In the simple Sooner Spring game, the offense outlasts the defense

The Sooner offense got off to a fast start, jumping out 21-0 with touchdowns on three straight opening possessions before the defense stormed back to make a game. It all culminated in a dramatic finish in the 2024 Oklahoma Football Spring Game on Saturday.

Fans got their first glimpse of the 2024 SEC-bound Oklahoma football team at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, and while a number of returning starters didn’t see action in the game, there were plenty of positives to appreciate from those who played.

If there had been a highly valuable player in the game, it would undoubtedly have gone to wide receiver Deion Burks. The Purdue carry was all over the field and proved difficult to pull off, hauling in five catches for 174 yards and a pair of touchdowns – one for 64 yards on the game’s opening possession and another for 50 yards. Both touchdowns to Burks were thrown by a presumed OU starting QB Jackson Arnoldwho also played a good match.

“He’s been fantastic,” head coach said Brent Venables said about Burks after the game. “Great playmaker. He’s got tremendous quickness and quickness. He’s got great hands…He’s really done a great job of learning what to do and transitioning within our system.”

Arnold and Burks narrowly missed connecting on another deep throw that fell just out of the outstretched hands of the speedy wide receiver, who looks to be a great addition to an already deep Sooner receiving corps.

Arnold played alternating offensive possessions in the first half, finishing his afternoon with 10 of 20 completions for 233 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. True freshmen Calib Hicks was impressive in the running game, averaging 6.2 yards per carry on 62 yards in 10 carries. Tennessee Martin transfer Sam Franklin carried the ball 12 times for 58 yards.

Venables It was all smiles before the game, but when the Red team’s offense erupted with three touchdowns in the first three possessions against its defense, the smile quickly disappeared from the head coach’s expression.

Arnold and freshmen Michael Hawkins Jr. handled quarterback duties in the first half, with General loot and freshmen Brendan Zurbrugg take over in the second half.

While the Red team’s offense set the tone early, the White defensive team began to turn the tide late in the first quarter and into the second quarter. During one stretch, the defensive unit got a third or fourth down stop on six of the seven offensive possessions.

One of the big concerns during spring training was the offensive line, which lost four starters as well as center from last season Troy Everett this spring with an injury. The starting O-line in the spring game of tackles Michael Tarquin (USC transfer) and Jake Taylorguards Jacob Sexton And Febechi Nwaiwu (North Texas transfer) and downtown Jos Bates looked good and actually held his own against the athletic and aggressive Sooner defense.

The halftime score was 42-38 in favor of the attack and at the end of the third quarter it was 56-48.

One of the special rules for this year’s match was that going into the fourth quarter, 12 points would be added to the team in the lead, and that the outcome of the match in this case would be decided by the team that was the first to reach 68 points. or whoever was in front when time ran out after 12 minutes.

With two minutes left (which is a new NCAA rule for the 2024 season, with the two-minute warning going into effect as in the NFL, with play stopped with two minutes left in each half, causing a extra time-out occurs for both teams) and the score remained stuck at 58-58, General loot scored on a 32-yard touchdown run and, shortly thereafter, as time ran out, redshirt freshman Chapman McKowna 5-foot-10, 5-inch running back from Norman North High School took a handoff and carried it in for the winning score.

The same scoring system introduced for the 2023 Spring Competition was used this year. Points were awarded to the attacking and defending teams based on certain performances. The quarters lasted twelve minutes. The first two quarters had a normal clock, the third quarter was a continuously running clock, and in the last quarter the special rule with a running clock applied.

Standouts on the defensive side included defensive linemen Ethan Downs And Gracen Haltonwho each had four tackles, a pair of tackles for loss and a sack each. PJ Adebawore had two sacks in the game and Davon Sears, R. Mason Thomas and the Sooners were the top recruits in the class of 2024. David Stone, all recorded sacks.

Some of the notable players who did not play in the game included WRs Jalil Farooqwho has a broken foot, Nick Anderson And Andrel Anthony, who is recovering from a torn ACL, RB Jovante Barnes and QB Casey Thompson. On defense, DBs Billy Bowman And Woodi Washington and D.L Da’Jon Terry finished the game.