Why OU football saw Michigan transfer Andrel Anthony as key for Sooners' speed upgrade
NORMAN — It only took four plays into Saturday’s game against Arkansas State before OU took a shot downfield.
After a quick fake to the receiver in motion, Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel looked deep downfield and fired to receiver Andrel Anthony, who had created separation.
The result was a 45-yard catch and a play later OU scored its first touchdown en route to an eventual 73-0 win.
The Sooners weren’t bad at wide receiver a year ago, when Marvin Mims was their top receiving option.
But OU didn’t have much in the way of top-end speed.
The Sooners made adding speed — not just on offense but all around — a priority in the offseason.
The early play to Anthony was perhaps the clearest indication of the positive returns of prioritizing speed.
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“It’s night and day,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said of the difference in speed from last season. “I talked about it probably last spring, in the summer, and leading up in to camp, but our footspeed as a unit offensively is night and day where we were a year ago. So that’s a huge deal for us — how we want to play, how we want to operate.”
While Texas transfer Brenen Thompson, who did not play an offensive snap in the opener, generated the most buzz about his speed during the offseason thanks to his track career, Anthony is the biggest example of the speed difference so far.
“He’s a speedy guy. He’s really fast,” cornerback Woodi Washington said of Anthony. “And he has a lot of moves off the ball so he can just get open and create separation at the top of the route. I think that’s the best thing that he has is his speed.
“He’s going to be a guy for us this year.”
It’s one of the biggest reasons why Lebby pursued Anthony in the transfer portal after he decided to leave Michigan.
“I saw top-end speed,” Lebby said. “I was very familiar with Andrel in my last stop. I recruited him out of high school so there was some familiarity there.”
In talking with people he knew at Michigan, Lebby’s interest was piqued even further.
“They didn’t want to lose him,” Lebby said. “They loved him. They wanted him there, felt like he was going to be a starter for them. He needed to change, wanted a scheme change I think as much as anything.”
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The Sooners figure to show off more of their speed difference in the coming weeks, as redshirt freshman running back Gavin Sawchuk — one of the fastest players on the team — figures to carve out a role after being held out of the opener.
On the other side, defensive coordinator Ted Roof isn’t quite as effusive as Lebby about the difference in team speed, and the difference might not be as dramatic on that side, but the Sooners have upgraded there also.
The speed upgrade on the defensive side might be as much about the returning players being more comfortable in the defensive system and able to react quicker as faster players being added to the roster.
“I don’t know if I could give you an exact figure on the speed, but I think we’re certainly (faster),” Roof said. “We were fresh, you know. We were well-conditioned. Our guys were hungry and it showed. They were confident and they played fast.”
OU’s improved speed is a big part of the optimism surrounding the Sooners this season and they’ll need to continue to show off that speed, including Saturday when they face SMU (5 p.m., ESPN+).
“I don’t think our speed was great a year ago,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said recently. “And we need it to compete at the highest level — your ability to accelerate and decelerate, your explosive power, your explosive speed — everything.
“Our benchmarks for acceleration and deceleration (the the offseason) were way above the norm.”
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football saw transfer Andrel Anthony as key for speed upgrade
