Oklahoma
How Oklahoma OL Eddy Pierre-Louis Has Impressed Teammates, Coaches in Training Camp
NORMAN — On Wednesday, Oklahoma held its first traing camp practice ahead of the 2024 season.
A few areas of the Sooners’ roster are still looking to settle position battles heading into OU’s first year competing in the SEC, and players will be looking to perform well in hopes of securing their spot on the depth chart.
One of the position groups with the most uncertainty after a complete overhaul this offseason is Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line unit.
After Cayden Green transferred to Missouri, Tyler Guyton, Walter Rouse and Andrew Raym left for the NFL and McKade Mettauer played out the last of his eligibility, Oklahoma’s offensive front will look completely different in 2024.
With multiple spots along the o-line seemingly up for grabs early in training camp, one young trench player has stood out to his teammates so far.
“I think Eddy (Pierre-Louis). Eddy’s caught my eye,” veteran center Branson Hickman said on Thursday. “He’s just a freak athlete. He has all the tools. Just got to get some things going, but obviously he just got here. It’s been two days. Really athletic, he’s a really good kid and he works really hard. So I’m excited for him for sure.”
Hailing from Tampa Catholic (FL), Pierre-Louis was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school, rated the No. 33 overall recruit and and No. 1 interior offensive lineman in the country, according to Rivals.
With great size and remarkable speed for someone of his stature, Pierre-Louis’ athleticism gives him the potential to develop into one of OU’s best offensive lineman under Bedenbaugh.
Pierre-Louis was clocked at 12.97 in the 100-meter dash in high school, and is already listed at 6-foot-3 and 305 pounds despite arriving in Norman this summer.
While it will be difficult for a true freshman to earn a starting spot along an SEC offensive line, the talented interior player could see more time on the field as the season progresses, especially if Pierre-Louis continues to improve and the Sooners’ other options at guard underperform.
In 2023, Green wasn’t a starter in Week 1, but worked his way into the starting group and never relinquished his spot.
Hickman isn’t the only person who has been impressed by Pierre-Louis early in training camp, as head coach Brent Venables shared his praise for the newcomer on Saturday morning.
“Just humble, his work ethic, his pride in being prepared everyday. You can coach him hard, he’s really tough and demanding on himself without crushing his own spirit,” Venables said.
“He’s just ready to learn every day. He loves his teammates. He was a highly-recruited guy, he’s got tremendous respect for the game and the learning process and a great self-awareness of where his weaknesses are and things he needs to do to improve. Has a great sense of self-awareness of where his weaknesses are and where he needs to improve. That helps the progress happen sooner (rather) than later.”
With North Texas transfer Febechi Nwaiwu likely secure in his spot as a starter at one of the guard positions, Pierre-Louis will have to battle Heath Ozaeta, Geirean Hatchett and others to earn time on the field in 2024.
Even if Pierre-Louis doesn’t get many snaps this season, however, it appears that the highly touted freshman has a bright future in Norman.
Oklahoma
Alabama's upset loss to Oklahoma completes wild day in college football as rankings could look a lot different
Entering Saturday night, all No. 7 Alabama needed was a win against unranked Oklahoma to remain very safe in the College Football Playoff bracket.
Earlier in the day, No. 5 Indiana was blown out, No. 4 Penn State barely squeaked by Minnesota, and No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 14 BYU both lost.
But, the Crimson Tide could not get the job done, as Oklahoma dominated to a 24-3 victory.
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Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who had been one of the nation’s best players, had his worst game of the season. He completed 11 of 26 passes for 164 yards with three interceptions and gained just seven yards on 15 carries for Alabama (8-3, 4-3). The Sooners held Alabama to 234 yards. He went just 2-for-7 for 62 yards before the half.
True freshman Xavier Robinson ran for career highs of 107 yards and two touchdowns as Oklahoma became bowl eligible and took coach Brent Venables off the hot seat.
The Sooners’ victory resulted in yet another edition of fans storming the field too early, but at least this one was practically over anyway, unlike the BYU-Arizona State game.
APPALACHIAN STATE FANS PELT JAMES MADISON PLAYERS WITH SNOWBALLS BEFORE GAME
Ole Miss and Alabama, both in the bracket prediction last week, now have three losses on the season. This leaves the door wide open for 9-2 teams like Clemson and Iowa State, who had been ranked 17th and 22nd in the nation, respectively.
And now, Indiana’s college football playoff hopes, right after their undefeated season ending, may not look all that over. No. 10 Georgia and No. 11 Tennessee figure to move up a few spots with three teams ahead of them in the rankings all losing.
Although, it’s certainly not out of the question that Alabama could be on the outside looking in.
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The next rankings will come out on Tuesday, and it should be very exciting to see what the committee has in store.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Oklahoma
‘So what? Now what?’: Alabama players react to loss to Oklahoma
No. 7 Alabama football should have defeated unranked Oklahoma. But the Crimson Tide didn’t.
Oklahoma had only won one SEC game all season. It wasn’t even bowl eligible before Saturday.
Then, the Alabama offense failed to score a touchdown and sputtered for much of the night. The Crimson Tide defense couldn’t stop Oklahoma’s rushing attack when the game was still close.
Alabama turned the ball over three times, with three Jalen Milroe interceptions.
As a result, the Crimson Tide fell 24-3 to the Sooners on Saturday at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma.
“There is no excuse,” linebacker Jihaad Campbell said. “None. Everybody saw it. Whoever was watching the game. We lost, and we’ve got to take it on the chin and keep learning from that.”
Alabama (8-3, 4-3 SEC) gave up 325 yards, with 257 yards, on the ground to Oklahoma and two touchdowns. Oklahoma (6-5, 2-5) had the nation’s 90th ranked scoring offense entering the game.
“Our job was to out-execute those guys, and we fell short tonight,” Campbell said.
Meanwhile, the Alabama offense tallied only 234 yards, with 164 through the air and 70 on the ground, to score only a field goal.
Milroe, who gashed LSU on the ground two weeks ago, couldn’t get anything going with his legs with only seven yards on 15 carries.
“They had a great game plan for us,” offensive lineman Tyler Booker said. “We’ve just got to get a hat on a hat. We have to execute better.”
The Alabama players who took part in interviews postgame showed a clear and intentional interest in moving on quickly from the result and performance in Norman.
“So what? Now what?” Booker said. “Can’t do anything about what just happened. What we can do is make sure we prepare our tails off.”
Next up is a matchup with Auburn in the Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny Stadium to close out the regular season. Alabama won’t make the SEC Championship Game, but it might not yet be eliminated from the playoff just yet. The Allstate playoff predictor on Saturday night gave the Crimson Tide a 31% chance to still make the postseason.
“Got a big game next week,” Booker said. “Got to put all of our focus and energy there. Can’t do anything about what just happened. We’ve got to put all of our focus and energy into next week.”
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
Oklahoma
Live Updates: No. 7 Alabama Football at Oklahoma
NORMAN, Okla.–– Alabama has one final road test to pass in the regular season if it wants to compete for an SEC title and make it back to the College Football Playoff.
The No. 7 Crimson Tide plays at Oklahoma on Saturday night in the first matchup as conference foes in the SEC. BamaCentral will have coverage all night from Norman. Follow along for updates.
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(latest updates at the top)
Who: Alabama (8-2, 4-2 SEC) vs. Oklahoma (5-5, 1-4)
When: Saturday, Nov. 23, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium
TV: ABC/ESPN+
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Color: Tyler Watts).
Series: Oklahoma leads 3-2-1
Last meeting: Alabama defeated the Sooners in the Capital One Orange Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff 45-34. Tua Tagovailoa passed for 318 yards and four touchdowns while the Crimson Tide rushed for 200 yards across 42 carries between Josh Jacobs, Damien Harris and Najee Harris.
Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide dominated Mercer 52-7 at home behind three touchdowns from Jalen Milroe and two touchdowns from Ryan Williams. The Alabama defense forced three more turnovers as they’ve now forced 16 in the last five games, making life challenging on opposing offenses.
Last time out, Oklahoma: The Sooners were off this past week, but went to Missouri two weeks ago and lost 30-23 after losing a fumble for a touchdown in the game’s final minutes. Oklahoma’s played five conference games and only won at Auburn this season.
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