By Berry Tramel
The Oklahoman
Senior Day will be short at Owen Field this November.
The
Sooners count just nine scholarship seniors, plus three walk-ons.
The seniors: C.J. Ah You,
Rufus Alexander,
Larry Birdine,
Jason Carter,
Zach Latimer,
Chris Messner,
Lanear Nixon,
Calvin Thibodeaux and
Paul Thompson. The walk-ons:
John Dailey,
Dan Dixon and
Jonathan Jordan.
Of the scholarship nine, all but Ah You are fifth-year
Sooners. So take them out of the equation. The following does not apply to the eight guys that were around for that
Rose Bowl season:
This Oklahoma football team is made up of players who never have won a BCS bowl and have just one Big 12 title, achieved over hapless Colorado in 2004.
Ouch. That's holding the
Sooners to quite the standard. But that standard is expected. Frankly, that standard is required in the
Bob Stoops era. And that public-service announcement comes not from this pen, but from an edict by
Stoops himself.
In Kansas City last week,
Stoops said he believes his troops have a sense of entitlement, that they don't have to work as hard as necessary to achieve what the
Sooners before them achieved. Not all the players, not all the time, but enough players, often enough, to make their coach take notice.
Stoops was asked which team is easier to motivate -- the 2001
Sooners, coming off a 13-0 national championship season, or the 2006 edition, coming off an 8-4 year that included a loss to TCU and an overtime win over Baylor.
2001,
Stoops said.
"At that time, we had a lot of guys who had been told they weren't very good and had something to prove and had a chip on their shoulder and played with a lot of attitude," Stoops said.
"I see anymore, we have guys that have a little bit of sense of entitlement. They're already
told they're pretty good, when they haven't done anything and don't realize, some of 'em, that they're an 8-4 team a year ago.
"So to me, it was easier then; we still had a number of guys (with) something to prove. It's harder nowadays to get 'em to understand what it takes."
Stoops named no names -- he's no
Byron Scott -- but still, strong stuff from a college football coach who says very little off the cuff.
Stoops has a plan for every word. No doubt, he wanted to send a message to the
Sooners.
Call this a preemptive strike.
Recall last September, after
Texas Christian stunned OU,
Stoops said he sort of saw it coming, with a letdown in offseason work ethic.
This time,
Stoops said he saw signs in spring that disturbed him enough for his staff to take action.
"Try and explain to 'em what they are," Stoops said. "This is what you've done to this point, this is what's been done before you. Shouldn't be hard to figure out how you need to play, what you need to do to be at that level.
"It's just in spots. But that's our job, to eliminate those spots, get it out of 'em, and be the team that's going to play together, have something to prove and have some attitude."
Again, the
Sooners are being held to a high standard. The last three years, OU is 32-7 with one Big 12 title and two appearances in the national title game. Not so awfully bad.
But
Stoops' message seems to be this: You came to Oklahoma because of high standards, so don't complain when high standards are demanded. No slacking. No falling back on ancient history of a few years ago.
Stoops was asked if Texas, with its 2005 national championship and rout of the
Sooners, had reached OU's level.
"In the end, each level is what you are that year," Stoops said. "We've got a lot of history, they've got a lot of history, Nebraska has a lot of history. I don't think anybody's at any level. I don't ever look at it like that.
"Each year, you fight your way to be as high as you can be.
"We're coming off an 8-4 year, and that's what we are until we change it. We weren't good enough last year to be better than that. It's our job this year to improve on that."
Maybe the youth of this team created
Stoops' concern. Nine scholarship seniors is a ridiculously low number, caused by math and circumstance. Retain and redshirt players, and every once in awhile, a smallish senior class is unavoidable and can produce a leadership void.
Stoops said there are no pluses to having so few seniors, but "I don't know that it has to matter, either. It isn't just seniors who lead. The minuses are, I guess, you don't have a good number of seniors who have been around.
"We've got a lot of good, quality young guys coming up in the program. It's how quickly we can get them to play the way we're used to playing, playing at a championship level. Obviously, we didn't a year ago. Hopefully, we can this year."
Consider the message sent.
Berry Tramel:475-3314, btramel@oklahoman.com; Berry Tramel's radio show, the Writer's Block, can be heard Monday-Friday from 4-7 p.m. on KREF-AM 1400, KADA-AM 1230; and KSEO-AM 750.
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