SoonerScoop video: OU players post-practice (Sept. 19)

OU players are happy with the 3-0 start, but they all know the work is far, far from finished. Brent Venables and crew begin Big 12 play at Cincinnati on Saturday.

The SoonerScoop crew was out in full force following Tuesday’s practice. Here’s the best of the best from the OU players.

OU RB Gavin Sawchuk

Back out there?

“It was a lot of fun. I’d been dealing with some hamstring issues, but great to be back, be back with the team, celebrating with the team. It was a great team win. So much fun to be out there with all the guys and really just celebrate all the work we put in, not just through the season, but over the summer and all that. So just a lot of fun.”

WR Jayden Gibson

Tough to accept spot-duty role?

“No, not at all. I came to OU to play with great players. Playing with other great receivers. I’m happy. I’ve only scratched the surface of what my role is going to be. I’ve just started to show what I can do. My role is going to get bigger. As the season goes on, they’re going to need more from me. Even with where I’m at right now, I feel like I’m where God wants me to be. I’m going at the pace I’m supposed to go at. Making plays. Every time the ball is up in the air, I have to go get it. It doesn’t matter how many or when or where we’re at.”

WR Drake Stoops

Stoops family reunion in Ohio?

“A lot of — my dad’s from Youngstown, so a lot of the Stoops family coming out to watch you play. I’m not sure numbers-wise. Probably I’d say upper 20’s. A lot of them have never seen me play. They live pretty far away. So yeah. I’m excited.”

DT Jonah Laulu

Stopping the run?

“It definitely feels good stopping the run, making teams have to pass the ball, make them more predictable. It’s just a good feeling. But you know, we’re not satisfied. We’re still coming to work every day because every week a team’s seeing what we’re doing, we put it on tape and they’re coming up with a game plan to attack what we’ve been doing. So, we can’t become complacent. We’ve got to keep coming to work every day and getting better, continue stopping the run, putting teams in predictable situations so that we can come out on top.”

LB Danny Stutsman

Third down defense?

“I think we’ve just been really consistent. We worked a lot in the fall camp and spring ball on a lot of situations. The offense, they’ve done a tremendous job on third downs. They’re up there, top five in the country or something like that. And it’s just that good on good work. It’s all about finishing. Last year, we kind of slipped up here and there. We’ve just been more consistent finishing drives.”

CB Kani Walker

Can you recognize complacency in the moment? Or in hindsight?

“I mean, Coach V realizes on the spot, so he makes us realize it before even we realize it, so it’s like, yeah, Complacency, like, this year, we understand that on the spot, so like once we feel like we’re slipping off a little bit, or whatever the case may be, it’s like, ‘alright, no, hold on.’ And he’ll even bring us up, like, ‘aight now, let’s tighten up. This is not we finna do.’ And we do that for ourselves, and we call each other up, and we call over our players, or if one of our players is not doing what they’re supposed to do, or not executing to our standard, or even trying to meet our standard, we be like ‘Hey, like c’mon,’ you know? So that standard’s like definitely firm and in there, so we don’t allow no complacency no more.”

CB Woodi Washington

How do you avoid a dip in play after 3-0?

“We’re OU but we’re not just going to go out and win every game just because we’re OU. I take it as we’ve got to put in the work to go out and win games. I feel like last year we kind of got humbled a little bit. We went 6-7 obviously so it’s like I said — we got humbled.”