Greetings HOB. Hope you’re enjoying your Labor Day extended weekend. We’re still on schedule here in the football media world, so there will be a normal Mark Stoops Monday press luncheon today at Noon ET. Stay tuned for the latest news and notes…
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MARK STOOPS Q&A:
* Looking back on Saturday, proud of the team for the way they handled everything. Played hard. Played relatively clean. More props to the fans for hanging around and giving us a lot of inspiration. Hopefully a better experience this week for the fans, big game. Competition increases greatly.
* Did some good things Saturday, but so many things we can do better.
* South Carolina is a team that we always seem to have good games with over my years here, evenly matched.
* I’m a DB guy at heart, and a couple of times we got caught “watching the game,” no room for that.
* Unfortunate that we couldn’t get some reps for guys we wanted to see on Saturday. With such a big lead, that was disappointing to miss that opportunity.
* Special teams were really good Saturday. Need to build on that. Knew there was likely no chance they’d kick to Barion, and we tried to exploit that with Willie Rodriguez on the nice KO return.
* OL was getting into a good rhythm when the game got called. Liked how they mixed things up in the run game.
* On South Carolina’s Sellers at QB… Dual-threat guy, big and strong, can throw it downfield. He’s going to get better with each additional rep he gets.
* On SC edge rushers… They have a really good combination with No. 5 and No. 6. One is a very mature, older player, Kinnard, and Dylan Stewart is a 5-star freshman, very disruptive. They get off the ball well, attack.
* On Jager Burton’s play… He did well. Getting better. Getting pushed by Coach Wolf. He’s growing. Still a play or two that he needs to finish cleaner, but likes what he sees.
* On tough loss down at SC last year, does he bring that up to the team… it’s always a new team, new year, but you try to learn from games like that.
* Offense has to deal with a lot of pre-snap stuff. Really have to be dialed in and focused to play as clean as they did on Saturday.
* On BVG’s first college start… Made very good decisions. Thought he played like I thought he would play. Had a lot of confidence in him. Was he perfect? No. He’d be first to admit that. But his presence was good. Ability to buy time and scramble throw in rhythm, on time was good. He may not be as comfortable this week with SC’s front and the way that they pressure, so we’ll have to have a plan for that.
* On the defense maybe being one of the better groups that he’s had… Not ready to anoint them yet. Still a lot of improvement that needs to be made before we can get into that.
* Loved seeing the deep shots that Bush Hamdan was taking in the opener. May not do that as much every game, but you have to mix things up and take your shots.
* Told what Alex Raynor’s numbers have been and asked if he’s been ever than he ever imagined, Stoops jokes, “Are you trying to jinx him?!” Admits he’s been really impressive.
* On SC running it twice as many times as they passed it last week… Sellers will put it down quite a bit on pass plays like we did with BVG. I’m sure they wanted to be more balanced.
* With BVG’s ability to keep plays alive, guys have to be ready to stay in the play longer and realize he can do that. They’ve been working it all the way back to the spring, but it is an adjustment with a guy like that.
* On BVG being a coach’s son… You can tell. Definitely liked that when they recruited him in the portal.
* On JQ’s play and the corners opposite of Max… Trying to get DJ Waller healthy to give us some depth. Was hoping to get Addison in there if the game hadn’t ended prematurely. Thinks they’ve got a chance to be improved at that spot.
* The ILBs on Saturday really played well, really popped on film. D-Jack really made a nice play to force the INT. You can tell Dumas-Johnson can turn it up for games. Rayner has some quick twitch ability.
* Rybka has shown some growth, maturity. He was disruptive.
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