Oklahoma Offensive Coordinator Kevin Wilson says he thought the offense played well in the second half against KU. But, Wilson says there's still a long way to go.
"With the way our defense is playing, be able to come out and take advantage of a turn over and get points right off the bat, especially on the road is good."
James Hale: You added a bit of a wrinkle by adding another wide receiver to the offense. Talk about how that helped you last week and how it might help you in the future.
Kevin Wilson: With Brody playing at guard, we really don’t have a blocking presence at tight end. So this gets us in four wides. With Ryan (Broyles) being back and healthy, and Brandon Caleb having played some slot, we didn’t want to move any of the other outside guys inside. Brandon had played there for Ryan and he’s comfortable with the routes. It also kept those young outside players in the same spots. We would have done it at Texas, but we didn’t think Ryan would be able to go for any length of time.
We’ll keep doing similar things I’m sure. It was a way for us to get more speed on the field.
James Hale: Doesn’t also help in that set that Caleb and Tennell appear to be good blockers and they can battle in there?
KW: They may have been a little out of whack with routes and dropping some passes but all year they have blocked and battled well. They’ve all played really physically. We are in a mode right now that to get the run game going, we’re going to have to do it from a spread type of deal. It’s a little bit different than when we started, Matt Clapp has a broken hand and we don’t have Jermaine or Brody out on the edge.
Media: How did Stephen Good play?
KW: He did OK. He’s been mostly play at left, so there is some backward thinking over on the right side. But he handled it pretty well. He’s still coming along. He needs to play a little faster, that might just be confidence and knowing what you’re doing and not having to think about it. But he did well.
Media: You went back and forth with Jarvis and Cory Brandon a lot. What are your thoughts on those guys?
KW: Cory sputtered a little bit in that first game but Jarvis has also been kind of inconsistent. So, it’s just trying to see if we can get two guys to battle and get some decent enough play that we can get the play of one of them. It’s not like they are both on eggshells, it’s just keeping some competition going. Those guys have size and athleticism and should play better than they are playing. It’s a competition deal to get those guys to play at a good level for us.
James Hale: Kevin, you talk a lot about being able to build on every series. Did you come out of the Kansas game feeling like you could build on some things?
KW: We did some good things. With the way our defense is playing, be able to come out and take advantage of a turn over and get points right off the bat, especially on the road is good. And to be able to come out fast in the second half and get two more scores and put some pressure on their offense was good. So there were some positives there but there were also some negatives with some mental mistakes and turnovers. As far as building there were a lot of examples to show of both positives and negatives.
Media: I’m sure you have been frustrated with the way things have gone at receiver, but after the second half at Kansas, do you feel like you are starting to find some answers?
KW: Landry is also playing well and the protection has been pretty good. While we are trying to get the ball down the field some, we’re not holding on to the ball very long, so we’re not getting so many hits on the quarterback. Except for a boat load of drops in one half of Baylor, the receivers have been OK for the past several weeks. I think we’re getting better. Again, we try to use the arena, competition and opponent of Texas to use as a confidence builder. For the most part I think those guys have gained some confidence and I would like to see it keeps going.
Media: You have had some moments where the running game was pretty good. Is it just a matter of consistency or some real things to work on?
KW: Definitely some things to work on. We need to get some surge and velocity coming off the ball. The defense talks about getting their fits, on offense we want to get on track and follow the course to the right guy instead of getting out of whack and leaving a defender in the hole. There are definitely some things to build on. If anything, it’s getting some continuity in the style offense we are running now with our formations and some things we are getting comfortable with. I think this will be one of the first weeks where we will have a lot of guys in the same spots. I don’t think we’ll have as much turmoil this week.
James Hale: What are your impressions on Calhoun and Miller as you head into the eighth game?
KW: You might want to ask Cale Gundy also, but to me with Jonathan Miller being a true freshman he’s shown a lot of flash and some signs. I would like to push him. I kept saying last week not to hesitate to play Miller when we knew that DeMarco wasn’t going to be able to go.
Media: What’s DeMarco’s situation?
KW: It’s just that ankle deal. It got aggravated last week. But he’s been out there this week and looks pretty good.
Media: Talk about what you’ve seen from Landry that you really like as a quarterback.
KW: For the most part this year, he hasn’t forced the ball. He hasn’t had a lot of questionable throws. He’s very calm; sometimes I think he’s too calm. Sometimes I wish he would pick it up as the play clock winds down. I would like to see him have a greater sense of clock awareness. He’s had a couple plays that could haunt us in the future which he needs to learn from. But for the most part, he’s been very calm, he’s accepted every challenge and opportunity, he has no fear and stands in the pocket. He’s shown a lot of toughens and courage and strength as a young guy. I think he has a nice future, he’s playing well.
Media: Does the fact that he knows he’s the guy now, is that make any difference?
KW: I don’t know. He was the guy for several weeks so he has been there. I think he’s always practiced like he was going to play in all those games. I think he prepared for Baylor and the Texas games like he was the guy. I was very happy with the way he came out and played against BYU and from then on, I think he’s prepared as if he thought Sam wouldn’t be back.
Media: Does it help the continuity of this team that he’s the guy who will be back there the rest of the way.
KW: Well, it’s not good in losing Sam. A couple of weeks ago I thought we had two really good quarterbacks. Now I’m not sure how we stand. We have one guy with another guy who hasn’t played. At least we don’t have all that distracting business of how long would Sam be out, when he would be back, we don’t have to worry about that now. As coaches, I don’t think we really thought about it. I’ve always said I thought they were very similar in the way that they play. We always prepared the same. Josh Heupel did a great job of getting them both ready to go. As a second team quarterback, you are always one play away of having to lead the team.
Media: Does this change the way you look at Drew Allen. Will you try to play him?
KW: You know, we just talked about that. If you remember back to when Paul Thompson was a freshman, we played him some late in the season after Jason White got hurt, but we redshirted him a year or so later to get that year back. I think with Drew, we will only play him if we just have to. If a game is out of hand John Nimmo can go in there and mop things up. I think we want to try and keep Drew in redshirt.
