Notepad: Unclear if R Mason Thomas, Kobie McKinzie will play vs. Alabama
NORMAN — With the OU board of Regents meeting on Tuesday, the weekly press conferences for Brent Venables and Ben Arbuckle were moved to Monday.
Here’s a few of the highlights from the press conferences ahead of OU’s clash at No. 4 Alabama this weekend (2:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC):
Venables on R Mason Thomas, Kobie McKinzie
The Sooners head into the weekend with uncertainty regarding three of their top defenders.
R Mason Thomas left the Tennessee game after injuring his quad on his 71-yard touchdown in the first quarter and didn’t return. McKinzie missed the Tennessee game after suffering a groin injury against Ole Miss.
Venables was non-committal regarding their status for Saturday.
“I haven’t seen them on the field since last Thursday, so I’ll see them here later on today,” Venables said. “We’ll see where they’re at.”
Gentry Williams has missed the last two games after suffering an injury early against South Carolina. He was available against Tennessee but didn’t play.
The first SEC Available Report of the week will be released on Wednesday evening.
Venables touts Danny Okoye’s energy
After R Mason Thomas left the game with a quad injury, Okoye was called upon in the win over Tennessee. The sophomore played 11 snaps and made them count, logging one sack and a tackle for loss.
Okoye hasn’t earned a ton of snaps in a defensive end room filled with veterans, but he’s appeared in all seven games that he’s been available.
“Really hungry,” Venables said about Okoye. “He’s got a ton of energy. Loves to be coached. Shows up every day (with) just a willingness to go to work. Obviously you saw a small snapshot. We see him every day. And (he’s) a guy that has a chance to have a great, great future. But he’s really taken another big step from a confidence and a consistency standpoint at defensive end.
“Coach (Miguel) Chavis has done a great job. Danny’s done a great job of just working and improving from his foundation where he started and the level of football that he played to where he’s at now. It’s just incredibly exciting. But he’s a really disruptive, explosive player.”
Red zone efficiency a priority this weekend
Alabama’s offense has been very efficient in the red zone this season.
The Crimson Tide boast a 92% conversion rate in the red zone (35 scores on 38 trips), which ranks 16th nationally. They’ve scored touchdowns on over 73% of their red zone trips, which ranks 15th.
The Sooners have been stingy about allowing red zone possessions. Opponents have had just 19 trips inside the red zone against OU, which is tied for the seventh fewest in football. The Sooners have also allowed just eight touchdowns on those possessions — a 42% clip, which ranks ninth best.
“They are very efficient,” Venables said. “They stay out of the negative plays there. They’ve got a lot of excellent play design, concepts when they get down into the red zone and they understand defense and how a defense works. When I watch them, that’s what I see. And so they try to put you in conflict and attack your rules and things of that nature, so they are really smart in that way, understanding what you do.
“… They’ve run the ball in that area really well. They’ve got good players. At a 92% conversion rate, that’s really, really high and efficient. I think they’re comfortable in that space. It looks like they spend a lot of time there.”
Ben Arbuckle explains his pen necklace
The OU offensive coordinator’s game day attire includes an unusual feature. Arbuckle wears a necklace that has two writing pens — one with red ink and one with blue ink.
Arbuckle explained his pen necklace during his press conference.
“I didn’t know it was really gonna be a thing,” Arbuckle said. “People have asked me about that a lot. I don’t know. The red pen, I cross off a play – ‘Don’t run that play again.’ Whether maybe it’s a one hitter. Like, ‘Oh, hey, it hit. There’s no way they’ll fall for that again.’ Or, ‘That was stupid. Don’t run that.’ And then the blue pen, circle it, ‘OK, hey, maybe come back to this one.’ Or my blue pen, I write notes, ‘Hey, maybe this isn’t in the game plan, but what they’ve been showing us, hey, let’s get to this right here.’
“And i put it on my necklace because I don’t want to be digging around in my pockets the whole time. I can just grab and go. But I guess it kind of turned into a thing where I’m the red pen, blue pen guy.”
Arbuckle mentioned he picked up the use of red and blue pens from his mentor. He also said he uses G2 pens.
“It’s the best pen in ball,” Arbuckle joked.