Lofton still looking for a perfect game

By Scott Wright

Published: September 16, 2007

NORMAN — At one point in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton looked down and saw something very unfamiliar in his hands — the football — and moments later, he found himself in a strange place — the end zone.

"When I first got it, I kind of froze,” Lofton said of his interception, which he returned 45 yards for a touchdown in OU's 54-3 rout of Utah State. "I looked down and was like, ‘man, it stuck in my hands.' I just started to try to run as fast as I could. I almost fell down.”

The interception might have been the most memorable moment of Lofton's Saturday afternoon and his 12 tackles led the team, but he can't forget the few busted plays, even if no one else noticed. And that's a quality that shows just how good Lofton could eventually become, says defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

"Really good players will always remember the bad ones,” Venables said. "He expects to play perfect and when we don't play that way, we're disappointed. When the players think like the coaches in that regard, you can really have an opportunity to have a really high ceiling on how good you can be.”

He appears to be improving at a rapid pace, but there's a reason for it. Lofton played two different linebacker positions last season — middle and strong side — then in the spring, worked at the weak-side position after Ryan Reynolds injured his knee.

Now, he has one position and one focus.

"Last year, I had to learn both those positions and game-plan both of those positions during the week,” Lofton said. "I think that was a lot for me to handle. This year, I'm just focused on the middle spot and everything I have to do there.”

And that's why Venables says comparing Lofton's performance from a year ago to now is like "night and day.”

"But he's still not there,” Venables said. "He will be, and that's just because I watch him grow every day. When he doesn't have success, he's hard on himself. He allows me to be hard on him. He's very coachable and doesn't make a lot of the same mistakes twice.

"That's very indicative of a guy's continued maturation as a player.”

Comments