Oklahoma football will be on showcase Friday night when the Sooners go under the lights for the 2019 spring football game.
The spring game is the public’s chance to preview the Sooners football team before they pack up the pads for the summer and the last time they will be in action at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium until the season opener against Houston on Aug. 31.
The Sooners are trying to win an unprecedented fifth-straight Big 12 title and reach the national championship game for the first time since the 2008 season. The team has a new look on both sides of the ball with several new faces and some old ones in new spots.
So what should you expect from the 2019 spring game? How will you know what to look for? Luckily, we are here to help with a comprehensive guide to the Sooners spring football game in a two part series. We start things off with the offense.
Offensive line play
With Creed Humphrey‘s injury the Sooners will have no starters up front from last year’s Joe Moore Award winning group, so a well-oiled machine is probably too much to expect up front.
However, we will get an idea of how the Sooners look in basic pass and zone run blocking as the playbook likely goes ultra vanilla. The advanced stuff is for later, but how do the Sooners look fundamentally on the line? Does this crew have the basics down to a point where Bill Bendenbaugh can move on the more complicated stuff and start building chemistry in fall camp?
Also, pay attention to who is playing where. Is a guy like Brey Walker still playing inside at guard or has he moved back to left tackle, where many think he can be an All-American someday? Where are players like Adrian Ealy and Erik Swenson lining up? Does converted defensive tackle Michael Thompson look ready to compete for playing time despite limited experience on offense?
The skill positions in this offense have been fun to watch since Lincoln Riley arrived in 2015, but make no mistake about it, the offensive line is the motor that drives this fancy car and this is the most interesting offseason for that group since Bedenbaugh arrived.