Oklahoma football: What we learned from the opening press conference

Oklahoma football coaches and players met with the media on Monday ahead of the start of fall camp.

Here are five things we learned from the first Oklahoma football news conference of the year.

The Sooners are still looking for leaders, but Riley isn’t ‘concerned’

Riley said at Big 12 media days that this could be the most talented OU roster he’s seen since he has been here, according to Fox Sports, but it will also be the least experienced. Gone are several larger-than life personalities like four-year safety starter Steven Parker, the team’s 2017 sack leader Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and of course the enigmatic Baker Mayfield at quarterback.

“I’ve said a lot to leadership,” Riley told reporters Sunday  according to Soonersports.com. “I think there’s some unknowns there. I don’t know if ‘concern’ would be my word for that. I just think it’s an area of focus for us as a team. I think the potential’s there, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do there.”

“You’ve got to lead in your own way. A lot of the leading goes on behind the scenes… I think sometimes people see things on Saturday and they may misinterpret that for leading, and that’s just emotion or having fun. Real leading goes on behind the scenes when there’s not cameras there, and I think we’ve got guys that are fully capable of that.

Coaches don’t expect any baseball distractions for Kyler Murray

According to the USA Today the Oakland A’s believe they have found the next five-tool baseball player in Kyler Murray, using their No. 9 draft pick and $5 million dollars of their money to prove it. Knowing everything we do about the media – particularly national media pundits like ESPN and Fox Sports – we’ll likely hear about this a good 30 times this season (assuming Murray wins the starting job, of course). However Riley doesn’t expect it to be an issue in the locker room or on the sideline.

“If he wasn’t hungry, he’d be off playing baseball right now,” Riley said. “He wanted to come play football. He didn’t have to, obviously, but he wanted to, so I think the hunger and all that’s there. As far as the baseball situation, it has no effect on us right now. He’s a football player for the University of Oklahoma right now. That’s his focus and that’s our focus.”

Mike Stoops believes his defensive line has turned a corner

The Sooners finished No. 101 in the S&P defensive football rankings last year and many believe the defensive weakness cost them a shot at playing for a National Title in a 54-48 Rose Bowl loss to Georgia.

If things are going to turn around, the defensive front is a great place to start. Stoops thinks young players like Ronnie Perkins are ready to add depth and push those ahead of him for playing time. Stoops also believes that stability is finally starting to pay some dividends. Defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux is in his third year at the position.

“I think Kenneth, Neville (Gallimore) and Amani (Bledsoe) have really taken that group,” Stoops said according to Soonersports.com. “This is the best continuity we have had with that group, and that goes to stability and coaching. (Defensive ends coach) Calvin (Thibodeaux) has been here three years, (defensive tackles coach) Ruffin (McNeill) is going on his second. Prior to that, we had three different defensive line coaches, I think almost in succession. I don’t know if one guy was ever there two years in a row and that’s going to create some instability in your team. And now we have that stability, that continuity that you need. I think these guys have taken the younger guys under their wings and have really helped improve.”

The defensive line took the Rose Bowl loss personally

A lot has been said about Oklahoma’s defensive performance against Georgia. There were 311 Bulldog rushing yards that helped Georgia overcome a 17-point deficit and break the hearts of the Sooner faithful. Middle linebacker Kenneth Murray told 247 sports he’s watched the Rose Bowl 128 times. He’s far from the only Sooner using the game as motivation.

“All the guys that went – it stuck with us all,” junior defensive end Kenneth Mann said according to Soonersports.com. “We talk about it all the time. It was probably the hardest part of last season – it was definitely the hardest part of last season. We wanted to go all the way. That’s going to stick with us and we know where we want to get next season.”

The coaching staff is working to put the secondary in a position to succeed

Oklahoma plans on running a nickel package through most of the season to counter Big 12 spread attacks. This will probably mean plenty of Brendan “Bookie” Radley-Hiles in that nickel spot, Parnell Motley and Tre Norwood/Tre Brown running out at the traditional cornerback positions and possibly Jordan Parker at safety?

Parker was a starter at cornerback in 2016 and was expected to share time with Motley at the position last year before a season-ending injury. With a lack of experience at safety and a wealth of it at corner, Stoops is going to try and get Parker on the field in a new spot. Miguel Edwards – who had an interception in the spring game – will also challenge to see the field.

“We are going to look and see where we feel like he fits us and can compete,” Stoops told reporters according to Soonersports.com. “From my understanding, he’s worked a lot this summer at safety. The development of Tre Brown, Tre Norwood, Parnell Motley, those will be three guys to look at and certainly Jordan Parker ought to be depending on the freshman, too – Miguel Edwards did some good things this spring. I think we have to look and see. The safety position is in area that we feel like we need to improve across the board and those guys will make plays down the field. If he gets us some range and some playmaking ability, we are definitely going to give him a chance there, too.”