"We talking bout practice? I'm 6'4 220lbs, and we sittn here talking about practice?"

[adoniijahsooner]

The situation with Dejuan Miller and Adron got me to thinking about Bob Stoops playing time ideas. I know stoops is a hard nosed guy who believes that hard work should be rewarded; but is this the best approach to putting your best players on the field? Guys like AD, Gresh, and Sam make your job easy as a coach because they work hard, but what about the guy in the office who shows up late, sometimes drunk and unshaven? But when you need the deal with the clients closed, he comes through like gangbusters.

This would be tough for me, because you dont want to appear weak, and lose the respect of your team, however a W can go a long way in getting that respect back.

Is JR Bryant redshirting?

http://images.usatoday.com/sports/nba/_photos2/2002-05-07-iverson2.jpg

[Rhino]

Is JR Bryant redshirting? That's the unofficial word.

[Toronto Sooner]

You make a good point. Bob needs to find the right balance. Some guys are great practice guys but fold under pressure in games or big games, as we have seen from most of our Receivers and O-line guys this year.

On the flip side, some players (even people in general society for that matter) don't have the attention span to go all out for entire sessions every day (just not gifted in such a manner), but are still able to completely bring it when it is needed the most. Also, specifically with players, some players heal quicker than others. Football is a violent sport. Some players need part of the week for their muscles to heal and are unable to go all out in practice every day (or for the full daily session), while others are blessed to be able to heal quicker and are able to go 100% every day - everyone has a different body type.

I think coaches need to evaluate more than just the basics. Coaches need to incorporate the intangibles into their decision process, such attitudes of players. With experience, coaches need to be able to determine who is lazy and is faking versus .....

[Leroy Lizard]

Guys like AD, Gresh, and Sam make your job easy as a coach because they work hard, but what about the guy in the office who shows up late, sometimes drunk and unshaven? But when you need the deal with the clients closed, he comes through like gangbusters.

What effect does he have on the rest of the company? Do the other employees start showing up drunk and unshaven? If so, is it worth it?

[adoniijahsooner]

What effect does he have on the rest of the company? Do the other employees start showing up drunk and unshaven? If so, is it worth it?

I see your point.:D

[Scott D]

drunk and unshaven is a really bad comparison since in most cases that guy will end up fired. Now if you'd said sloppy, disorganized, and unshaven. But he's a top notch deal closer in crunch time it would have been a far better parallel.

[rainiersooner]

What effect does he have on the rest of the company? Do the other employees start showing up drunk and unshaven? If so, is it worth it?

I think it depends on how you structure incentives for your employees. I had a buddy who was a bond salesman at DLJ in the eighties. He was the #2 salesman. He was great with clients, which normally meant he kept them out until 4 in the morning...he would always miss the morning bell. So his boss calls him in and says he can't keep missing the morning bell...it looks bad, other sales guys grumble, etc. My buddy tells his boss "I made the firm $X this year; that made you $X this year; and that made me $X this year...I'm not making the opening bell." It was pretty much a "what are you going to do about it" moment. The funny thing is that his boss basically agreed. Everyone went about their business making money.

Does that translate to the football field? Probably not - just an anecdote.

[instigator]

Love that song!
exOxUAntx8I

On a serious note, if the guy won't work during the week, he shouldn't play. These aren't professionals. They're kids. Very few of them have proven anything yet.

[Soonerhaze]

Quentin Chaney is the best example. The biggest waste of NFL talent. Had every physical tool in the world. Tall, big, fast, good hands, just horrible work ethic. However, we had Manny and Iggy Pop in front of him, so it didn't hurt us. Now, we need guys to pull their heads out, which I guess that's what Dejuan did this week. We all know we have a better chance of players having an epiphany than Stoops compromising his coaching principals, which is also why we have double digit win seasons and championships pretty much every year.

[picasso]

Idiots like A. I. don't realize you need to practice in order to form a cohesion and to learn the habits, tendencies and likes of your teammates.
You also earn their respect.

you don't practice, you shouldn't play.

[goingoneight]

Quentin Chaney is the best example. The biggest waste of NFL talent. Had every physical tool in the world. Tall, big, fast, good hands, just horrible work ethic. However, we had Manny and Iggy Pop in front of him, so it didn't hurt us. Now, we need guys to pull their heads out, which I guess that's what Dejuan did this week. We all know we have a better chance of players having an epiphany than Stoops compromising his coaching principals, which is also why we have double digit win seasons and championships pretty much every year.

QC had a fine career at OU, my friend. So he dropped a few poorly-thrown Rhett Bomar passes as a green freshman, but he came through big when we needed him. He was also considered to be one of the harder workers on the team, too. Just because you get all starry-eyed watching guys like DeMarco Murray or big play-makers like JG and MK, don't ignore how well this guy blocked and came up big when his number was called. As for "wasted NFL talent," nobody ever said "big, tall and fast" = NFL talent. I'd love to have Quentin Chaney right now the way he played the last three years.

[Collier11]

The situation with Dejuan Miller and Adron got me to thinking about Bob Stoops playing time ideas. I know stoops is a hard nosed guy who believes that hard work should be rewarded; but is this the best approach to putting your best players on the field? Guys like AD, Gresh, and Sam make your job easy as a coach because they work hard, but what about the guy in the office who shows up late, sometimes drunk and unshaven? But when you need the deal with the clients closed, he comes through like gangbusters.

This would be tough for me, because you dont want to appear weak, and lose the respect of your team, however a W can go a long way in getting that respect back.

Is JR Bryant redshirting?

http://images.usatoday.com/sports/nba/_photos2/2002-05-07-iverson2.jpg

I dont know that the issue is not practicing or even not practicing hard, the issue is that certain players arent good practice players at all. Obviously I never played D1 football but in my personal case I was way better in the game than I ever was in practice.

Thats why I hate it when coaches dont play certain players for not being good practice players. Some athletes, average or great, need the real live competition to show their best stuff

[Soonerhaze]

I don't get "starry eyed" over anybody. LOL... I'm not saying QC didn't have a good career, I'm saying with his tools he should've had a stellar career and he knows it. Hardest worker on the team?? You're mistaken my friend. He even said it before his senior year when he changed jersey numbers, that he needed to work harder and practice better. And yes, tall, big, and fast is exactly what the pros look for. Don't believe me? Why did Darrius Heyward-Bey get picked before Crabtree?? Because he's 6'2", 210 and ran a 4.3. End of argument.

[Collier11]

I don't get "starry eyed" over anybody. LOL... I'm not saying QC didn't have a good career, I'm saying with his tools he should've had a stellar career and he knows it. Hardest worker on the team?? You're mistaken my friend. He even said it before his senior year when he changed jersey numbers, that he needed to work harder and practice better. And yes, tall, big, and fast is exactly what the pros look for. Don't believe me? Why did Darrius Heyward-Bey get picked before Crabtree?? Because he's 6'2", 210 and ran a 4.3. End of argument.

Crabtree got picked lower for two reasons, one he was hurt, two Al Davis is an idiot who also passed up Matt Ryan and AD in recent yrs

[Toronto Sooner]

I really enjoyed watching Quentin Chaney when he was in there. He was having a great game against Florida. The the Gators had absolutely no answers for Chaney and his height. To this day, I am completely puzzled as to why KW stopped going to Chaney in that Florida game.

Also, Gresh was a monster in the Florida. Same, Gators had no answers to Gresh and his height.

In all seriousness, does someone know why KW stopped going to Chaney and Gresh when in the Florida game? Even if they suddenly became covered, why didn't KW have Bradford throw the the ball high to them, where Florida's very short defensive backs were at a severe disadvantage. Chaney and Gresh were awesome in that game and I was pulling my hair out when KW stopped going to them. Florida had absolutely no answers for them.

Does anyone know what Chaney is up to now. Did he get an NFL true out somewhere? I really enjoyed Chaney's blocking abilities also. It would be unfortunate for him not to get a chance in the NFL somewhere.

[westcoast_sooner]

I'll admit there are players that don't show as much on the practices field as they do on game day. There are some guys that just have a knack for making a play. The list might indeed be very long if you include great players that don't practice well or hard. But I'd venture a guess that at the collegiate level, there are a lot more guys that benefit from knuckling down and working hard than taking it easy because they were good in high school.

And, what message does it send to the rest of the guys who are busting their humps day in and day out in practice if you play a guy that doesn't? I think you show that you have a double standard, and pretty soon end up with an undisciplined team that doesn't know how to win.

[VA Sooner]

Reward the guys with the hard work ethic and give them a chance to shine. All-star talent becomes a distraction (T. Owens) and brings the team down. Players like Beal will show up knowing they are not all-world talent and yet start working on fundamentals, listen to their coaches and watch game film and eventually improve over time. And in Beal's case, very rapidly.

[Collier11]

Reward the guys with the hard work ethic and give them a chance to shine. All-star talent becomes a distraction (T. Owens) and brings the team down. Players like Beal will show up knowing they are not all-world talent and yet start working on fundamentals, listen to their coaches and watch game film and eventually improve over time. And in Beal's case, very rapidly.

yet by all accounts, TO is one of the hardest workers day n and day out on most of the teams he was on