Okla-homey
7/23/2006, 12:36 PM
From today's Tulsa World. Kevin will either be the "greatest guy evar" by the first of October or there will be lynch-mobs. You can kinda see he understands that fact in his photo below.
All eyes already on OU offensive attack
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
7/23/2006
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/6770/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz0 607ec8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
A friend called up Kevin Wilson the other day. Seems all the newsstand magazines haven't nailed down exactly what the Oklahoma offense is going to look like this fall.
Wilson, prepping for his first season as the Sooners' new offensive coordinator, had an easy answer.
"I said, 'Well, that's because I'm trying to figure out exactly who my guys are,' " Wilson recalled. "How big is the tight end going to be? Or the fullback? Or the spread sets? Does the quarterback run or not? How much do we throw? What can the line handle?
"All those things kind of determine exactly what were going to become in time."
Football season is just around the calendar. Big 12 Media Days open Monday in Kansas City, and the Sooners report for preseason practice on Aug. 2. Once the Sept. 2 season-opener against Alabama-Birmingham has concluded, fans, writers, Wilson's friend -- and Wilson, for that matter -- should have a better handle on OU's offense.
"We will do everything we can to be an attack-oriented team," Wilson said. "We'll do everything we can to be physical. We'll do everything we can to be a balanced team with a great mixture of run and pass. But exactly what the schemes and the personnel groupings are is still a smidge up in the air
until we get into two-a-days."
Wilson said his offseason this year wasn't much different. The vast majority of his offensive coordinating occurs in a group setting with the rest of the offensive staff, much the same as when he was offensive line coach and run-game coordinator under Chuck Long.
Whereas he once worked with Kevin Sumlin (tight ends and fullbacks) and Cale Gundy (running backs) to develop a running scheme to submit to Long -- for the season in general, for that week's opponent in particular -- he now gets input from Sumlin (wide receivers) and Josh Heupel (quarterbacks) on the passing game and Gundy and James Patton (offensive line) on the running game, and either approves, disapproves or reconvenes.
And, as the tight ends / fullbacks coach, Wilson mentors two positions that are -- scratch that; have been in the past -- equally integral to both the running game and the passing game. In fact, Wilson says he hopes to improve upon Long's integration of the two parts of the offense.
"The last couple years, we talked about the run side of our offense and we talked about the pass side of our offense," Wilson said. "You start thinking about running game, you think about the tailbacks and the line. You think about pass, you think quarterbacks and receivers. Where in fact all of us, including the tight end and fullback, are a part of it. They all make the run game go, they all make the pass game go."
Wilson recognizes that fans are excited about the Sooner offense this year based on what they saw in his debut seven months ago in the Holiday Bowl. Play-action passes, sprint draws, moving pockets -- at times it all looked very creative and snazzy, and it did produce 361 yards and a handful of scoring opportunities against the fifth-ranked team in the country.
But that, he said, was seventh months ago.
"There were definitely some things there that I liked," he said. "But in some regards, that was probably just some things that fit where we were at that time. I think we can overanalyze that. That's not exactly what we're going to do or what I'd like to do all the time. But for where we were for that team, at that time, those were things that I and the other coaches felt would give us a chance to be reasonably productive."
Head coach Bob Stoops was also impressed by Wilson's scheme in the Holiday Bowl. But he wasn't surprised.
"I didn't need to see it here just recently. I've known that," Stoops said. "He's been in our meeting rooms here for five years or so. People always label just one guy, Chuck Long (for creating the scheme). Well, there's a lot of guys in that meeting room, and a lot of what we've been doing over the years has also been a lot of what Kevin's thoughts are as well. So I've known that.
"Kevin's excellent at what he does. He's got a proven track record, not only here, but also with the success he's had at Northwestern. So he knows what he's doing and is very good at it. I think he's going to do a great job."
Wilson, 44, is no mad scientist when it comes to scheming. He's not a sun-deprived nerd who draws circles and arrows all day in dimly lit rooms. He and wife Angela stay busy with five young children. The North Carolina native plays a lot of golf; so much he'll unconsciously mimic his swing in the middle of a conversation. Football coaches are usually quick-witted and sharp-tongued, but Wilson's outgoing persona puts him at the top of both lists at OU.
Now, if only everyone knew a little more about his offense.
"I've tried to always have the ability to adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of your team and the players you can or can't count on," Wilson said. "We have a lot of extremely talented players with a lot of potential to be a great group, but we're so young, there are some unknowns as far as the consistency and who they are and can you count on them, how big their role can become.
"So to sit there and draw on a piece of paper and say, 'This is a great play; this is a great formation; this is a great scheme -- well, it's the guys executing the scheme who really make them great or not."
All eyes already on OU offensive attack
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
7/23/2006
http://img58.imageshack.us/img58/6770/zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz0 607ec8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
A friend called up Kevin Wilson the other day. Seems all the newsstand magazines haven't nailed down exactly what the Oklahoma offense is going to look like this fall.
Wilson, prepping for his first season as the Sooners' new offensive coordinator, had an easy answer.
"I said, 'Well, that's because I'm trying to figure out exactly who my guys are,' " Wilson recalled. "How big is the tight end going to be? Or the fullback? Or the spread sets? Does the quarterback run or not? How much do we throw? What can the line handle?
"All those things kind of determine exactly what were going to become in time."
Football season is just around the calendar. Big 12 Media Days open Monday in Kansas City, and the Sooners report for preseason practice on Aug. 2. Once the Sept. 2 season-opener against Alabama-Birmingham has concluded, fans, writers, Wilson's friend -- and Wilson, for that matter -- should have a better handle on OU's offense.
"We will do everything we can to be an attack-oriented team," Wilson said. "We'll do everything we can to be physical. We'll do everything we can to be a balanced team with a great mixture of run and pass. But exactly what the schemes and the personnel groupings are is still a smidge up in the air
until we get into two-a-days."
Wilson said his offseason this year wasn't much different. The vast majority of his offensive coordinating occurs in a group setting with the rest of the offensive staff, much the same as when he was offensive line coach and run-game coordinator under Chuck Long.
Whereas he once worked with Kevin Sumlin (tight ends and fullbacks) and Cale Gundy (running backs) to develop a running scheme to submit to Long -- for the season in general, for that week's opponent in particular -- he now gets input from Sumlin (wide receivers) and Josh Heupel (quarterbacks) on the passing game and Gundy and James Patton (offensive line) on the running game, and either approves, disapproves or reconvenes.
And, as the tight ends / fullbacks coach, Wilson mentors two positions that are -- scratch that; have been in the past -- equally integral to both the running game and the passing game. In fact, Wilson says he hopes to improve upon Long's integration of the two parts of the offense.
"The last couple years, we talked about the run side of our offense and we talked about the pass side of our offense," Wilson said. "You start thinking about running game, you think about the tailbacks and the line. You think about pass, you think quarterbacks and receivers. Where in fact all of us, including the tight end and fullback, are a part of it. They all make the run game go, they all make the pass game go."
Wilson recognizes that fans are excited about the Sooner offense this year based on what they saw in his debut seven months ago in the Holiday Bowl. Play-action passes, sprint draws, moving pockets -- at times it all looked very creative and snazzy, and it did produce 361 yards and a handful of scoring opportunities against the fifth-ranked team in the country.
But that, he said, was seventh months ago.
"There were definitely some things there that I liked," he said. "But in some regards, that was probably just some things that fit where we were at that time. I think we can overanalyze that. That's not exactly what we're going to do or what I'd like to do all the time. But for where we were for that team, at that time, those were things that I and the other coaches felt would give us a chance to be reasonably productive."
Head coach Bob Stoops was also impressed by Wilson's scheme in the Holiday Bowl. But he wasn't surprised.
"I didn't need to see it here just recently. I've known that," Stoops said. "He's been in our meeting rooms here for five years or so. People always label just one guy, Chuck Long (for creating the scheme). Well, there's a lot of guys in that meeting room, and a lot of what we've been doing over the years has also been a lot of what Kevin's thoughts are as well. So I've known that.
"Kevin's excellent at what he does. He's got a proven track record, not only here, but also with the success he's had at Northwestern. So he knows what he's doing and is very good at it. I think he's going to do a great job."
Wilson, 44, is no mad scientist when it comes to scheming. He's not a sun-deprived nerd who draws circles and arrows all day in dimly lit rooms. He and wife Angela stay busy with five young children. The North Carolina native plays a lot of golf; so much he'll unconsciously mimic his swing in the middle of a conversation. Football coaches are usually quick-witted and sharp-tongued, but Wilson's outgoing persona puts him at the top of both lists at OU.
Now, if only everyone knew a little more about his offense.
"I've tried to always have the ability to adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of your team and the players you can or can't count on," Wilson said. "We have a lot of extremely talented players with a lot of potential to be a great group, but we're so young, there are some unknowns as far as the consistency and who they are and can you count on them, how big their role can become.
"So to sit there and draw on a piece of paper and say, 'This is a great play; this is a great formation; this is a great scheme -- well, it's the guys executing the scheme who really make them great or not."