase Coffman) still account for a 4-for-13, 63 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT line. So now there are 298 passes completed in the 2006 season.
57.0% of those completions go to WRs = 170 WR receptions (along with 114 TE receptions and still 14 RB receptions). With Alexander out of the mix and Maclin now in, here is the pass distribution for 2006, using unadjusted per-catch averages:

Player	Catches	Yards	Est. TDs
Jeremy Maclin	59	779	6.6
Will Franklin	35	605	4.4
Jared Perry	27	313	2.2
Brad Ekwerekwu	24	323	1.5
Tommy Saunders	18	195	1.4
Jason Ray	4	33	0.0
Greg Bracey	3	79	1.0
*TOTAL WR*	170	2,327	17.1
All Tight Ends	114	1,180	14.4
All Running Backs	14	102	0.0
*TOTAL*	298	3,609	31.5

Or, for means of comparison...

*Season*	*Comp*	*Attempts*	*Yards*	TD	*INT*	*Comp %*	*Yds Per Pass*	*Yds Per Comp*
Old 2006	287	452	3527	28	10	63.5%	7.80	12.29
New 2006	298	452	3609	31.5	10	65.9%	7.98	12.11
Diff	+11	+0	+82	+3.5	+0	+2.4%	+0.18	-0.18

So having Maclin in the receiving corps resulted in the following:

An extra 6.3 yards per game passing
An extra 1.9 points per game from the passing game (3.5 TDs). We'll apply those points randomly, basically letting them accumulate and cashing them in. Meaning, we'll say Missouri scored an extra touchdown in the fourth game of the season, the 8th, and the 11th game, and an extra field goal in the 13th. I'm not going to automatically say "We'd have scored these TDs in the games we lost," or anything like that. Let's apply the points in random fashion.

So...what about the return game? Well, we can do this one of two ways. We can either compare his return averages to the 2006 return averages (Goldsmith/Woods on KRs, Saunders on PRs) and add the difference to each return...or we can keep it random and say that the returns would have stayed basically the same, aside from the three return TDs he had (a punt return against Illinois in Game #1, a punt return against Illinois State in Game #4, a kickoff return against Kansas State in Game #11). Because this post is already getting longer than I had intended, let's go with random again. Let's apply an extra TD to those three games--#1, #4, #11.

So in the end, we are basically adding points to the following games.

Punt return TD in Game #1
Receiving TD, Punt return TD in Game #4
Receiving TD in Game #8
Receiving TD in Game #11, Kickoff return TD in Game #11
Field Goal in Game #13

Did you like how we mixed intricate data with total randomness? Me too.

2006: Old vs New
	Old 2006			New 2006
Opponent	W/L	MU	Opp	W/L	MU	Opp	Record	Conf. Rec.
Murray State	W	47	7	W	54	7	1-0
Ole Miss	W	34	7	W	34	7	2-0
@ New Mexico	W	27	17	W	27	17	3-0
Ohio U.	W	31	6	W	45	6	4-0
Colorado	W	28	13	W	28	13	5-0	1-0
@ Texas Tech	W	38	21	W	38	21	6-0	2-0
@ Texas A&M	L	19	25	L	19	25	6-1	2-1
Kansas State	W	41	21	W	48	21	7-1	3-1
Oklahoma	L	10	26	L	10	26	7-2	3-2
@ Nebraska	L	20	34	L	20	34	7-3	3-3
@ Iowa State	L	16	21	W	30	21	8-3	4-3
Kansas	W	42	17	W	42	17	9-3	5-3
Oregon State	L	38	39	W	41	39	10-3

We all remember 2006. There were three "coulda woulda shoulda" games for Missouri--@ATM, @ISU, and vs Oregon State. We could easily say that the ball Will Franklin fumbled at the 1 against ATM would have gone to Maclin, and Maclin was faster and would have scored, and Mizzou would have won. We could even say that the inside screen against Nebraska that was a bit too high and Franklin volleyed right to Adam Carriker...that coulda gone to Maclin too, and he would have just caught it, and that could have prevented Missouri from falling behind 17-0. Hell, we could even say that a couple of the picks Chase Daniel threw against OU wouldn't have been going to lesser receivers, and that they might not have happened.

But we're just not going to go there. With all the injuries that took place against Iowa State (Franklin got hurt in Q1, and Coffman, Rucker and Ekwerekwu had all hobbled off the field by Q4), I'm confident in saying Mizzou would have won that game with Maclin running routes for four quarters, and in a Sun Bowl that Mizzou could have won had any of about seven different plays not gone against them, one extra Mizzou weapon could have made the difference there. For grins, we'll say a 2006 team with Maclin still loses four of five in the middle of the season, but rights the ship down the stretch and goes 10-3, winning its second straight bowl game.

So what does that do to recruiting?

2007 Recruiting Class

The 2007 Recruiting Class was full of what if's. Two Rock Bridge products--QB Logan Gray and TE Aron White--ended up signing with Georgia. Hazelwood Central QB Marvin McNutt went to Iowa. Blue Springs OT Donald Stephenson went to Oklahoma. Four-star Hazelwood West ATH LaMark Brown went to K-State. It wasn't Missouri's best job of sealing the borders. Would Missouri's first 10-win season in decades have changed that?

Probably not. Gray and White were both locked up by Georgia in September. McNutt committed over the summer. Stephenson would have likely gone to OU no matter what. Brown supposedly wavered on his commitment for a little while in December, but it was all rumors for all we know. So Missouri's strong performance probably would have come along too late in the recruiting game to affect much. Really, only a couple of late prospects' minds might have been changed.

Their names? William Cole...and Dezmon Briscoe.

But we'll get to that in Part Two.