Sooners say having a young offensive line is a positive
By John Helsley
Published: August 16, 2006
NORMAN - By unspoken rule, a mixture of too much youth creates only a hazardous formula for ambitious football teams.
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And youth on the offensive line - suicide.
Yet at Oklahoma, they dare to blow up the rule and spin a perceived negative into a plus, now and next year and the next.
OU’s front features four sophomores, with senior Chris Messner, the only returning full-time starter.
Youth isn’t just being served amid OU’s offensive line, it’s the main course.
“I think it’s a positive,” said center Jon Cooper, who had earned a starting role as as a true freshman a year ago before a broken ankle ended his season. “The guys who are here are young, but they’re good.
“It’s exciting for this year and it’s more ex citing for the next years to come. Right now, I’m excited to see how we’re going to play this year.”
For a team that dreams of championships, OU’s inexperienced offensive line remains the primary sticking point, even after the dismissal of quarterback Rhett Bomar. The point could be made that the offensive line is more under focus now because of Bomar’s loss. Protection for Paul Thompson and open lanes for Adrian Peterson are more critcal than ever.
But must youth equate to weakness?
The four Sooner sophomores - Cooper, George Robinson, Branndon Braxton and Brandon Walker - were all touted recruits, ranked among the best line prospects in the nation.
“They’re young and they’re talented,” OU offensive line coach James Patton said.
Yes, a lack of game experience is an issue. But if their talent holds true, why couldn’t this season mark these players’ coming of age moment? At least that’s the hope among the Sooners.
“The best thing about young players - and there’s no substitute for experience, having older players with game reps - but with young players, they’re eager to learn,” Patton said. “And they’re eager to have great effort.
“You can work through the inexperience when you have young guys who want to work and get better and achieve success.”
Hard work is not an issue with this group, Messner said.
He can back that up with evidence from the spring, when a lack of depth regularly reduced OU’s available line candidates to seven, and at times six, on any given day.
Heavy reps were required.
Cooper, still rehabbing his ankle, missed the spring and Walker had not yet arrived as a junior college transfer. But the workload benefited Messner, Robinson and Braxton and others who now fill key backup roles.
The work ethic seems to have carried over.
“As long as you’ve got a group of guys willing to work hard and work together, that’s what it’s all about,” Messner said. “We’re all trying to win here. That’s what we’re about. That’s what me and my other o-linemen buddies are about.
“The youth is not a negative at all.”
Cooper, Robinson and Braxton aren’t void of Big 12 experience. Cooper played in seven games and was making his second start at Texas Tech when he suffered the broken ankle. Braxton played in 11 games and started three, while Robinson played in 10 contests.
“Those guys are a year older and a little more mature,” Patton said. “I think they’re going to do a good job for us.”
While new talent is in place, depth remains a concern. Behind the starting five, none of the backups has taken a Division I snap.
So even one injury could be all it takes to wreck what critical cohesiveness is taking place.
Offensive lines are always referred to as units, not five separate working parts.
In last Saturday’s scrimmage, the first line didn’t allow a sack, despite going against a talented Sooner defensive front. Rotating fresh ends, Calvin Thibodeaux, C.J. Ah You, Larry Birdine, John Williams and Alonzo Dotson kept coming. And coming up empty.
“We have some good d-linemen and ends and they really did a nice job competing with them,” coach Bob Stoops said. “You saw a good pocket most of the day.”
If the youngsters develop, the Sooners have found their foundation for the future. With Thompson and likely Peterson out the door after this year, this offensive line, then veterans, could ease the transition at those key positions.
“Being so young and being from basically the same classes, it helps us bond together,” Cooper said. “You can’t make a unit happen, it’s got to come together. And it has. We’ve bonded really well.
“And Messner is kind of the glue.”
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