The Sooners' Defense Will Need to Have Their 'Ducks in a Row' If They See Kamario Taylor

NORMAN — Nowadays, it's rare to face a quarterback who doesn't bring some mobility to the table. Defenses have adapted schematically over the years to avoid signal callers from hurting them on the ground.

But not every quarterback presents the challenge that Mississippi State's Kamario Taylor could potentially pose against Oklahoma this weekend.

Taylor, who did not play while wearing a boot on his right foot in last week's 31-0 loss to LSU, got injured in the Bulldogs' win over Missouri a month ago. Taylor played, struggled and did not finish MSU's loss to Alabama the following week.

Initially, his injury was reported as a "foot injury/turf toe" by ESPN's Pete Thamel. On Monday, Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby deferred to the SEC availability report when asked for an update on Taylor. Lebby, however, acknowledged that Taylor has "a lot of work to do" before returning to play.

Oklahoma players have been consistent in their messaging that they plan to prepare for both Taylor and Parker Puckett, who started in the loss against LSU last week. If Taylor is able to make a return against the Sooners, Todd Bates knows it will be a difficult task to corral and stop him.

"As a defense, have to have your ducks in a row to make sure you got your numbers right," Bates said on Tuesday, filling in for an under-the-weather Brent Venables. "You can't run all of your exotic defenses that you want to, because that team may run the ball on third and seven, and then you then you're hat short, and it's an explosive play."

Bates is familiar with Lebby's system, having practiced against him in Venables' first two seasons as Oklahoma's head coach. The associate head coach spoke about relying on knowledge of Lebby's schemes to best guess what the Bulldogs may bring to the field.

But Bates knows Taylor throws a grenade into any of the Sooners' defensive plans.

"They present a lot of problems, running quarterbacks do," Bates said. "You gotta have a plus, you gotta have another hat in fitting in the box. And you get the extra blocker by leading that running back up in there, and that creates two gaps. So you got to have another gap, another hat to fit that extra gap.

Taylor has rushed for 159 yards on 43 attempts and a touchdown — he was held to -26 yards rushing in the loss to Alabama — in addition to passing for 17 scores to four interceptions.

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