Really enjoyed listening to the offensive line today. I find Steve Farmer to be pretty confident in the line, including the tackles and it feels like they are really building some depth in the line and there are some guys who can step-up.

Take serious note about how every position group is cross-training. This is not just a theme, but maybe a mandate or a decision by the coaching staff that they want as many players as possible to cross train so that if something happens, they can still put their best five players on the field, regardless of position.

Offensive line Coach Steve Farmer

Big questions at tackle, we have a good healthy competition between the two tackle positions, Ethan Carde, Landon Peterson, Josh Burger, and Caleb Rogers the freshman, he’s put on a good camp. Carde was with us this spring and has gotten better every day. Zach Adams has been consistent, it is a 5 or 6 man race repping at tackle, the scrimmages will determine who gets playing time.

At center guard, we’re returning Weston [Wright] and Dawson Deaton and Jack Anderson, the exciting part is Will Farrar, he’s doing some nice things. Casey Verhulst has done a nice job and is a guy that can bounce around through the line with ease, from guard to tackle. We want guys to learn the offense as a whole and have different depth chart with each practices. Being able to move guys around, make sure we have our best 5, right now we have 9 or 10 guys in that 2-deep and we feel pretty good about it.

[Re. Anderson] You have a great player willing to come back is great, he’s gotten better each day, he’s making strides. Since he got back from that shoulder and gotten back to 100%. We’re repping him at center, we’re making him money and getting comfortable and making him more valuable. Thankful for his willingness to grow.

[Re. football practice] Big part of our life is being part of these guys, I missed the summer camps and being around football. We’ve moved some meeting room spaces around, just so much nicer than being on the zoom, trying to run position meeting on zoom has issues. We’re practicing social distancing and it is part of it and grateful to be back part of football.

[Re. players working out during pandemic] What we found, Coach Scholz had a great plan, Landon Peterson goes to Lowe’s and builds his own squat rack. Farrar goes to Houston to pick up his weight set and it has been impressive. Audio files where we did voice-over stuff and can go out and run our offense and emulate those play calls. Scholtz did great with body weight circuits. We’re on the other end of it this thing and our kids did an unbelievable job.

[Re. difference between year 1 and 2] Just the knowledge of the offense, last year there were things we simply couldn’t do, there are some new protections and runs and it is because of the amount of time we can spend with them and willing to be part of zoom meetings. That’s what I’m hoping shows this fall to help change some things up. When you can change protections, it allows you to keep ahead of the defense and can’t scheme a single protection. It was time well spent.

Anderson is going to be an effective pro and he can sync his hips and bend which allows you to have great leverage and is a violent striker and great balance. He’s learned more football which has been good for him, I think if you sat down and talked to him, you’d be surprised what he knows what a tackle is supposed to do. His ankle flextion [sp?] and knee flextion [sp?] is what separates him.

[Re. finding two new tackles] Yeah it is a challenge, we have kids battling their tails off, it is no different when you are changing quarterbacks, they were great players because they are playing in the NFL now, so yeah it is a great challenge, I think we have talent to do it and having them understand the urgency of playing tackle.

One of the things we’ve done a better job of doing is spent more time teaching individual drills, spending more time in the actual drills and being more efficient with the drills. I often film the drills and have rarely had time to watch with them, usually we are talking scheme and we’re spending more time talking about technique.

[How pandemic changed recruiting] Just recognizing when they opened up things for the zoom and unlimited calls and could do a home visit in April and May and that has been the game-changer, we are typically out on the road. I feel like I am further ahead with the 21’s families and have a better feeling of their families and their home and you can see where they are coming home, challenges or wealth and what made them who they are int heir life. It is nice because I’ve gotten to know parents really well.

[On Josh Burger] We heard about Josh, we pulled up his Clemson game and he was really good. He’s shown he can play at this level, just need to find the right ones. He’s a quick-twitch kid. Not as tall as our guys, but he makes up for it in leverage and can handle some longer athletes. Hopeful he can come in here, it is different doing it against Clemson, but has to do it 9 times in the Big 12.

Weston Wright is a perfect example of that, he was a guy that needed to grow up and by the end of the season he was one of the premier guards of the Big 12. He is a talented young man and has confidence now and believe that will help him moving forward. I think we are going to be really talented inside and the tackles need to maximize their talents.

Right now, Josh is the more physical of the bunch, pass protector is Ethan, those two guys have strength in those areas, and Ethan needs to be more physical. Josh needs to get him in those habits of those pass protection. Landon is very capable in both run and pass.

We’ve flipped them between the tackle spots. The thing that Casey has done is that we’ve moved him inside and just adds value to you.

Center Dawson Deaton

I think since the offseason for me I played around 295 and 300 and need to get my weight up and have tried to get stronger in the weight room and have focused on all offseason.

During quarantine the gyms were shut down, my dad owns a cross fit gym and would let me in and I was never without a gym during quarantine and adding muscle in the offseason. A lot of the guys were building their own sets and getting creative.

It’s huge and shows the commitment, and other guys are doing stuff like that. Farrar drove to Houston and picked up a weight set and worked out and it shows how committed everyone is and passing time away from their families and it is a cool thing to see for sure.

It has gone up a lot and I’ve realized the role I have to play as a leader, we had 2 senior captains, and I was the younger guy watching them, and with me being the center it is something I’ve worked on and coming into that role and lead them the best I can.

Usually we get the three non-conference games and get to to scrimmage, in the non-conference games we get to gel a little more. I’m not worried about it. I’m comfortable with where we are as an offensive line.

With Terence and Bruffy leaving, Weston is also a guy returning, knowing we have to help develop our tackles we’ve all talked about it and being with those guys and doing everything they need to do in the weight room.

I’m around 305 now and still have another month until the season. I need to do that and that will help a lot.

[I think this was about Anderson, but Deaton is speaking as if Anderson is hurt and he is not, believe this is past tense, but Deaton didn’t speak that way] I know it kills him, he wants to be out there practicing with us and it hurts him that he can’t. He was sad when he got hurt last year and messed up with his plans and future, he’s always had a great work ethic and ready to have a really good year this year.

Each of us had a guy that we would check on each day and holding each other accountable and check on with each other with our weight, I think we did a good job of the o-line and Farmer and Scholz checking in on us too, some guys put on a lot of weight and a lot of guys look stronger.

A lot of guy shave been doing good things at tackle, Zach Adams is good to go. Caleb has been doing good, he’s on top of the play book and has had few mental errors. Burger learned the playbook fast and we’ve learned some things form his as well.

Guard Jack Anderson

I’m definitely playing more positions the versatility piece of it is huge and the mental part of it and the coverages and it never hurts to learn more. The leadership piece of it and have been more vocal.

I am improving specifically, hands and feet and super-aggressive and be a bouncer out there. I’m really excited, I had a bad taste in my mouth and the OU game and am ready to be healthy and confident and get back to the ball I was playing.

I’d say it helped in being there for my teammates, I had a better grasp, but I was already pretty comfortable with the offense, but for a guy like Weston Wright and helping him. Seeing it from the sidelines is definitely different, I got some positive work out of it.

They are making a lot of strides, Tony Bradford is going to be really good. Gilbert, Devin Drew, Jaylon Hutchins, he wants to be one of the best noseguards in the league, he’s in the weight room. Eli works so hard and utmost respect and think he is ready to have a breakout year.

I feel we got a lot of zoom meeting, it is a lot of one-on-one meetings, but with that time off we got to focus on eating habits and it was good and learned a lot in that time and further along than last year.

Feeling right, 100% I could have played a game during spring ball and I was ready to go and 5 to 6 month mark of being ready. Now I’m feeling really good. I’ve gotten in better habits and have taken a lot of strides in that.

I love to play ball and I feel real comfortable next to these guys in the offense, once you know how to play I’m just ready to go out and put stuff on film. I was in pads in the spring and doing drills and only got to practice a few times. I didn’t have an issue there at all.

I love the reps at center and can use my leadership skills there. I can play all 3 positions at the next level and just helps my versatility and lets me know the offense better. Farmer has taught me a lot and Dawson too and he can show me what I’m seeing and what I can compare.

Zach Adams has come here and had injuries, he’s learned a lot of the offense and physically he is better than he’s ever been before and think he is one of the guys you’ll see at the tackle spots.