Lincoln Riley held his weekly press conference Monday, discussing injury updates, defensive progress and looking forward to Kansas State this week.
The first question asked of Riley addressed the concern many had from Saturday’s 56-27 win over TCU. Trey Sermon left that win with an undisclosed leg injury. Riley, who had encouraging words to say about Sermon’s condition following the game, didn’t have a definitive update.
“Nothing to report on Sermon,” Riley said on Soonersports.com. “We’ll just have to see how that one goes.”
Sermon missing significant time would further hamper a running back group already missing starter Rodney Anderson, who was lost for the season against UCLA. Redshirt freshman Kennedy Brooks is coming off his best game of the season with 168 yards against the Horned Frogs. Oklahoma rushed for 313 yards overall in the game.
He did, however, provide an update for Marquise Brown. The standout wide receiver was hobbled through portions of the game against TCU.
“We don’t anticipate any issues there,” Riley said of Brown.
Riley praised his defense, lauding his secondary and commenting on the team’s improved pursuit to the football after holding TCU to a season-low 275 yards coming off the dismissal of former defensive coordinator Mike Stoops and the promotion of RUffin McNeil to the position.
“We played a lot of 11-man football,” Riley said on Soonerports.com. We had some guys who played really really well, but it was more to me how well we played together as a group and that’s something we have to keep working on.
He went on to talk about the youth movement on the Oklahoma defense. Several younger players saw increased playing time against TCU. Defensive back Delarrin Turner-Yell and defensive end Jalen Redmond both saw game time after returning from early-season injuries. Riley sees both contributing more as the season goes on.
Riley went on to address Oklahoma’s upcoming game against Kansas State., particularly the Wildcats’ ability to hurt opponents with the quarterback run game. After Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger had success running the football against Oklahoma he was asked if there were any similarities between the two attacks.
“Kansas State really kind of majors in it (the quarterback run game,” Riley said. “Their quarterback run game is as advanced as any in the country. They really build a ton around it and challenge you in a lot of different ways. We’ll certainly have to do a great job against it.”
The Sooners and Wildcats meet in Norman at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.