Oklahoma OC Jeff Lebby Explains Sooners' QB Situation Against Texas

NORMAN — Quarterback General Booty was “prepped and ready to go” on Saturday against Texas, but was unable to get into the Sooners’ 49-0 loss to the Longhorns because of what offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby on Monday called “a minor deal.”

Booty, a junior college transfer from Tyler, TX, might have been in line for more than just backup duty to Davis Beville.

“General had a good week,” Lebby said during his weekly news conference. “And he was another guy that obviously has been in the room not for a great amount of time but has continued to strain and and fight for his spot and his opportunity. And you know, if that day comes, once it does, I think he'll be ready.”

OU dropped to 0-3 in Big 12 Conference play and 3-3 overall following its worst loss ever to the Longhorns.

After Beville started and struggled to generate any offense — he passed for just 38 yards — Lebby resorted to a variety of direct-snap options to tight end Brayden Willis, running back Eric Gray and wide receiver Jalil Farooq.

“At the end of the day, the expectation is to coach better, first, and play better, secondly. With that being said, obviously a very short amount of time that Davis has been here to get him up to speed with how we want to operate how we want to do things.”

Eventually, it was freshman Nick Evers who got his first collegiate action at the end of the game.

The week before at TCU, Booty was the third QB in the game behind starter Dillon Gabriel and Beville. Booty’s “minor deal” allowed Evers the chance to finish.

“Nick, again, has done some really good things too,” Lebby said. “And again, he's put himself in a situation to be right in the mix as well. And so that's why I wanted to get him some reps. Get him a little bit of time out there, to create that experience for him.”

Lebby said “there's always consideration” to playing a dual threat QB like Micah Bownes “as long as guys are doing exactly what we're wanting them to do from a preparation standpoint — not that Micah hasn’t. But again, felt like the best chance for us to be able to go operate and do what we wanted to do and do what we needed to do to score points and have an opportunity to win the game was those guys touching the football. We felt like we needed to lean on old guys like Brayden Willis, like Eric Gray, guys that have played a bunch of football in that atmosphere in that game.”

Brent Venables said on his Sunday night coaches show that he expects Gabriel to be back in the lineup, per KWTV anchor and host Dean Blevins, after spending last week in concussion protocol. That should solve a lot of this week’s consternation over the backup QB situation.

“Yeah, I mean, I think everybody understands, if Dillon’s playing, we’re a little different for sure,” Lebby said.

So if the Sooners shelve the wildcat formation, what are some areas Lebby needs to see gains from the conventional offense this week in practice?

“I think the biggest thing is when we have the opportunity to go run the football, and it's getting blocked for six yards, gaining more than six yards if we have the opportunity,” Lebby said.

“Making some explosive plays, maybe, when the picture is not perfect. Finishing, striking — strain and finish. And we've talked about that a ton. And then being able to create explosive plays. You know, I think the last two weeks the biggest frustration, sitting there looking at it from a self-scout standpoint, is we have created no explosive plays in the throw game, which has not been us ever, and that's something that we've got to get better.”