cantwait48
8/22/2011, 04:47 PM
http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20110822_92_B1_CUTLIN347908
NORMAN - It was early morning on Aug. 4 and the Oklahoma Sooners were stretching before their first practice of preseason camp.
Coach Bob Stoops happened by Tom Wort and told the starting middle linebacker: "You're light years ahead of a year ago. I can tell the difference just watching tape."
The Sooners started practicing. Coaches started watching Wort up close and personally, not just in film study.
The real thing was even better.
"Leadership. Toughness. His tackling. His position on the ball," linebackers coach/defensive coordinator Brent Venables rattled off the other day. "He understands where the guys are. He's not out of position over-running the ball. He's made a ton of plays every day.
"It's been very, very pleasing."
It was pleasing the first couple days of camp, when Wort settled back into the position he held the first nine games of 2010, the spot he lost to an older, more reliable Austin Box.
Then weakside linebacker Travis Lewis broke his toe, and Wort's progress became more reassuring than anything.
Lewis, the security blanket for OU's defense, was suddenly lost until October and Wort no longer had his sidekick with two years more experience and 296 more tackles on his resume. How was this going to work out?
The Sooners got a clue during their first preseason scrimmage Aug. 13.
"Tom had an excellent scrimmage," reported Corey Nelson, Lewis' stand-in on the weak side. "I felt very comfortable playing next to him."
"I felt confident," Wort said. "It was kind of the first time I was out there by myself without Travis, having to make the calls and everything. I knew my assignments. I handled the defense well. And I made the plays I was supposed to make."
This is the middle linebacker the Sooners must have if they are to survive the Lewis-less game at Florida State Sept. 17, and make an expected run at their first national championship since 2000. It is not the middle linebacker they always got in 2010.
Wort did well, all things considered, while Box recovered from his back injury. He was good enough to make a few freshman All-American teams.
He just wasn't fully versed. He lost his 2009 season to a torn ACL in August, and basically played '10 as a true freshman.
A year later, Wort isn't just smarter. He's healthier.
"I feel like I've got my wheels back," he said. "I'm moving better than I did my freshman year when I first showed up. It's incredible, the confidence you have. You can shoot that gap and know you're going to run down the ball carrier. It changes the whole game for you. You're not being hesitant because you don't know if you're going to make it. You just go."
Wort is making more plays because his knee is firmer and his reads are sounder. See, he's been reviewing his tape, too.
"As soon as the season was done, I started putting in a lot of time in the film room up here by myself," Wort said. "That's when I decided I needed to get this down. I needed to know why everything was happening. It carried into the spring, and I went through the spring knowing a lot more responsibility. And then in the summer I cranked it up a little more.
"I knew what I was doing last season, but it made more sense to me now. Understanding what people were doing around me allowed me to understand what I was doing."
Wort saw the big picture for the first time. He saw how he reacted to it. He wised up, basically, and bulked up, adding 15 pounds to pack a heavier punch.
It has added up, the Sooners have seen.
"It's night and day," Lewis said early in camp. "Tom has been great. He has really grown up a lot. He's rarely making busts. He has a great understanding of the defense. If they asked me if there was one player besides you who was really playing well right now, it'd be Tom Wort."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20110822_92_B1_CUTLIN347908
NORMAN - It was early morning on Aug. 4 and the Oklahoma Sooners were stretching before their first practice of preseason camp.
Coach Bob Stoops happened by Tom Wort and told the starting middle linebacker: "You're light years ahead of a year ago. I can tell the difference just watching tape."
The Sooners started practicing. Coaches started watching Wort up close and personally, not just in film study.
The real thing was even better.
"Leadership. Toughness. His tackling. His position on the ball," linebackers coach/defensive coordinator Brent Venables rattled off the other day. "He understands where the guys are. He's not out of position over-running the ball. He's made a ton of plays every day.
"It's been very, very pleasing."
It was pleasing the first couple days of camp, when Wort settled back into the position he held the first nine games of 2010, the spot he lost to an older, more reliable Austin Box.
Then weakside linebacker Travis Lewis broke his toe, and Wort's progress became more reassuring than anything.
Lewis, the security blanket for OU's defense, was suddenly lost until October and Wort no longer had his sidekick with two years more experience and 296 more tackles on his resume. How was this going to work out?
The Sooners got a clue during their first preseason scrimmage Aug. 13.
"Tom had an excellent scrimmage," reported Corey Nelson, Lewis' stand-in on the weak side. "I felt very comfortable playing next to him."
"I felt confident," Wort said. "It was kind of the first time I was out there by myself without Travis, having to make the calls and everything. I knew my assignments. I handled the defense well. And I made the plays I was supposed to make."
This is the middle linebacker the Sooners must have if they are to survive the Lewis-less game at Florida State Sept. 17, and make an expected run at their first national championship since 2000. It is not the middle linebacker they always got in 2010.
Wort did well, all things considered, while Box recovered from his back injury. He was good enough to make a few freshman All-American teams.
He just wasn't fully versed. He lost his 2009 season to a torn ACL in August, and basically played '10 as a true freshman.
A year later, Wort isn't just smarter. He's healthier.
"I feel like I've got my wheels back," he said. "I'm moving better than I did my freshman year when I first showed up. It's incredible, the confidence you have. You can shoot that gap and know you're going to run down the ball carrier. It changes the whole game for you. You're not being hesitant because you don't know if you're going to make it. You just go."
Wort is making more plays because his knee is firmer and his reads are sounder. See, he's been reviewing his tape, too.
"As soon as the season was done, I started putting in a lot of time in the film room up here by myself," Wort said. "That's when I decided I needed to get this down. I needed to know why everything was happening. It carried into the spring, and I went through the spring knowing a lot more responsibility. And then in the summer I cranked it up a little more.
"I knew what I was doing last season, but it made more sense to me now. Understanding what people were doing around me allowed me to understand what I was doing."
Wort saw the big picture for the first time. He saw how he reacted to it. He wised up, basically, and bulked up, adding 15 pounds to pack a heavier punch.
It has added up, the Sooners have seen.
"It's night and day," Lewis said early in camp. "Tom has been great. He has really grown up a lot. He's rarely making busts. He has a great understanding of the defense. If they asked me if there was one player besides you who was really playing well right now, it'd be Tom Wort."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/OU/article.aspx?subjectid=92&articleid=20110822_92_B1_CUTLIN347908