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August 18, 2007

Sooners struggle in unfamiliar weather

OU football notepad

John Shinn

Oklahoma did not play any games in the rain or snow last season. That meant one of the places where the Sooners might have been a little rusty was their team managers’ ability to keep the ball dry. It showed Saturday at Owen Field.

All three quarterbacks struggled early getting a grasp.

“The ball couldn’t even come out the quarterbacks’ hands at first,” wide receiver Malcolm Kelly said.

OU coach Bob Stoops joked with offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson beforehand that the conditions would give the managers some work.

“I thought they were working for the defense for about the first 20 or 30 plays,” Wilson said.



Clayton on the move

One position switch was noticeable Saturday. Keenan Clayton, who started two games last season at strong safety, has been moved to strongside linebacker.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said the switch was made a few days ago.

Clayton only made eight tackles last season and lost his starting job when Reggie Smith was switched back to strong safety after two games.

D.J. Wolfe has won the starting job there this season.

“We wanted to give (Clayton) the opportunity to see where he could stand at safety,” Venables said. “But it’s a move he pushed for as well.”

Clayton made three tackles Saturday..



‘Awesome’ kicking

Garrett Hartley had another big scrimmage. The senior kicker was 6-for-8 on field-goal attempts. He nailed back-to-back tries from 57 and 61 yards on a relatively calm night.

The battle for the punting job remains a virtual dead heat. Michael Cohen averaged 43.4 yards on nine attempts. Mike Knall averaged 43.8 on 10 attempts.

“I thought the kicking game was awesome,” Stoops said. “With all the wet conditions guys punted the ball well and Garrett was awesome.”



Better up front

The offense was better in just about every phase Saturday night. There was more evidence than the six touchdowns the unit scored. The Sooners averaged 5.3 yards per carry in the second scrimmage.

The sack total also dropped from five last week to one. Safety Nic Harris corralled Keith Nichol for a 3-yard loss on the eighth series.



Leave the

umbrellas at home

Fans are not allowed to bring an umbrella to games at Owen Field. That rule also extends to scrimmages.

There were many irritated fans Saturday night who either had to leave their umbrellas at the gate or not watch the scrimmage.



Up next

Saturday’s scrimmage was the final practice before school begins Monday. It brought an end OU’s preseason camp.

Stoops said he couldn’t be happier with what came out of the preseason camp.

“We’ve had the most physical camp we’ve ever had in terms of live action and going at each other for two and a half weeks,” Stoops said. “The guys have had a great attitude and they’ve worked and competed. This coming week we’ll get into more game planning on early opponents and focusing on that instead of each other.”

The Sooners open the season at Owen Field Sept. 1 against North Texas.

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