Day #10/Practice #9 of Fall Camp: It is Almost Over and the Opener is Barely Closer
STILLWATER -- Friday's practice was a good one as the Cowboys have really picked up the intensity since earlier in the week when the Big 12 Board of Directors voted to keep working toward the 10-game season and the kickoff for everybody coming up on Sept. 12 with the non conference games. By the way, the Big 12 is nearly complete on that schedule as Kansas just firmed up their non conference game with Coastal Carolina. So, here is what the Big 12 schedule looks like on non conference Saturday.
Big 12 Team | Non Conference Opponent for Sept. 12 |
|---|---|
Baylor Bears | TBA |
Iowa State Cyclones | Louisiana-Lafayette |
Kansas Jayhawks | Coastal Carolina |
Kansas State Wildcats | Arkansas State |
Oklahoma State Cowboys | Tulsa |
Oklahoma Sooners | Missouri State |
Texas Longhorns | UTEP |
TCU Horned Frogs | Tennessee Tech |
Texas Tech Red Raiders | Houston Baptist |
West Virginia Mountaineers | Eastern Kentucky |
The Cowboys are working toward that opener with Tulsa and the interesting aspect of all this is that when the Cowboys opened camp, theoretically their opening game was 30 days away on Sept. 5. Now, Oklahoma State is closing fall camp tomorrow with their 10th practice of fall camp and they will be 28 days from playing Tulsa in the opener. As a result, Mike Gundy has not had his team work in full pads as of yet. Gundy told me he would tread lightly, although practice has ramped up physically this week.
Before fans start thinking Gundy has gone soft and the Cowboys are behind the Big 12 competition, Pokes Report has learned that Baylor is back to having OTA type practices. We know Oklahoma went home for a week and reported by Friday to restart practices. We also know that Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State have yet to practice in full pads. Those are just the ones that we know about.
After Saturday's practice, the Cowboys will get Sunday off with a team brunch and meetings planned. The team will also take the first day of classes for the fall semester on Monday off before moving to the regular routine of afternoon practices on Tuesday.
As of right now, Gundy is expected to meet with the media through a Zoom conference on Monday at 9:30 a.m.
As for today's workout the special teams time was split between PAT/field goal and punt unit drills and work. It is looking more and more like Jake McClure may hold on placements and Australian Alex Hale will do the kicking.
Center Ry Schneider was said to have had a strong practice in both drills like pass pro and in the team period. In team period, the big plays on offense were runs with Dezmon Jackson breaking off a scoring run from plus territory and then later, freshman Dominic Richardson had a scoring run from some 30-yards. Those were the big plays as the defense continues to play well. This week Brock Martin and Trace Ford have both played well at defensive end.
The cornerbacks as a group continue to play well and safeties Thomas Harper, Tre Sterling, and Tanner McCalister have played very well, really physical.
Back on the field Saturday at 8:45 for the pre practice run thru. That is the final practice of fall camp 2020.
