Brent Venables gives some insight on a possible fix to an issue that had Sooners fans worried all game against Illinois State
Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners are going to start ramping up Jaydn Ott very soon.
When the Oklahoma Sooners’ initial two-deep depth chart was released before their Week 1 matchup, fans were confused and worried about star running back Jaydn Ott. After Brent Venables and his staff got him in the transfer portal with the intention to start, Ott was listed as RB3 for the Illinois State matchup. And, he didn’t play much.
Ott missed a ton of fall camp while he was nursing an injury. So, it made a bit of sense. Now, heading into Week 2 against the Michigan Wolverines, Venables has provided an update.
“He missed a lot of practice,” Venables told reporters. “But you’re going to see a lot more of him.”
After seeing how Oklahoma did in Week 1 in terms of its run game, it will certainly need Ott against Michigan.
Sooners’ Jaydn Ott will be needed as a fix for the run game vs. Michigan
While it was a win, and a pretty dominant one, the Sooners did not run the ball well at all against Illinois State in Week 1. In fact, you could say their run game was poor, even though OU scored 35 points and went up and down the field pretty efficiently. The passing game with QB John Mateer slinging the rock was great. However, when you play an FCS opponent like Illinois State, you should run all over them.
The Sooners didn’t and actually struggled. Oklahoma finished with fewer rushing yards than Illinois State in that game, only recording 103 rushing yards to Illinois State’s 117. OU had just 3.2 yards per carry, which is not good, and certainly would not get the job done against Michigan.
Freshman RB Tory Blaylock played the best, but he only had eight rushes for 44 yards and a touchdown. Blaylock also had the best yards per carry on the day at 5.5, which was far better than the older guys who played on Saturday. Jovantae Barnes finished with 1.3 yards per carry on seven carries, while Xavier Robinson finished with 2.1 yards per carry on eight carries, and Ott finished with -3 yards on one carry.
That one carry doesn’t really say anything about what Ott can do when he’s given a ton more carries. He can completely change the run game if they have him fully available.
“Jaydn’s a special player and a special talent,” offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said earlier this week. “He’s absolutely going to find his rhythm and find his place in this offense. I’m not worried one bit about Jaydn Ott. He’s a great kid, he’s a hard worker, and he’s a smart kid. So I’m excited to see what he does throughout the course of the year.”
Up to this point in his Oklahoma tenure, this is the biggest game in Venables’ career. He has to beat Michigan, especially after the year they had last season, and the moves he made to try to turn this program around. Not to mention, Michigan isn’t viewed as the juggernaut team it was a few years ago. Venables will need every bit of help he can get, and having Ott could really help fix the run game.
“He looks to be close to 100%… he’s a real weapon and will be a real factor in our season moving forward. So, I’m excited about that; we’re going to need him,” Venables said on Tuesday.
Oklahoma Sooners News
Oklahoma Sooners fans have no reason to panic about star playmaker after initial depth chart release
Don’t worry about Jaydn Ott’s spot on the Oklahoma Sooners initial depth chart.
