Reed still learning defense
Venables is trying to keep the focus off touted transfer from Yuba College in California
Reed still learning defense

By Scott Wright

Published: August 6, 2007

As Brent Venables went player-by-player through his top linebackers, one distinct name was absent: junior college transfer Mike Reed.

"I didn't talk about Mike, did I?” the Oklahoma defensive coordinator asked himself after a prompt from a reporter. "I'm trying to give Mike some room to transition. There's more coverage of this newcomer than ever, than any of our other juco guys. I'm trying to be fair to him.”

Reed drew all that attention by being OU's only five-star recruit, according to Rivals.com, in last February's signing class. That, combined with the fact that he was coming in at the position where the Sooners lost the most overall talent, made him a big story.

At 6-foot-1, 255 pounds with great speed and agility, Reed was penciled in as the starter at middle linebacker last spring.

"Some other guys have a leg up on him,” Venables said. "I'll say this, (Thursday) he got himself lined up 90 percent of the time without me having to dot-to-dot things for him.

"If you're going to be on the field, we can't say, ‘well, Mike's out there, we can only do these certain things' and have our hands tied. We've never done that for anyone.”

Venables isn't trying to be critical. He just wants Reed's mind to have a chance to catch up with his body.

Reed even admitted that the OU defense is far more complex than the tackle-the-man-with-the-football style he played at Yuba College in Marysville, Calif.

"I'm just trying to get the defense down in my mind and trying to stop thinking so much,” Reed said last April. "I'm used to just running around and hitting every gap. In this defense, we have certain gaps, certain calls and certain formations. I just need to get used to the defense.”

Right now, junior Curtis Lofton is the top choice at middle linebacker. He has shown the ability to handle it, and Venables knows it.

"We're not forced, right now, to have to have (Reed) be that guy,” Venables said.

"We'll find out when we put pads on and get in our first scrimmage what he can or can't do, or what he needs to work on. Right now, he's in the top five linebackers.

"If Curtis isn't that guy (at middle linebacker), then Mike will be.”

So Venables is just trying to keep the focus off Reed. Not for fear that he won't live up to the hype, but in hope that he will.

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