Inside The Huddle, October 3, 2013

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TCU

COVER STORYThe Road WarriorCan Blake Bell keep OU unbeaten? P 6

COLUMNKnight RiderShould the Sooners utilize Trevor Knight’s mobility? P 8

COLUMNWho’s got next?Sophomore receiver Sterling Shepard emerges as OU’s go-to receiver P 10

In just his second start, junior quarterback Blake Bell did something no Sooner signal caller had done since 1956: beat Notre Dame. What will he have in store for his encore effort against TCU? P 6

ILLUSTRATION BY ORIANA LOVERA/THE DAILY

2 • Thursday, October 3, 2013 InsIde the huddle

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Julia [email protected]

sports editor

Joe [email protected]

assistant sports editor

Demetrius [email protected]

sports reporter

Joey [email protected]

sports columnist

Dillon [email protected]

inside the huddle editor

WEEK SIX

SEASON RECORD 9-6 11-4 12-3 9-6 11-4

No. 25 Maryland at No. 8 Florida State

Kansas State atNo. 21 Oklahoma State

No. 4 Ohio State atNo. 16 Northwestern

No. 15 Washington atNo. 5 Stanford

Texas Christian atNo. 14 Oklahoma

Florida State

Northwestern

Oklahoma

Stanford

OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Florida State

Ohio State

Stanford

Kansas State

Florida State

Ohio State

Stanford

Oklahoma State

Florida State

Ohio State

Washington

Kansas State

Florida State

Northwestern

Stanford

Oklahoma State

InsIde the huddle Thursday, October 3, 2013 • 3

the associated press

OU coach Bob Stoops receives a Gatorade bath from his players following the Sooners’ 13-2, national championship game victory against Florida State on Jan. 4, 2001 in Miami. It is OU’s last national title.

Trent [email protected]

SpOrtS cOlUMnISt

Does all of the hype surrounding this rising Sooner

team seem familiar? Well, to the OU faithful, it should.

When you take a look at the makeup of this team as well as the context of the season, it is hard not to see similarities to the 2000 na-tional championship squad.

This team just seems to have something special about them. They play fast, hard and with the kind of passion on defense that took the college football world by storm in 2000.

Like the 2000 team, the players are blue-collar. You don’t see the highly prized recruits who, coming out of high school, were touted as future NFL stars. Many guys, especially on defense, were either lowly ranked or not on recruiting radars at all. For every Heupel, Thatcher and Calmus, there is a Colvin, Nelson and Saunders. They come to practice every day and put in the work that earns success. Fame isn’t important to them; they just want to win and continue the tradition.

Perhaps the most import-ant comparison, however, is

that this team appears to be an overlooked group that is getting better each week.

Remember when the 2000 Sooners came into the season ranked No. 19 in the country? They then proceeded to go on an epic midseason run that saw them knock off No. 11 Texas as well as No. 2 Kansas State and No.1 Nebraska in back-to-back-to-back weeks.

Before Sooner Nation knew it, they were cheering on the top-ranked team in America.

This year OU came into the season ranked No. 16, which is the first time they have been ranked outside of

the preseason top 10 since — you guessed it — 2000.

Currently in the No. 11 spot after the big win in South Bend, the Sooners look poised to make anoth-er run with a slate of tough road games ahead. Wins against Baylor, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State — all of whom likely will be ranked — could be enough for a late-season push to the top of the rankings.

With the recent domi-nance of the SEC, however, getting into position for a shot at a title will be tough. Unlike 2000, the Big 12 is a weaker conference this time around. Unless there are

some losses by top-10 SEC teams late in the season, the computers might not favor OU, even if they win out.

It is a risky thing to com-pare a current team to for-mer champions, but the college football season can play out in many ways. Flying under the radar is unfamiliar to most OU fans, but as 2000 would indicate, it might be part of a champi-onship formula.

Trent Crabtree is a journalism sophomore and sports columnist at The Daily.

column

This year’s Sooner squad resembles 2000 team Murray evans

Associated press

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — The three-game stretch with Notre Dame, TCU and Texas in successive weeks loomed large for No. 11 Oklahoma at the start of the season.

Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) dispatched some of the program’s demons by win-ning 35-21 last Saturday at then-No. 22 Notre Dame. Now the Sooners want to avoid a letdown Saturday against TCU (2-2, 0-1), which has struggled at times after entering the s e a s o n b e i n g c o n s i d -ered as a top conference contender.

This would seem to be a classic trap game - a game against a potentially po-tent foe, right after one of the biggest wins in recent years and just before the always-emotional show-down with archrival Texas. But Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says it won’t be hard for the Sooners to focus on TCU.

“ We d o n ’ t p l ay f ou r g a m e s ,” S t o o p s s a i d Monday, during his week-ly news conference. “We didn’t set the whole season up and work all year round to beat Notre Dame. It’s part of the cycle. We’ve got another game this week, an important one. They’re all Big 12 games coming. No one around here is ever satisfied with beating one team. That’s not how it works. Maybe some other places, but not here. We’ve got to win this week and then the following week and the following week. Next game up.”

Even though Stoops has tried to downplay the sig-nificance of the win at Notre Dame, it was only the sec-ond time in 11 opportunities that Oklahoma has beaten the Fighting Irish and the first time since 1956. The win provided evidence that Oklahoma might well be the team to beat in the Big 12 race, especially with TCU and Oklahoma State each hav-ing already lost a conference game.

In fact, considering the early season issues of both TCU and Texas, the argu-ment could be made that Oklahoma’s toughest stretch could be back-to-back games at home against No. 20 Texas Tech on Oct. 26 and at No. 17 Baylor on Nov. 7.

Oklahoma’s players aren’t ready to dismiss TCU - which dealt Stoops one of the more embarrassing losses of his 15-year tenure, a 17-10 win in Norman in the 2005 season opener - as a legitimate Big 12 contender. Linebacker Corey Nelson - who returned an in-terception for an early touch-down against Notre Dame - called the matchup against the Horned Frogs “the biggest game of the season so far.”

“This focus this week has to be 10 times better than it was, compared to last week,” Nelson said. “We have to be even more focused than we were against Notre Dame, be-cause we can’t let TCU come in here and beat us, you know. We have to keep that intensity and continue to remain hum-ble and hungry in everything that we’re doing. So the focus this week has to be at an all-time high, because we have to win this game to not have an-other letdown.”

OU enters teeth of difficult schedule

AP

Joe MussattoAssistant Sports Editor

W h e n Bl a k e B e l l a n d company take the field on Saturday, they will be facing a defense that is part of a re-cord-setting tradition under coach Gary Patterson.

With Patterson at the helm, TCU football has emerged as a nationally rec-ognized program, and the coach’s emphasis on de-fense has led to this growth.

Patterson has coached the Horned Frogs since 2000, and during that span, TCU has led the nation in total defense five different sea-sons — more times than any other program.

While the Frogs last led the nation in 2010 — before they entered the up-tem-po Big 12 — defense is still the priority for Patterson’s squad.

“They play great defen-sively, very sound and dis-ciplined in how they play,” coach Bob Stoops said of TCU. “As a coach, you always appreciate that when you watch another team play that way.”

Currently, the Frogs are 40th in the nation in total defense. While well below his standards, Patterson’s team is covering up its flaws by forcing turnovers.

TCU has forced 12 turn-overs through its first four games, putting the Frogs in the top ten of that category nationally.

And for Patterson’s squad to upset the undefeated

Texas Christian’s startersOffense

69 Aviante Collins

56 James Dunbar

56 James Dunbar

77 Jamelle Naff

55 Joey Hunt

61 Rich Morgan

73 eric Tausch

75 John Woodridge

74 H. Vaitai

56 James Dunbar

88 Cam White

81 Ja’Juan Story

3 Brandon Carter

20 Deante’ Gray

85 LaDarius Brown

7 Kolby Listenbee

14 David Porter

10 Matt Brow

2 Trevone Boykin

12 Tyler Matthews

32 Waymon James

23 B.J. Catalon

OT

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Defense97 Jon Koontz

40 James McFarland

96 Chuck Hunter

90 Terrell Lathan

57 Davion Pierson

98 Jon Lewis

95 Devonte fields

91 Matt Anderson

54 Marcus Mallet

19 Antonio Graves

41 Jonathan Anderson

47 Paul Dawson

2 Jason Verrett

16 Keivon Gamble

25 Kevin White

27 Travoskey Garrett

17 sam Carter

31 Derrick Kindred

3 Chris Hackett

21 Zach Jackson

6 elisha Olabode

28 Geoff Hooker

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TCU’s trademark defense tasked with curtailing Sooners’ offenseOU must limit turnovers against Horned Frogs

brandon wade/the associated press

SMU wide receiver Jeremy Johnson is unable to catch a pass as TCU safety Derrick Kindred defends during the first half of TCU’s win.

Sooners on Saturday, forc-ing turnovers will be a must.

L ed by a strong front seven, TCU’s defense will attempt to force Oklahoma to move the ball through the air. It is not yet known if reigning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Devonte Fields, who is battling inju-ry, will be ready to play for the Frogs.

The Sooners will look to establish their ground game early against TCU, as co-of-fensive coordinator Josh Heupel said his team likes to do in each game. This would set up for a physical contest up front, but if the Sooners are unable to establish its rushing attack, look for a

change of pace. As displaye d in O U ’s

last two games with Bell as the starter, Heupel could spread his offense out and rely on the Sooners’ speed at the skill positions. Against Notre Dame, Bell found his rhythm early in the game with short screen and bub-ble passes to senior Jalen Saunders and sophomore Sterling Shepard.

No matter how Oklahoma plans to attack TCU, the Sooner offense should be ready for the toughest de-fense they will face this year in Norman.

Joe Mussatto [email protected]

AnALysis

4 • Thursday, October 3, 2013 inside the huddle

Oklahoma’s depth chartOffense

71 Tyrus Thompson

55 Josiah St. John

74 Adam shead

77 Dionte Savage

64 Gabe Ikard

56 Ty Darlington

68 Bronson Irwin

54 Nila Kasitati

79 Daryl Williams

72 Derek Farniok

11 LaColtan Bester

16 Jaz Reynolds

8 Jalen saunders

17 Trey Metoyer

3 sterling shepard

5 Durron Neal

10 Blake Bell

9 Trevor Knight

24 Brennan Clay

26 Damien Williams

33 Trey Millard

48 Aaron Ripkowski

LT

LG

C

RG

RT

WR

WR

WR

QB

RB

fB

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sr.

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Defense85 Geneo Grissom

99 Chaz Nelson

80 Jordan Phillips

93 Jordan Wade

98 Chuka ndulue

95 Quincy Russell

91 Charles Tapper

40 P.L. Lindley

7 Corey nelson

25 Aaron Franklin

20 frank shannon

19 Eric Striker

2 Julian Wilson

23 Kass Everett

15 Zack sanchez

22 Cortez Johnson

10 Quentin Hayes

13 Ahmad Thomas

9 Gabe Lynn

32 Trey Franks

14 Aaron Colvin

6 Stanvon Taylor

Re

RT

LT

Le

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MLB

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ss

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inside the huddle Thursday, October 3, 2013 • 5

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6 • � ursday, October 3, 2013 INSIDE THE HUDDLE � ursday, October 3, 2013 • 7

DILLON PHILLIPSInside the Huddle Editor

It doesn’t take the most insightful football mind to notice the Sooners’ offense has looked a little bit dif-ferent with junior quarterback Blake Bell under center.

Since taking over for redshirt-freshman quarter-back Trevor Knight against West Virginia — half be-cause of Knight’s knee injury, half because of his cost-ly red zone interceptions — Bell has guided OU’s of-fense from sloppily sputtering its way to just 16 points against the Mountaineers, to averaging 43 points in its last two games.

With Bell at the helm, the Sooners’ offense not only has improved, it’s excelled.

The Belldozer has completed 52-of-73 passes for 683 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions. An impressive stat line on its own merit, but when com-pared to Knight’s numbers — 22 of 49 for 211 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions — it makes you wonder just how in the world there was a quarter-back controversy in the first place.

Bell’s ability to throw the ball downfield — a trait he supposedly lacked, which coaches said led to Knight receiving the nod earlier this season — has separated him from Knight and sophomore quarterback Kendal Thompson.

“The more someone plays the more they see things

and the more comfortable they become,” said coach Bob Stoops at his Monday press conference. “I think that will keep happening for Blake.”

The numbers aren’t the only difference, though; the offense itself seems to have shifted from the pass-hap-py days of Landry and Sammy B to a more traditional, smashmouth philosophy.

But exactly how different is the offense, really?Make no mistake: the Sooners are a run-first team.

For the first time since AD donned the crimson and cream, OU is unwilling to let its quarterback carry the brunt of the responsibility on offense.

So far this season, the Sooners have ran the ball 193 times and thrown it just 122. To put that in perspective, OU has ran the ball almost half as many times through four games this as it did through 13 games last year.

But the Sooners’ run-first mentality has created the perception that the offensive system has changed schematically. However, with the exception of a few old-school veer option plays out of the “Sooner” for-mation — a pistol variation of the inverted wishbone — and a new empty set featuring jet sweeps and tun-nel screens, OU’s offense remains, for the most part, unchanged.

The Xs and Os essentially are the same. It’s the ten-dencies that are different.

Regardless of whether the Sooners are running or

throwing the football, they still want to spread the ball out.

Against Tulsa, OU ran 36 plays out of 10 personnel — that’s football jargon for a four-wide receiver set — and 26 plays using four wide receivers against Notre Dame. Even when the Sooners struggled to move the ball against West Virginia, virtually abandoning the pass in the fourth quarter, they still ran 25 plays out of 10 personnel.

When the Sooners do go heavy and substitute full-backs Aaron Ripkowski and Trey Millard — and oc-casionally tight end Brannon Green — into the game, they’re tipping their hand and daring to defense to stop them from pounding the rock.

“Toughness-wise, I feel like we can play physical football,” Stoops said after the Sooners’ win at Notre Dame.

But they still prefer to stick to their spread roots.So what does all that mean for the average fan? How

could this new run-heavy offense be described? To put it in terms of the food industry: New look,

same great taste.

Dillon [email protected]

THE ROAD WARRIORWhile junior quarterback Blake Bell hasn’t had to brave the blistering heat of the Outback or battle post-apocalyptic gangs in high-speed highway chases, by leading the Sooners to a victory at Notre Dame last weekend, he’s earned the title — at least for now — of Road Warrior.


Column

Knight could be viable short-yardage QB


sports editor

Junior quarterback Blake Bell went down with what, at first

glance, looked like a leg in-jury on Saturday, and I’m pretty sure all of Sooner Nation held its breath until he jogged off the field.

While coaches attempted to work out the cramp on Bell’s calf on the field, quar-terbacks Trevor Knight and Kendal Thompson played catch on the sidelines to warm up.

One of them was going to go in, we just didn’t know whom. Part of me wonders if coach Bob Stoops even knew whom he was going to send in Bell’s place. Nevertheless, Knight got the nod to take over for the in-jured starter.

That series could have been a disaster for Knight, but instead, he showed the

crowd what he had shown the coaches all offseason. We still didn’t see much of his arm, but the kid can run. If there were any doubts about his legs, those are all gone.

The read option was made for Knight. Co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel knows it; it was the first play he called for Knight once he got in the game.

Knight ran that play and took off on a 30-yard gain. Yeah, I’d say that was pretty effective.

Bell should be the starting quarterback for the rest of his tenure at Oklahoma, but Knight has the makings of a good change of pace back

pLAYer proFiLeTrevor KnightYear: Redshirt-freshman

Position: Quarterback

Statistics: Knight averages a team-high of 7.7 yards per carry on 22 carries.

Darron cummingS/the aSSociateD PreSS

oU quarterback trevor Knight runs during the second half of the sooners’ 35-21 win against Notre dame on saturday in south Bend. Knight had two carries for 30 yards while relieving an injured Blake Bell.

for the Sooners. Think Belldozer but

smarter. The Sooners tried using

the Belldozer against Notre Dame. It didn’t work, plain and simple. In fact, on third

and short, most things didn’t work for Oklahoma.

Enter Knight. He doesn’t have Bell’s

bulk, but he does have more speed, and he is far more elusive on the run.

His teammates have al-ways said he does a great impersonation of the Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel on the field.

He also has the ability to throw.

Sure, his completion percentage might not have been as high as coaches would have liked in his two starts, but he is going to im-prove as the season goes on.

It’s clear that the coaches favor a read-option style for Knight — most of Bell’s runs are that way by design.

The Belldozer was a great thing, but it might be time for it to take a backseat. Plus, it’s not ideal to have your starting quarterback taking some of those big hits in that formation anyway.

Knight has started a few games and at least has that familiarity with the offense. It just makes sense to exper-iment with his skill set.

Stoops said in Monday’s lunchtime press conference that he wouldn’t rule out Knight as a change of pace quarterback. I think that’s one of the smartest things he’s done since starting Bell at Notre Dame.

The race for the starting job was so close between the two, it’d be good to go ahead and get both of them involved in the offense.

Julia Nelson is a journalism senior and sports editor at The Daily.

The Sooners are currently 4-0, and aside from

Blake Bell being the offen-sive beast we all knew he could be, the Sooners de-fense has been the biggest shocker of the season.

While the offense has always been explosive, the defense had been an Achilles heel for the Sooners in seasons past. However, that all seems to be water under the bridge. In Mike Stoops’s second year as defensive coordi-nator, the Sooners defense has looked solid so far.

In their first real test of the season against Notre Dame, the Sooners held the Fighting Irish to a mere 104 yards passing, while forcing three turnovers, two of which occurred within the first two min-utes of the game.

There seems to be an added intensity surround-ing the defensive unit this year, players are flying to the ball, linebackers are making plays and the sec-ondary finally looks solid in coverage.

There used to be a feel-ing of uncertainty anytime the Sooners played an offense that was equally explosive as theirs. Now, after watching four games,

As it turns out, Oklahoma is a much better foot-

ball team than we ever imagined.

When the preseason hit, Oklahoma opened at No. 16 in the AP Poll. The last time it was ranked outside the top 10 to start the season was 2000.

Ouch. That number, though —

the arbitrary rank — might have fueled the Sooners to open the season 4-0.

The defense already had something to prove this year. After giving up more than 700 yards against West Virginia and getting de-stroyed against Texas A&M, the unit faced plenty of crit-icism. Almost all the players said they had a chip on their shoulders, and it has driv-en them to play harder this season.

And the Sooners have proven something this sea-son. They had arguably the most difficult non-confer-ence schedule in the FBS, and they emerged from it undefeated. They stormed into South Bend and left with a win — something that hadn’t been done in over 50

Low expectations allow Sooners to ‘overachieve’


sports editor years. And now, people are start-

ing to notice. OU moved to No. 11 in the

AP Poll this week and into the top 10 in the coaches’ poll. A buzz is beginning to surround the team, not only in the Big 12, but on a nation-al scale.

That’s great and all, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Oklahoma has proven a lot this season, but it’s only played a single road game and one conference game. There’s still a lot left to prove.

The Big 12 title is looking like it will come down to the Nov. 7 matchup at Baylor. Both teams could very well be 8-0 heading into the game. Whoever wins that game will most likely end up winning the conference. That’s a realistic goal at this point.

The national champion-ship, while it may seem with-in arm’s reach, is not realis-tic. Junior quarterback Blake Bell is still young, despite the excellent decisions he made against Notre Dame. The

defense is also extremely green.

Next year could be the year, but I’m not sold on this year’s squad beating an Alabama, Oregon or Clemson team.

People have a tendency to overhype Oklahoma — it comes with the territory. But the realistic expectations placed on the team this year have caused Oklahoma to progress beyond those expectations.

So let’s keep it realistic for a while. The chip on Oklahoma’s shoulder seems to be doing the team some good.

And who knows, with the way things seem to be going, expectations could continue to rise.

Julia Nelson is a journalism senior and sports editor at The Daily.

“The Sooners have proved something this season. They had arguably the

most difficult non-conference schedule in the FBS, and they

emerged from it undefeated.”

inside the huddle Thursday, October 3, 2013 • 9

column

At A GLANCeou’s Remaining Schedule

Oct. 12 – Texas*

Oct. 19 – Kansas

Oct. 26 – Texas Tech

Nov. 7 – Baylor

Nov. 16 – Iowa State

Nov. 23 – Kansas State

Dec. 7 – OSU

Home games in bold *Denotes home game

column

Revamped defense impresses in first four games of season

Demetrius [email protected]

sports CoLumNist

including their perfor-mance at Notre Dame, I can honestly say that I have confidence in the de-fense to get the job done.

Mike Stoops’ new-look nickel package has proven to be effective and guys like senior linebacker Corey Nelson and redshirt sophomore linebacker Frank Shannon are real-ly flourishing in the new system.

The most improved as-pect of this defense has to be the secondary, A lot of uncertainty surrounded the cornerback position and who would compli-ment shut down corner Aaron Colvin. Surprisingly it seems that Stoops has found a stud in redshirt freshman Zack Sanchez, who has slowly proved he can be a consistent cover corner in the Big 12.

The Sooners are on

pace to possibly go un-defeated and reclaim possession of the Big 12 title. However, their first true test of the sea-son, in my opinion, will be a Thursday night game against Baylor in November.

The Baylor Bears have looked scary good through their first three games of the season, aver-aging close to 70 points a game and could pose a se-rious threat to the Sooners if they continue on this dominating pace.

For now the Sooners will focus on Trevonne Boykin and the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday. If the Sooners defense shuts down Boykin and the TCU of-fense, I will truly be a be-liever in this defense and commend Mike Stoops for a job well done.

Demetrius Kearney is a political science junior and sports columnist at The Daily.

BY tHe NumBersou’s 2013 Defensive Stats

6th The Sooners rank among

124 other FBS teams in points against.

130.5 The

amount of rushing yards the Sooners are giving up per game.

169 The amount

of passing yards the Sooners are giving up per game.

Source: SoonerSports.com

pLAYer proFiLeZack SanchezYear: Redshirt-freshman

Position: Cornerback

Statistics: Fifth on the team with 17 tackles and leads Sooners with five pass breakups and five deflections


column

Sooners spreading the ball around on offense

evin morrison/the daily

Freshman running back Keith Ford (21) and senior receiver Jaz Reynolds (16) celebrate after Ford scores a touchdown against Tulsa on Sept. 14 in Norman. The Sooners defeated Tulsa, 51-20, and Ford rushed for 46 yards and one touchdown on seven carries. Ford is one of 10 OU players to carry the ball this season and 12 players to catch a pass.

When Landry Jones played his last game as a Sooner, the questions started swirling early in the offseason.

Who would take the reins as quarterback of the Oklahoma Sooners?

That question needed to be answered because the Sooners have a handful of playmakers on the offen-sive side of the ball that can break the game open at any point.

There hasn’t been one legitimate standout in OU’s offense this season because everybody has stood out.

It’s been a total team ef-fort on offense so far this year, and if last Saturday is any indication, it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon. The depth the Sooners have at the offensive skill positions is staggering.

Starting with the running game, the Sooners have two dependable guys who can make the big play. Seniors Damien Williams and Brennan Clay have served as a perfect compliment of size and speed to one another.

Williams runs between the tackles and picks up tough yards when he is called upon. This season, he has over 200 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Sam [email protected]

SpORTS cOlUmNiST

What first started as a nice com-pliment to Williams’ game quickly became more after the West Virginia game. Clay showed he is more than just a compli-mentary piece to the puzzle.

Clay rushed for 170 yards against the Mountaineers, and since then, has been a legitimate threat OU’s opponents.

It’s hard not to mention OU’s running game without

talking about senior full-back Trey Millard. Millard has served as a quality utility man through-out his career as a Sooner. Millard has proved his durability and reliability as he can run, catch and block.

When OU isn’t running the ball, quarterback Blake Bell has a plethora of weap-ons to heave the ball to.

It’s no surprise that one of the top two leading

receivers is senior Jalen Saunders. Saunders leads the team with 17 receptions and is tied for the team lead with 3 touchdowns.

Playing alongside Saunders is sophomore Sterling Shepard who can create space whenev-er needed. Shepard has 16 receptions and three touchdowns on the year and leads the team with 229 receiving yards.

Additional playmak-ers for the Sooners are receivers senior Jaz Reynolds, senior LaColtan Bester, soph-omore Trey Metoyer and sophomore Durron Neal. These guys have all stepped up and made plays when the ball is thrown their way.

Now, back to the quarter-back situation.

The Sooners are even looking at more playing

time for sophomore quar-terback Trevor Knight, who lost the job to Bell after two games.

After Knight stepped up in Bell’s absence in the third quarter against the Fighting Irish, it appears that coach Bob Stoops will implement a package for Knight and his feisty run-ning game.

Jones’ departure doesn’t seem to hindering the OU offense, it seems to helping.

Sam Hoffman is a journalism junior and sports columnist at The Daily.

brennanclay

treymillard

jalensaunders

sterling shepard

It is 2011 and Ryan Broyles is shredding other Big 12 defens-

es. Oct. 15, Broyles, the Norman native, gathers in his 317th career catch that would put him in the re-cord books as the all-time NCAA receptions leader.

About 30 miles to the north, you’ll find a nor-mal high school kid by the name of Sterling Shepard; except he’s not so nor-mal. Shepard is the son of former standout Sooner receiver Derrick Shepard and also happens to be one of the top receivers in the Big 12.

Skipping ahead to today, Broyles is in the NFL, and Shepard now stands in the same slot position Broyles

STERLING SHEPARD IS NEXTINSIDE THE HUDDLE � ursday, October 3, 2013 • 11

Carson [email protected]

SPORTS COLUMNISTPLAYER PROFILESterling ShepardYear: Sophomore

Position: Receiver

Statistics:Leads Sooners with 229 yards and three touchdowns on 16 catches.

once shined in. While Shepherd still has

a long, long, long way to go, signs point to him having the same success Broyles had in a Sooners uniform.

A new quarterback and another new top receiv-er to count on. No longer can you see Landry Jones connecting with Kenny Stills on Saturday nights at Owen Field. No, now you’ll find Blake Bell and Shepherd hooking up for touchdowns.

Through the first four games, Shepard leads the team in receiving with 229

yards on 16 catches and three touchdowns.

Looking at the other receivers, senior Jalen Saunders is the only other one with double-digit receptions.

Shepard has that ability to blow past his defender with his electric first step then continue downfield with his blazing speed. Sound familiar Sooner fans? A slot receiver with those traits?

But this is now Shepard’s team. He is the leader of the receiving corps and while that may sound a little weird, it is true. Last year, it was Stills’s team. The years before that, it belonged to Broyles.

Times have changed. The offense isn’t the tradition-al Oklahoma high-octane

offense anymore. But that hasn’t stopped Shepard from making a name for himself as the team’s best receiver.

Carson Williams is a journalism freshman and sports columnist at The Daily.

STERLING SHEPARD IS NEXTyards on 16 catches and three touchdowns.

Looking at the other receivers, senior Jalen Saunders is the only other one with double-digit receptions.

Shepard has that ability to blow past his defender with his electric first step then continue downfield with his blazing speed. Sound familiar Sooner fans? A slot receiver with those traits?

But this is now Shepard’s team. He is the leader of the receiving corps and while that may sound a little weird, it is true. Last year, it was Stills’s team. The years before that, it belonged to Broyles.

Times have changed. The offense isn’t the tradition-al Oklahoma high-octane

offense anymore. But that hasn’t stopped Shepard from making a name for himself as the team’s best receiver.

Carson Williams is a journalism freshman and sports columnist at The Daily.

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Inside The Huddle, October 3, 2013