Oklahoma football: What we learned from spring practice

Defensive development

The Sooners are hoping to make a big step in the right direction on defense in 2019 with new coordinator Alex Grinch at the helm and after spring practice it’s still a work in progress.

Grinch wasn’t exactly handing out gold stars when he talked about where his group is in its development last week, but that’s not a bad thing. Grinch clearly has an idea of what a good Oklahoma defense will look like and he hasn’t seen anything close to it yet, but he does see a path to get there.

The most encouraging news from Grinch concerns the defensive line. It’s been years since the Sooners had a truly disruptive d-line, probably going all the way back to when Gerald McCoy was still wearing Crimson and Cream.

The back seven have had their moments, according to Grinch, but are far from the consistent and fast defense that he wants to see. The road to a dominant defense in Norman is going to be a long one, but don’t be surprised to hear Oklahoma fans ask “are we there yet” every few minutes.

The quarterback battle

Tanner Mordecai and Jalen Hurts are still technically battling for the starting position according to Lincoln Riley, but Hurts not only sounds like he’s the guy every time you hear him with the press, he definitely looked like he was the guy when he took the field for the Sooners’ spring game.

Hurts obviously came into spring ball with a huge experience advantage, but seems to have closed the gap in comfort in the offense as well. That’s probably a good thing for everyone involved. Hurts was so good in the spring game he only played one half before giving way to Tanner Schafer. Mordecai suffered from a shaky offensive line, but also forced a few passes into coverage trying to press the ball down the field. In a lot of ways, he looked like the redshirt freshman that he is. There’s nothing wrong with that and Mordecai is still on track to develop into a good (if not great) quarterback, but this looks like it’s Hurts’ team entering the season by all measurements.

The scariest part about Hurts’ performance in the spring game is it came without one of his chief weapons in the power run game. It’s going to be fun to see what this offense is capable of next year with a loaded roster of talent and Lincoln Riley calling the plays.