Shipp uses depth chart to motivate
Moving defensive tackles up and down the chart keeps them competitive
Shipp uses depth chart to motivate

By Scott Wright

Published: September 14, 2007

NORMAN — Jackie Shipp sees no better motivator for a football player than the depth chart.

So when one of Oklahoma's defensive tackles doesn't perform to expectations — even for a day — Shipp doesn't hesitate to drop that player off the two-deep.

"In a heartbeat,” Shipp said. "Whoever's the best at that particular time, you're gonna play.”

Shipp's tactics have gotten results on the field. The defensive tackles are at the heart of OU's defensive surge that has given up 67 rushing yards in two games.

Junior Cory Bennett wasn't on the two-deep entering the season opener, but bounced back to start against Miami. DeMarcus Granger came into two-a-days overweight and got buried on the depth chart as well.

"Go read about Bud Wilkinson,” Shipp said. "He used the depth chart as a great motivator for competition. Competition picks up the level of performance.”

It doesn't hurt that Shipp is working with talent. Granger, a sophomore, and redshirt freshman Gerald McCoy came out of high school in consecutive years each ranked as the top defensive tackle in the nation. And now, both are playing like it.

Shipp called Granger's five-tackle performance against Miami "one of the best games he's played since he's been here.”

"That was a game defensive tackles dream about,” Granger said, "playing a team that wants to run it down our throat. I attacked them back and let my helmet do the talking.”

As for McCoy, who didn't have a tackle last Saturday, Shipp says stats aren't the best indicator of a defensive tackle's work.

"(McCoy) was good at his point of attack,” Shipp said. "If he wasn't making a play, he was disrupting a play. There's not any defensive tackles making 10 or 12 tackles a game today. It's just not that way.”

McCoy isn't so pleased, but it's been a trying season, from the death of his mother in July to a shoulder injury in August and now a broken hand. But nothing will keep him off the field Saturday.

"It's a lot of stuff to deal with, man,” he said. "I'm making it, though. Still pushing.

"I'm not playing to my full potential. If we're gonna be a national championship team, everybody's got to play their part. I want to do my part to the best of my ability and I haven't been doing that.

"It'll get better, though, as we progress.”

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