Oklahoma Sooners College Football Pregame Quote, 12/22/2020

Yeah, excited to kind of get back to work here. Can’t wait to certainly get down to Arlington (Texas) and play. Our guys are excited to have the chance to come down and play. And so it’s been good to kind of settle in here the last couple days, close up all the loops on the Big 12 championship and start to direct our attention to a very good Florida team.

Excited about our preparation and certainly be looking forward to getting down there. It’s such a short timeline. It’s so different than what we’re used to leading into a bowl game. It’s hard to believe that the game’s only eight days away. So we’ll be excited to jump into our prep and get ready to come down to play.

You’ve got the holidays coming up. Can you tell us what your schedule is going to be and things and how your team is going to approach preparations for the Florida Gators and things?

Yeah, our guys are here right now. We’ll work out for a couple of days, and then we’ll get the guys home for Christmas. Made the decision to do that. I just tried to weigh everything at this point. But we just couldn’t get past the fact our guys hadn’t been home, most of them, since June or July, and quite a few even well before that. And so it was just very important to us for our guys to have an opportunity to be with their families over Christmas. So they’ll get a couple of days there, Christmas and Christmas Eve, and then we’ll get the guys back here and get a couple good days of prep in and head to Arlington.

I was just wondering, when you look at the games you guys have had, like last weekend where you get a big lead and then the other team sort of comes back, have you identified any common threads, things that are happening during those games that you can fix? Is that anything that you’ve really studied and been able to identify?

It’s not normally one thing. I mean, we’ve also had a lot of games where we got big leads and then separated as well this year, too. So the kind of common I guess the most common denominator is we haven’t played good enough to separate at times when we’ve gotten those leads.

We called the same defenses that got us the leads. We’ve called the same offenses that got us the leads. We certainly don’t change our style. But you’ve got to getting a lead is a great thing. It’s not easy to get the lead in the first place, and then having a chance to accelerate and push through it is takes just as much as well. So we found a way to win. But, as you know us, we’re always looking for ways to get better.

Curious about Tre Brown opting out, what you think about his NFL future, how his skills translate. He’s certainly shown the ability to make some big plays. For you, how do you adjust to this as head coach, relatively new phenomenon, like you said, prepare for a bowl game in eight days, and then you lose a starting cornerback?

I think Tre is going to have a good opportunity. I think he’s made himself a better player, become much better with his technique. I think that was a big part of him, was just consistency and technique. So I do think that’s improved. Like all our guys, when they get a chance to take that next step, we’re always excited for them. And Tre’s no different.

As far as how I handle it? Next man up. In any year, you’ve got to do that, especially we’ve if we haven’t learned that by this point this year, then we’re in trouble. So we’ve played a lot of guys defensively and we don’t expect to miss a beat.

Taking the COVID equation out of this equation, how much does this year compare to the 2016 season, when your team was relatively young at a lot of positions? To start the year, you were 1 2 and then played your best football leading up to the Sugar Bowl.

In a lot of ways, it does. There’s a lot of similarities. You know, the rhythm at the end of the year has certainly been a lot different with I don’t know what it will end up being, but, obviously, we played one game in a month leading up to the Big 12 championship game.

So the keeping of the rhythm has been more difficult here at the end. I thought we really had a good stretch of team ball there in the middle of the season, middle to back half. And so that’s maybe the biggest difference that I can point to.

But, no, there are a lot of similarities: The team battling back, a lot of young guys getting better, a team that’s got a chance to as you look past this game, the team has got a chance to return a pretty big core and has a chance to do some exciting things here in the future.

So now there’s a lot of the same emotions, a lot of the same kind of same battles that we’ve had to fight in a way. So, yeah, I think there’s a lot of parallels.

I don’t know if you had a chance to watch the Alabama Florida game, but did that remind you of a Big 12 game? And have your paths crossed with Dan Mullen in your coaching career and what’s the challenge that quarterback and receivers present Oklahoma?

That game looked like what everybody would term a Big 12 game, and our game looked like what everybody would term an SEC game. Shows you that good offense, good defense, all that, can be played anywhere.

I did get to see we were home by then, so I did get to see the majority of the game. Two really good teams going at it, two really good offenses going at it, a lot of big plays. It was fun to watch.

And then what was the second part of the question? I’m sorry.

I was wondering if your paths have ever crossed with Dan Mullen. And then what challenges does that present you, that quarterback and the receivers?

No, I don’t think unless I’m missing something, I don’t think we’ve ever coached against each other. And I’m not sure I’ve ever met Dan, and so one of the few guys that are rolling right now that I haven’t crossed paths with.

Obviously, I’ve had a chance to watch him from afar for years and years and always admired what he’s done offensively and what he’s done as a head coach. The guy does a tremendous job. So all the respect in the world for him.

And, no, their group presents a lot of challenges. There’s a lot of great match ups. They do a good job of creating. Obviously, the quarterbacks played at a very high level this year. They’ve got some outstanding skill that they really do a good job of using and utilizing. And they’ve obviously thrown the ball as well as anybody in the country this year.

You’re playing down at Jerry World (AT&T Stadium) three hours south. The stadium has been around now 11 years. How much does that help a program, when you’ve got one of the central venues in college football relatively close in terms of not just for a bowl game like the Cotton, but it’s in the rotation for the playoff. You haven’t gotten to play there yet for a playoff, but at some point you will. How much does that help to whatever little advantage it is that it’s close that you can have regional access to a place like that?

No, I do, I think it’s a great thing, especially with it being affiliated so strongly with our conference championship game and the record that we’ve had over there in the years. And I think it’s great for you know, we obviously recruited that area very, very hard and kind of surrounding areas.

So it’s great for our recruits. It’s great for our current players and their families, a central place they can get in and get out to. Great for our fan base. It’s an easy hop in the car, it’s an easy two and a half hour ride south to come watch us play and come support us.

And it’s obviously like you said, it’s one of the top venues in sports. It’s just a it’s a fabulous place to play football. We love going down there and playing. The good thing is normally, if you’re playing in that, then some good things have happened through the year. So it’s a great place to be able to play the big games.

Obviously, the Tre Brown decision, have you talked to any other players about opting out? Have any other players made a decision not to play in this game?

I think our guys that have made the decision to transfer out of the program right now would be the ones that we won’t have, but I don’t have anything further after that right now.

With the way you guys have played defense, you made a comment after the game on Saturday that you were playing the field position game a little bit. Has that have you changed the way you coach in a game with how good the defense has played the last two years, or has there been any mentality shift at all with how you’re calling plays, offense, anything like that?

I would say you shift through the years. I think each game, and a little bit bigger picture each team, but each game I’m just trying to win and do the things that within that game and that moment, that I think give our team the best chance to win. And that all depends on so many things.

I would have loved to have not had to play the field position game and done a way better job on third down the other day than we did, but those things happen. Those games happen. And you’ve just got to be able to find a way to win. If you’ve only got one recipe, then eventually that’s going to catch up with you.

So that’s what excites me about this team because we do have the capability to really make things tough on opposing offenses. We’ve shown the capability of being explosive offensively. We want to push for more and more certainly on both sides of the ball, and never a sense of satisfaction. But we have shown the ability to win games in a lot of different ways.

And then the other thing, I think, that’s been really good about this team is this team, throughout the year, has been able especially here obviously, this last big run, has been able to answer the call maybe when one side is not playing well.

Obviously, offensively in the second half and the defense being able to hold it together in the Big 12 game. I mean, you circle back to the Texas game, where defensively we played so well and then we kind of struggled there towards the end of the game. And first couple of overtimes and offense really got on track and was able to keep extending the game and ultimately win it.

So this team has done that. And how teams play off of each other and complement each other, I think, is so important. And that has given us a chance to win games in very different ways. If we hadn’t had that on this team, we wouldn’t be sitting here doing this press conference right now. This team would be in not as good a situation and with not near as strong a finish as what we’ve had.

Are the conversations any different this year with the portal or opting out or coming back for next season knowing this year was a free year for everybody and seniors can kind of decide what they want to do?

Absolutely. I mean, just the fact that you would even be having these conversations with seniors is different. Other than the seniors, I don’t know that the year not counting, I guess, basically is kind of what happened. I don’t know that that’s a huge topic, yet, because those guys were going to have eligibility left anyways. And that’s using that extra year is not really a decision on their plate right now.

And then, yeah, the transfer portal, everybody’s anticipation of immediate eligibility or one time transfer, that do you have more of those conversations? Is that more of a topic? It is. Just something that we’ve got to deal with.

And, again, I think you go back to you’re going to always have some guys move on. That’s just the nature of this. That part’s not different, but it’s certainly on the forefront of more people’s minds. And I think you really go back, you’ve got to make sure the kind of guys that you are recruiting are the guys that want to stand in there and push through and understand that it may not be perfect for them every single time or right away. But if they hang in there, then they give themselves great opportunities.

We’ve got so many guys on our team that are an example of that. We’ve talked about Isaiah Thomas at length and how much he’s hung in there and improved and really made himself a really good football player for us. There’s a number of other really good examples on our football team. Erik Swenson comes to mind. Jeremiah Hall comes to mind. Several guys in our secondary right now come to mind.

There’s guys all over this team that maybe right when they got here didn’t have a huge role or didn’t just break out and have star campaigns, but they’ve hung in there and they’ve pushed through. And that’s all, at the end of the day, that you can ask for a kid.

And then occasionally you get a guy I look back at Trevor Knight when he left here. He wanted to stay and was even through the tough years, his last year when he wasn’t playing, was a great teammate and just did a phenomenal job. And you understood, hey, this guy’s put in his time here and he’s hung in there and gave it a great shot. And there’s going to be a better opportunity for him elsewhere.

I felt similar about Tanner Mordecai and his decision. Felt very similar about T.J. Pledger and his decision. I mean, those are guys you appreciate because those guys hung in here. They really gave it a chance. It wasn’t like one thing didn’t go their way and they bailed out. Those guys overcame a lot and were key contributors to this team and this program.

So those guys don’t leave with any bad blood. Totally the opposite. A total amount of respect, a huge amount of respect and appreciation for them and understand their need to find a better opportunity and a thousand percent support.

I don’t mean to get on a soapbox here, but there’s a way to do that as opposed to just bailing out. And I think that’s been everybody’s concern of just we’ve got to be careful with this whole thing. We’ve got to really watch how it unfolds because these guys are still young men and we’re still tasked with a lot more than winning football games. And we’ve got to these guys still need developing, these guys still need maturing. And if we’re not doing that part as coaches in these college football programs, then we are absolutely failing.

And so I just hope we all keep that in mind as we as these rules change, as college football changes. We’ve got to be careful getting too far away from that and not being able to put our guys in situations to learn and to persevere and to push through because that’s what the real world is going to be like when they get in it.

Do coaches and anyone connected to college football this year, do they have to come with a little bit of patience and understanding about decisions that are being made by the kids, just coming off the strain of this season, to opt out, transfer, just any kind of decisions that might be emotionally based?

No question. I think patience and I think understanding that these players I can speak for our players, but I know talking to a lot of my colleagues across the country, I think we’re all in some ways experiencing a very similar thing.

Where these players are at mentally is not normal. And how could it be? I mean, lives of everyone have been turned upside down and changed in so many drastic ways. It’s just the challenges have been so unique and so difficult this year that I always try to guard myself and try to educate our guys. I always believe you don’t make a big decision in an emotional time.

And I think we’re seeing a little bit of a result of that across the country, of guys that are in a different frame of mind and need to get away and need breaks and need a chance to kind of catch their breath. They need to see their families. And I worry that again, not anybody specifically, I’m just talking generally. I just worry that having to make these decisions that are life altering decisions for so many of these guys in this moment is it can be dangerous.

So I think these guys are in a different head space, and I get it. I think the whole world is in a way. So just trying to we’ve really just been trying to educate our guys on this year’s different. And any way that you judge this year, you can throw a lot of the old standards I mean, a lot of the old way of thinking or ways that we judge college football programs, college football teams, college football players, I think you can throw a lot of it out the window this year. It’s that much different.

So I’ve just encouraged guys as they look at their situation, they look at their program, what they want to do, not just our players, I’d encourage players anywhere just to make sure you understand this year is the exception; it’s not the rule and just I think we all hope that we can get back to a more normal go at this thing next year and hope guys aren’t rushing out because of the circumstances that, honestly, this year you couldn’t run away from no matter what university you’re at.

Just wanted to ask a quick question about the last time these two plays played. Obviously, it was over a decade ago and it was on the game’s biggest stage. Did you watch that game, and do you think that serves as any extra motivation coming into this one as you guys came up short that time?

You’re talking about the 2008 game?

Right.

Yeah, I did because we were a win in Norman away from playing in that game at Texas Tech. So I did watch it. I have memories of a great football game with two really talented, very special rosters on both sides.

Does that provide motivation for our team right now? Probably not, to be completely honest with you. I think some of these guys are so far removed from that, I don’t know that it’s something we would talk a lot about with our guys.

I mean, do we take pride in our history here and all that’s been done and understanding it, knowing it? Of course we do. We’ve got one of the best of anybody. So we absolutely take a lot of pride in that. But does it provide extra motivation ten years later for most of the guys and coaches that weren’t involved with it? Probably not a whole lot.

Just kind of going back to talking about mental health, I’m curious, you talk about the education of players and keeping those guys engaged. I’m curious, is there anything you can point to that you’ve done or maybe your staff has done to try to maybe alleviate some of those things? I think you had pointed to the fact that team dinners are different, travel is different. I’m just curious if you can name any specific instances that you guys have tried to tap into as far as making sure those guys are okay.

It’s been a day to day process for us as well because as a coach you’re you’re kind of constantly trying to figure out how do you make this place better? How do you make your players better? How do you help them? How do you give them what they need?

And it’s been more difficult this year, kind of like you referenced, the lack of options. You can’t have your players over to your house to eat. You can’t have all the one on one time that you want to have with these guys. We’ve had a little bit less tools, I guess, if you will, at our disposal because of this.

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And so now I think it’s been just trying to have as much conversation with them as we can, checking in, support. And then I think we’ve tried to do as many things as we can to bring enjoyment to it, just because, outside, their lives outside of football there’s so much is different. And everybody I think everybody across the world right now is a little tense, a little tired, a little just again, everybody’s worlds have kind of been rocked by this thing.

We’ve tried to make sure that we still find the joy in what we’re able to do, that we still look after one another, that we still celebrate the wins and the successes and not you know, try to keep as much perspective on it as we can. And I think that’s been important for our team.

I was going to ask you about Perrion Winfrey and his development. How much growth have you seen from him, and just how big has he been to the success that y’all have been able to have on the defensive front?

Yeah, Perrion has done a nice job. He came in here as a very raw football player. In a lot of ways, he’s still I’ll give him credit. He’s been able to make an impact without what I still think being pretty far away from what his best ball could be.

But he really enjoys the game, really enjoys his teammates, really hard worker, and just kind of always into it on the practice field. And he definitely has some ability.

He’s been a positive member of the team. I think his future is extremely bright. He’s one of those guys that you feel like that’s going to really have the opportunity to develop and sharpen those skills.

And it’s exciting to think, in seven, eight months, what that guy could do and what he could look like if he can really finish the season strong here, then have a tremendous offseason, and a chance to grow and get to spring ball, and get the different time in the weight room, get the technique work, because he’s just scratching the surface of the kind of player he can be.

And I know he loves the game and, I think, is excited for the improvements that he knows he can make as well. But he’s had a very positive impact here in a short time.