The main thing is, Stoops needs to absolutely hit it out of the park for whoever is going to OC and DC (assuming both those guys are either gone or demoted). And he needs to back the freak off and let those guys, once he does hit it out of the park, run the show. No more intervening, pull in the reins and play it super conservative crap (yes, I'm assuming he's been doing that for more than the 10 years now). Get 2 thoroughbreds, and let those thoroughbreds run!
True, and I don't think anything official has come from OU on this (unless I've missed it). So, it could just be that he was the first one verified.Originally Posted by BoulderSooner79
I don't doubt that Norvell will be able to land on his feet, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him back in the NFL.
I'm hearing rumblings that there will be an official announcement from the school this week, and it will detail all of the staff changes.
It'll be interesting to see if any of this affects recruiting, but the only recruit that has made a statement about Norvell's departure is Dede Westbrook (JUCO transfer). He just said he was a little upset, but trusted that Stoops had a plan and he was anxious to get to Norman.
The only coach that could affect recruiting in this class (with his departure) is Mike Stoops, and I'm not sure how much he would impact the class. I know he is partially responsible for a couple of DBs that have verbally committed, so we'll see how that works out.
This year was bad.
However, it hasn't always been that way. Norvell has 3 guys playing in the NFL that were at OU within the past 6 years. Maybe not as good as some programs, but not terrible either. I really think things started crumbling after 2012. When Stills left, that left a major hole in the group, and if it weren't for Justin Brown and Saunders transferring, it would have really been bad. We were fortunate to get those two guys into the program. A college program like OU should never find itself in that kind of position, depending on transfers.
It was just time for him to move on.
Our WR play has been an issue off and on for several years. In 2009 we basically had Broyles and then nobody else. 2010 Stills came on, as did Cameron Kenny (who was a JUCO transfer).
2011 is when things really started to fall apart. After Broyles got hurt, it was apparent that we had little depth behind him and Stills.
2012 was only saved by transfers of Brown and Saunders
2013 We had Saunders and Shepard, and Bester (another Juco) ocassionally made some plays
2014 We had Shepard and no other major threats
Really, without the transfers, we probably would have seen the drop off much sooner. Fact is that we haven't had depth at WR since 2008. We had a couple years where we had two, maybe 3 good players (Stills and Broyles and now Shepard), but had nobody behind them. If you look at the WR groups we had under previous coaches, we routinely went 5 or 6 deep and had multiple playmakers. Look at the WR's that we had in the mid 2000s, when we had guys like Clayton, Brandon Jones, Travis Wilson, Mark Bradley, etc...Then we had Malcolm Kelly, Juaqin Iglesias, Manuel Johnson, etc...Hard to argue that he's done anywhere near as good a job as any of his predecessors at developing consistent talent and depth at the WR position.
Also, given that (for most of his tenure) we threw the ball all over the place and had experience at the QB position, I can't imagine that it was that difficult to recruit WRs to come to OU. Given that Broyles was from Norman and Shepard is an OU legacy, I'm not sure how much credit you give Norvell for them. Stills seems to be the only big time recruit he landed that ever produced for us on the field. Had a bunch of other highly rated guys that never panned out.
Last edited by graphster; 1/4/2015 at 11:23 PM.
That's the way I see it too.
Our recent WR recruiting has been strange too. Some of the guys we are going after look good, but we don't seem to be a serious contender with the top guys. This year, there's an in-state kid (I can't remember his name off of the top of my head), but we never offered him and he's heading to Louisville (I think, or maybe Arkansas). Meanwhile, we offered several guys out of state that looked a lot like the in state kid, and lost out on the majority of them.
Recruiting seemed to be going well for Norvell when he first got to Norman. Just seems to have dropped off recently.
Then I look at Durron Neal, who was one of the top receivers the year he came out, and he hasn't really developed much. At the very least, he seems stuck at a point where he can't get separation. I really think he's better than what we've seen, and hopefully a new coach can get him there in his last year.
I hate this. I really liked Coach Jay and his enthusiasm on the sideline. Still, it had to be done.
There's Only ONE Oklahoma!
Seems like even the big recruits that we did get often either didn't work out and ended up transferring or getting kicked off the team, or they just never developed into consistent players. That's either poor evaluation or poor development, or both. I get that these are high school kids and so you're going to have a few misses or unpredictable things happen, but when you continually fail to bring in and develop young talent, it's eventually going to catch up with you, and that's what has happened to us over the past few years at WR. We brought in some transfers with 1 or 2 years of eligibility (from JUCO or other FBS programs) and it provided some brief relief, but we didn't have any young guys behind them who were developing into future starters or even contributors. So when the transfers graduated, we were left with nothing left in the cupboard. And given that we generally run more of a spread offense with 3 receivers on the field the majority of the time, WR is one position we can't afford to be thin at.
Wow, didn't see this coming. Any word on his recruits for this year? Are they reconsidering? Too early for speculating on replacement?
It's never too early to speculate.
Norvell has done a poor job......He really recruited some kids with poor character as of late......
Hey... maybe T BOONE can pony up and start a Stilleater newspaper... but the players would probably just use it to roll the weed.
I wouldn't mind having Darrell Wyatt back, but dang that guy has moved around a lot and maybe we need fresh air in Norman...
"Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are"
So long and thanks for all the fish.
Your last point is important. Fresh air, fresh blood, whatever you want to call it: we need fresh ideas that break BS out of this long-running group-think he's had from always having close ties to everyone he brings in. So it's not so much specific to Wyatt, but whether his return would lead back into the comfortable thinking and ideas that have stagnated, or whether he will challenge Stoops' tendencies and reshape things. That he is an excellent coach isn't much in debate, IMO.
I have to say, the suspense is killing me! I'm barely even thinking about recruiting while waiting anxiously for any news on the coaching changes.
Dejuan Miller was not a fan of Norvell.
Looks like OU gonna start cleanin house. I heard stoops (not bob but the DC) is next on the choppin block. Jay taught me a lot about being a sound receiver and how to compete consistently, but to keep it 100 bc I wasn't one of his "guys" he tended To give more chances to other players in games and off the field. if I dropped a couple passes I'd be benched but if one of his favorites Dropped a couple or even more they NEVER came out. But it is what it is, favoritism at it's fullest. Can't say I'm surprised he got the axe.
https://twitter.com/D_Miller24
Surrender is not a Ranger word
I don't see the need for Miller or anyone eles to take cheap shots at Jay Norvell...
"Image is what people think we are. Integrity is what we really are"
Clearly Miller felt the need to vent.
True That! I was trolling ESpin last night, and saw a tweet from Ryan Broyles that was extremely complimentary about Coach Norvell, both as a coach, and as a person. It is definitely time for changes at OU, and hopefully all good things will come to Coach Norvell with another team.
From the home of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base...
I watched a LOT OF FOOTBALL these past weeks, and I noticed the EFFORT made by other receivers on other teams. The QBs were not the BEST passers, but I saw receivers really lay it out to get to the ball. KNOWING the play being called, and being on the same page between QB and receiver NEVER happened this season. The year 2014 team had no HEART!! All of a sudden OU has NO QBs that can complete even a 5 yard pass.
I don't know, watching a lot of games this year (well particularly the bowl because it's fresh in my mind) it seemed the defensive players were in position but failed to tackle or make plays, at least in the first quarter/half. However this is still on the coaches of course... and I am only willing to give Mike so much more time (year probably) before I think we should move on.
Now if we can get rid of Heupel or demote him back to QB coach then we're talkin
ignore
Last edited by SoonerForLife92; 1/5/2015 at 02:28 PM.
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