On what Channing Goodwin did during camp to earn playing time

Yeah, super consistent in practice throughout training camp, throughout spring ball, really good football player, super smart guy, cerebral player, you can move him around, physical in the run game. He’s where he needs to be in the pass game, he just makes plays. And that’s why we decided collectively that Channing got to start last Saturday.

[Sign up for Maize & Blue Review for $1 and get PLUS access for 7 days!]

On his receivers being pressed in the future and the ability to get off the line

The more skilled your defensive backs are, coaches have confidence in them, the more pressure you’ll see. Something that we work on all the time, expecting it, we see it, get opportunity to work against our DBs every day. We got some big corners that give us good looks and we give them good work as well. So, something that we’re always prepared for.

On how the energy in the WR room is different this year and how it shows

Yeah, we’re deeper, we’re deeper, we’re older, the guys are more confident. I mean, obviously, so last game, this past game, having the ability to throw the ball downfield a little bit more. So, we’ve been blessed and fortunate with that. But the guys are super locked in, super engaged. Obviously, you see the ball could go to anyone, anyone could get hot. Receivers love that.

On how he’s seen TJ Metcalf grow and how he helps to prepare for other DBs

Yeah, he’s been a huge spark on defense for us. He’s a guy who’s physical, he’s smart, plays the pass, super competitive. The thing I love about TJ, man, he has energy that’s just infectious. He’s always just flying around. He loves football. You can tell he’s a ball player. And he’s been a great addition to our team. And I’m excited. I told him Friday night after our team meetings, I said, TJ, I said, man, I’m excited to see you play ball. Because the way he played, the way he went through training camp, he was all over the field. And he showed that last Saturday. I’m super impressed with TJ.

On correcting the drops from the receivers against New Mexico

Yeah, I think the big thing is you continue to stay on the jugs, emphasize. Drops are teachable moments. Why did you drop the ball? Balls, whether it’s low, it’s high, whatever. The ball touched your hand, you make the catch. And just detailing that out, putting it on film, and the guys understand it.

On balancing Andrew Marsh’s confidence with opportunities vs. correcting mistakes

Yeah, I think you always show guys you’re confident in him. Obviously, from an offensive standpoint and special teams, he went back out there, just showed that we believe in him. The one thing is, you just gotta be very critical about ball security. The ball is our program, guys understand that. And something that he’s worked on, he’s working on it constantly every day. Not just him, everyone on our team. We emphasize ball security every day, daily, daily, daily. It’s important because the defense is, whether it’s our defense or any defense in America, they pride themselves on creating turnovers. So that’s something that we’ve taken a huge emphasis on.

On whether there were signs last season that Goodwin would make a jump

Yes, because especially our offense, where it’s a lot of shifts, movements, multi-personnel. The Channings, you love smart receivers. When we recruit guys, we make sure we can recruit guys that can play multiple positions, that can move around. There are some schools that, some teams who don’t move their receivers. We move our receivers a lot. And we wanna make sure that our guys have an understanding of what’s going on. And Channing did not do spring ball going into his freshman year last year, which usually can at times set receivers back, just because of what we’re asking them to do. But during training camp, he kinda had those hiccups. And throughout the season, he got better and more confident, and that’s why he was able to play down the stretch.

On what he’s seen from Oklahoma’s defense

Fast, fast, athletic, physical, it’s a great defense. Those guys, Coach Venables, he’s always had throughout his career, being a defensive-minded head coach. He’s always had great defenses when he was previously at Oklahoma, Clemson, and now back at Oklahoma. So we expect those guys to be athletic, fast, aggressive. The back end, those guys, although they’re missing a couple of their older guys, did not play week one, anticipate those guys coming back. But they’re gonna be a connected unit, playing good ball. So we gotta match that intensity.

On the play of the Sooners’ secondary

Yeah, I mean, those guys, just multi-defense, just trying to get the quarterback’s eyes all over the play. Don’t show the same look. So we’re expecting those guys to do that, to make it harder for us. And I’m sure they have a plan for some of the things that we like to do. And we just gotta go out there and be who we are, execute at a high level.

On what he thinks he can learn about the receivers against the Sooners

Yeah, just kind of where you are as a group, team, kind of find out a lot about. There will be, anytime you play a road game, and obviously this is a top 25 matchup on the road against a big-time program. What are you gonna be when adversity hits? What kind of team are we gonna be? Individually as a player, they’re gonna make plays. What are you gonna do? I think you find a lot about your team in that regard, especially early in the season. So we understand that, one play at a time, one snap at a time. And Lloyd Carr used to always tell us, selective amnesia. Understand what happened, but move on to the next play.

On whether there’s a different approach with legacy players in terms of preparation

Yeah, the guys, they understand the program better than some of the other guys when they come in. And you see the same thing with Blake Frazier. Those guys were born into the program and understand it, fans growing up and know everything about the program. And the pride, usually, guys develop a sense of pride throughout their careers. But those guys come in understanding what the expectations are because their fathers have put that in their heads.

On whether he looks forward to going to a new environment

I do, I do. This is going to Norman, it’s an iconic stadium, a huge brand, OU is a huge brand. And I’m super excited about the opportunity. I’ve never been, it’s gonna be loud. And obviously, we have Justice, when he was at Bama last year, he played there and was telling us how loud it was gonna be. So I’m excited for the challenge.

On how impressed he was with Bryce Underwood’s ball placement

Yeah, amazing, amazing. Obviously, he’s a super talented kid, big arm, accurate, understand what’s going on, super cerebral guy. Now to say I’m surprised how he did, no, I’m not surprised how he did. That’s why he’s a starting quarterback. But I was more excited for him to showcase what his skill sets are.

On whether he sees Donaven McCulley getting excited to play against Oklahoma

Yeah, every week, like I said, the cool thing about this offense, you don’t know who’s gonna get hot. Bryce does a good job of reading the coverages and wherever the ball goes, the coverage they take, where does the ball go is where he’s gonna go with it. But Donaven, he knows, be where you need to be at and opportunity presents itself to make a play, you gotta make it. But the thing I love about Mac, he smiles every day and loves practicing, practices hard, plays hard. That’s what I was most proud of with receivers within the game is those guys, they played their butts off. They played hard and it didn’t matter whether we had the freshman Martian there or you had some of the other guys, you had Kendrick Bell in there, it didn’t matter. Didn’t matter who was in, they played extremely hard and that’s how Donovan plays all the time.

On whether he played with a QB that would jam his fingers by throwing too hard

I did, we had a quarterback. I don’t know if you guys remember blast from the past, Spencer Britton. He’s a left-hander from California and it was a lot of dislocated fingers, jammed fingers and we’re like, bro, tone it down a little bit. We’re five yards away, but no, I have played with quarterbacks like that. Just tone it down a little bit, but no, if you get in the ball, you don’t complain, you just deal with it. You just tape those fingers up and get back out there. Yeah, I got a couple. I had one where my wife bought me a titanium wedding ring and my finger got jammed and I couldn’t take the ring off. I told her she did that on purpose. A lot of ice and Vaseline. Finally, when it got off, I said, all right, we can’t go with this ring.

On the miscommunication between Underwood and Marsh

It was, yeah, I’m always gonna put it on a receiver. Yeah, he’s got to get his eyes back a little quicker, for sure.

On what Chip Lindsey has brought to the offense

Yeah, thing I love about Coach Lindsey, smart guy. Been around a lot of great offensive minds and for him to come here and just the things he’s done early on, it’s been impressive. But Coach Lindsey has obviously seen a different style of football. We played last game and he’s a guy that’s adaptable. He could adapt to the pro-style offense, air raid, uptempo, it doesn’t matter. And that’s what makes him, that has made him a successful offensive coordinator. And we’re blessed to have him, a super smart guy. Love learning so much from Coach Lindsey and looking forward to learning more.