John Shinn
One might be Oklahoma’s most gifted receiver. The other two might be its most punishing blockers.
When looking at the Sooners’ fullbacks and tight ends, it truly has the potential to be a special group because of its versatility.
On the one hand you have Jermaine Gresham. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound junior made a very good case for being the best pass-catching tight end in college football last season. He caught a team-high 11 touchdown passes and was an absolute menace in the red zone.
He’s the essential “big target” every offense covets. He’s too big for most defensive backs to cover and too quick for linebackers to handle in wide spaces.
One of the Sooners’ offensive goals will be to get the ball in Gresham’s hands more often. He had only 37 catches last season. Getting that number around 50 would be a good sign.
“Guys like Jermaine Gresham, we will find more ways to get him the ball and all the other guys that are there,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “There are only so many spans in the game and, to me, the hardest thing to defend is when you use the whole field and use all of your people. To me you can have certain coverage to where it’s hard to get to one guy but the other guys need to step up and that is where we need to go.”
Gresham can extend defenses. But this is the season he wants to become an all-around player. He’s been a big part of the offense the last two seasons. This is the year he could become an every-down player.
“I think I understand the game a whole lot better. I think I have a better understanding of the game of football,” Gresham said. “I’m in the top physical peak right now, so I’m a better all-around football player.”
If there’s been a chink in his armor, it’s been blocking.
Luckily for the Sooners, they have Brody Eldridge.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said Eldridge, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound junior, was the offense’s best player in the preseason. There’s no doubt Eldridge has become a favorite of the coaching staff over the last two years. He’s a bruising blocker who is dominant at the point of attack.
Eldridge caught only four passes last season, but was still named to the coaches All-Big 12 team. Expect to see both Eldridge and Gresham on the field a lot this season.
“I told (Jermaine) Gresham he didn’t have to listen to me, but to watch Brody,” Wilson said. And that has helped Jermaine into becoming a fantastic blocker. It’s exciting and intriguing to think of what these players can do for us.”
During the heyday of the wishbone era, fullback was a glamour position at OU.
Players like Leon Crosswhite, Kenny King, Stanley Wilson and others put up huge numbers running up the middle.
But since the Bob Stoops era began in 1999, carries have been almost as rare as losing seasons.
Matt Clapp and Eldridge will share time at the position this season. Clapp, a junior who spent last season in redshirt, is a slightly smaller version of Eldridge at 6-foot-3 and 234 pounds.
Neither are expected to get the ball very much this season.
“We get to catch a ball here and there, but that’s usually about it,” Clapp said.
Odds are that won’t change this season. But there’s a lot that goes into playing these positions that have nothing to do with the ball.
Whatever the Sooners decide to do, they have multiple options.
“We’ve got a lot of versatility,” Wilson said.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
