OU Football: Week 3 Notebook

Highlights from Coach Stoops' media lunch including updates on Trevor Knight's injury, Blake Bell becoming a starter, defensive improvements and more.

Monday, September 9th 2013, 3:00 pm

By: News 9


Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops addressed the media Monday in his weekly press conference with updates on several OU injuries and thoughts on this past week against West Virginia. Here are some news and notes from the press conference.

• The University of Oklahoma presented a check for $198,794.72 to the United Way of Norman to donate to Oklahoma Disaster Relief at the beginning of the press conference.

• Stoops said Trevor Knight's injury occurred at the end of the first half. He said Knight was cleared to play in the second half, but acknowledged the injury may have had something to do with Knight's performance in the second half. Inserting Blake Bell in at quarterback was a decision made entirely based on Knight's performance, not his injury.

• Stoops said the hits the quarterbacks have taken as a part of the new offense were something he and the other coaches took into consideration. "You have to tell them to slide, get down, get out of bounds, but sometimes you get one (a hit) where you can't," Stoops said.

• A big factor that Stoops points to in regards to the improvement of the defense is the overall speed on defense. Stoops said every unit has improved its overall speed since last season, whether through individual work or new personnel.

• Stoops didn't say whether or not Knight would have started this week if he had been healthy. "We would do what we needed to do and who knows what that is?" Stoops said. "I don't have that choice because Trevor is hurt."

• Stoops also said he didn't have a position on players not losing their starting jobs due to injury. "I'm sure through my years some have and some have not," Stoops said.

• Safety Gabe Lynn, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, said the defense is going in the right direction, but still has a lot of work to do. He said the defense enjoys Mike Stoops' new approach to game planning. "He's mixing it up," Lynn said. "As a defense, I think we've been taking it in well. We're just excited about whatever game plans he comes up with because we know its going to put out a good showing."

• Lynn added that the attitude of the defense, both coaches and players, has been a lot more positive this season. "Some people called us soft (last season) and quite frankly, we were soft last year," Lynn said. "That's not something we want to be known as."

• This is Lynn's first season at safety and he said the transition has been smooth. With the move, Lynn has played at every position in the secondary and said that has helped him understand the unit better and how things work together.

• Running back Brennan Clay said the quarterback situation is not a distraction for the rest of the team. "We know whoever is going to be our starting quarterback is going to get the job done and we have faith in them," Clay said. "We put our trust in our quarterback."

• Clay said Knight has had a very positive attitude throughout the past two weeks even though his first two performances were probably not exactly what the redshirt freshman had envisioned. "He's always positive; he's always leading; he's a great motivator," Clay said about Knight. "I've never seen him with his head down or slouched. He's got that smile on his face and he's always pushing forward."

• Clay added the positive attitude has been a theme amongst all the quarterbacks throughout the competition and into the season, citing their friendship as a big reason why.

• Clay said the OU offense is just a couple of tweaks away from being very "lethal." "We're so close on so many plays and if you go back and watch the film, we could have busted that game wide open."

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