Quick Slants: The NCAA comes down on DeMarco, and Brenen Thompson looks... different

hey there folks and welcome to another installment of quick Slants here on the o Insider YouTube channel Parker Thon Jesse Kinton real men wear pink as we both are doing right now uh and we look eagerly forward to Oklahoma's inaugural game as an SEC program this coming Friday against Temple season opens up for the Sooners at 600 pm on a Friday evening pretty unprecedented throughout the long and distinguished history of U football but a game is a game nonetheless and we will get to watch one at 6:00 on Friday at Gaylord family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium college football is back however Jesse DeMarco Murray will have to wait until week two to roam the Oklahoma Sidelines because as we learned today the NCAA has issued him a one- game suspension and prohibited Oklahoma from hosting unofficial visits on Friday night due to recruiting violations that stemmed from quote unquote impermissible calls and text messages to prospective student athletes now Oklahoma was hardly going to have any visitors on Friday night anyway I mean it's a Friday night that is about the worst possible time to have a college football game from a recruiting standpoint because it more or less prohibits 90 to 95% of prospective student athletes from even being logistically able to show up on your campus so that's not a huge deal but the Sooners will be without their running back coach on Friday Jesse Yeah they will and it's that's uh that's quite a a thing to drop from the NCAA just three days before OU season opener but if you really take a look at what all the NCAA said in their you know in their report today I mean I think I mean it's a recruiting violation in name but you know it's it's not something super egregious um you know sending out texts and and phone calls outside of a permissible time Parker I thought the most interesting thing and the thing that hasn't been talked about a ton is it's clear that this was a while ago and that I think oh you knew this was coming for for quite some time I mean even in the list of of punishments or penalties or whatever you want to call it a lot of them are self-imposed from the University and a lot of them have already come to pass so I mean like you said I think the most notable thing outside of a one-year probation would be DeMarco Murray not obviously not being able to attend the game on Friday and there not being any uh unofficial visitors permitted to go to the game but look if if it's never a great thing when an assistant coach misses a game but if you're gonna have to miss one a season opener against a a team that's that's kind of an FBS team and name only or a division one team in name only is uh is not a bad one to miss and like you said I don't think this is going to be a super negative thing from a recruiting standpoint and I think this is something that oh you should be able to move on from pretty quickly since the depth chart was released over the weekend one of the most prominent points of contention across the fan base is the reality that Billy Bowman sits a top of the depth chart at the kick returner position and pton bowan will return punts both of those guys obviously very valuable pieces for Oklahoma in the defensive back field they're slated to start at their respective safety slots and so it is somewhat controversial especially and this goes back I think in particular to DeMarco Murray himself in 2008 when he was injured in the Big 12 championship and unable to play in the national title game against Florida you see a starter you see one of your top tier contributors on either offense or defense poised to return kicks Andor punts you naturally get a little bit antsy Brent venal addressed this in his press conference on Monday and said Hey look it's my responsibility to put the best players in position to make plays and we know how dangerous both Billy Bowman and Payton Bowen are with the ball in their hands the question Jesse is in your estimation is it worth it yes unequivocally the answer is yes and I like that I like that Brit vinales when he talked about it was really was really firm in his response not only did he say what what you said about putting his best players on the field but he went further and said you can get hurt any anytime you're on a football field I mean pton Bowen dealt with injuries last season not as a punt returner Billy Bowman has dealt with injuries uh that didn't come from being on special teams and Parker I I think ultimately it's consistent with what uh the coaching staff has done over the last few months which has put a bigger emphasis on special teams I mean you you bring in Doug Deacon as a guy with a proven track record in in special teams it's been something that Brent vinal has continued to talk about in terms of improving efficiency which shouldn't be hard given how inefficient U was last season 123rd in special teams efficiency so all of this is consistent with how much of an emphasis there has been placed on special teams but the other side of it is you can't afford to pull punches in the SEC I mean there's going to be games in the SEC Bank on it now where special teams plays a pivotal role and who wins it's just it's going to happen U is going to see it and the other side of it is you've got to find advantages where you can get them I mean U hasn't had a punt return for a touchdown since 2016 as everybody knows and even last season Gavin Freeman had the punt return against Arkansas State you know how many you know how many yards Gavin Freeman had on his other 18 attempts outside of that touchdown you want to take a guess 18 attempts y I'll go with his jersey number 82 40 oh okay I was nowhere close had 40 yards on his other 18 attempts so all that's to say Payton Bowen is a is a playmaker he's a different maker he wants to be on special teams Billy mman Billy Bowman's an incredible athlete I think this is just U wanting to to put more emphasis on special teams well and it certainly helps that you have added depth in that safety room and if Billy Bowman God forbid were to go down with an injury suffered on a kick return let's just go worst case scenario well you are not up a creek without a paddle the way that you were in 2022 when you had to put Justin Harrington back there at safety when Bowman got hurt against TCU and then Woody Washington ended up having to play safety the next week against Texas in Bowman instead so there is some additional flexibility afforded with guys like Bowman and Bowen when you have a Robert Spears Jennings a Jaden Hardy a Michael boganowski for instance that are ready and able to jump in and play the safety position at a high level if the situation demands it here's interesting question Jesse and maybe I should have piggybacked off the DeMarco Murray conversation with this one because it's directly pertinent to the backfield Gavin Sauk and javante Barnes are listed as co-starters in the sooner inaugural depth chart of the 2024 season what do you suppose the splits are between Sauk and bar what do you suppose the distribution of carries between those two looks like come this Friday yeah I'm curious about your thoughts on this as well because there's a couple of things to think about here I mean one it's it's a game against temple in which U is a several touchdown favorite and I think if all goes according to plan U is going to be able to mostly play its reserves in the second half so I think that's one and two I I will honestly say I was a little surprised that Sauk and Barnes relisted as co-starters instead of there being a clear number one number two going into this season I really I really and I still do think of Gavin saek as as the Workhorse the guy that's going to that's going to get the bulk of the Reps but but Barnes being listed as a co-starter jives with everything we've heard especially since fall Camp started that gavon Barnes has been a standout that he's been healthy that mentally and physically he's in a much better place than he was in year two and really this is consistent with what we thought of the running back room going into last season where we thought of Javonte Barnes as the number one guy so you know if you had to put a number on it I think with all that being said I still think Sauk will see the field more I think he'll be on the field first I think he'll see a few more carries but I I you know I don't think it's going to be a big discrepancy I think it could be something like 6040 in sawchuk's favor and I do think especially in the first half it'll be interesting to see how often does Barn see the field and and does this offer a glimpse into is is he just a clear second guy behind Sauk or could this be a committee more of a 50-50 approach but I'd be curious to hear your thoughts too yeah you know it's interesting because I'm of the opinion that in the early stages of the Season you don't need to overwork the guys that you know are going to be studs for your program and you want them to get in get theirs and then be able to yank him out so as to avoid catastrophe occurring so I think shoot get Gavin Sauk 12 carries then get him out of the game um I think many are eager to see what Taylor Tatum looks like in an Oklahoma uniform I think many are increasingly eager to see what Sam Franklin can bring to the table now that he's been listed at third on the depth chart behind Barnes and SAA going into week one so I would hope that all five running backs listed on that depth chart do get at least a little bit of run on Friday night there ought to be plenty of Runway to rotate every single one of those guys in the football game so I I I would be surprised if any Oklahoma running back logs more than say 15 gares on Friday that's kind of how I look at it last thing Jesse we spoke to Brennan Thompson last night Brennan Thompson is listed as a co-starter alongside Nick Anderson at one of those wide receiver slots to me what stood out about Brendan Thompson just being in close proximity with him last night is he does not look frail like he did last year he does not look like a track guy who's wearing football pads he looks like a football player and he said it's been a big point of emphasis for him throughout the off season to pack on weight to become a more complete wide receiver Brent veniales told us that he wanted to shake the stigma he didn't want to be regarded as a one-trick pony and by all accounts that's exactly what's happened throughout fall Camp yeah I was honestly pretty stunned uh standing next to him at availability last night I think he I mean he's easily one of the guys that looks the the there's the biggest difference in how they look last season compared to this season I mean last season he looked he looked like an underclassman he looked he looked like he hadn't adjusted to the college he looked like a track athlete that's how he looked last season and this season like you said I mean the best way to put it is he looks like a football player so and I think him being listed as a co-starter I mean I'll be honest he's been a little under my raadar in terms of who could make an impact at wide receiver this season I mean when you look at Deon Burks or Anthony or Nick Anderson or Jalil faroo and then Jaden Gibson until obviously he got hurt it was easy to forget about ni it was easy to forget about Brennan Thompson but He's listed as a co- starter and in the way he talked last night I think there is the plan for him to get real playing time uh on Friday night and maybe this season if he really can be a versatile option uh for this offense he is probably the fastest guy on the team that adds a whole other dimension to this offense so it's hard to know how big of a r is going to have I mean he played 30 snaps last season um but at the same time yeah and that is a loaded wide receiver room but at the same time he does offer a dimension that this that nobody else outside of him can really offer it's it's it's interesting to see how much the buzz has increased the last couple of days and it'll be interesting to see how much run he gets on Friday and what a boost that would be for this Oklahoma wide receiver room which is already spectacular I mean already an excellent wide receiver room you get a version of brandan Thompson that isn't just a nuclear downfield threat I mean and and he's he can still run by anybody on the football field let's not get it twisted that that mass Edition has not cost him any burst he's still the exact same deep threat that he was last season for Oklahoma and the year prior to that when he really wasn't used but still saw some action in the return game at Texas saw I got a couple carries I think but we know he can run but if he can play wide receiver in a more complete well-rounded manner how much more does that add to this wide receiver room given all the talent that is already stockpiled there for em and Jones it's going to be fun and we look forward to bringing you plenty more coverage and Analysis throughout the week leading up to and directly following Oklahoma's Friday evening tilt with temple the 2024 season is upon us we're excited to cover it thanks to to all of you who follow along with our coverage here on the YouTube channel as well as over on ouinsider.com Shameless plug you're going to want to subscribe over there for insight and exclusive Intel everything going on behind the scenes not just what you see on your TV screen on Saturdays as the Sooners battle with SEC foes for the very first time as a member of the sou Eastern conference ouinsider.com is the place to be hit that subscribe button if you haven't already for Jesse kittan I'm Parker Thon we'll catch you next week