Cowboys, Sooners get hot

August 05, 2008 12:13 am

— Staff, wire reports

STILLWATER — Under a broiling sun, the Oklahoma State University football team had its first practice in full pads at the practice fields on Monday.
Coach Mike Gundy was pleased with his team’s showing in the heat.
“It was nice and warm out there. There was a lot of enthusiasm and lot of collisions,” he said. “We finished the day with a toughness drill and let some of the younger players go against each other and line up and hit some.”
Gundy mentioned Muskogee High School graduate Derek Burton, a possible starter at defensive end this season, when asked about defensive line.
“Swanson (Miller, a junior defensive end) is making plays and Derek is making plays,” he said. “We’re seeing more depth and more experience. I think the Burtons and those guys playing on the edge who were redshirted at a young age are going to get better every day.”
The Cowboys will have their first two-a-day practices today at 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Sooners chill some
NORMAN — Defensive coordinator Brent Venables liked the scheduling in Monday’s first day in practice.
The Sooners avoided the brunt of the 100-plus degree weather with an evening workout.
“Pushing the practice time back not only got us out of the worst heat of the day, but it gave us a little more meeting time and you can't over-estimate how much that means to us right now,” he said.
And it paid off once they were on the field.
“We had a lot of ball disruption which showed me a lot of awareness. We saw a terrific attitude out of these guys,” Venables said.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson was impressed with the freshmen on offense, including wide receiver Jameel Owens.
“They have the skill level to be on the field,” Wilson said. “We need to see how they hold up and how much they learn. Our job is to get them up to speed.”
OU coach Bob Stoops is closing fall scrimmages to the public while opening two practices for fans. The open practices will be Friday and on Monday, Aug. 18.
Stoops says the Sooners will be adding “a few wrinkles” and he wants to work on those in a closed scrimmage.
Both open practices will begin at 9 a.m. at the OU rugby fields east of the Lloyd Noble Center.