Chris Plank, sideline analyst for Oklahoma football, tells McElroy & Cubelic how the depth of the Sooners is their secret asset for this season
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Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. This Jocks 94.5 podcast is brought to you by Millennium Satellite and Video. Log on to msbnow.com. TV excellence everywhere. That's Millennium. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. Welcome back. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Jocks 94.5, 748 a.m. here. Birmingham, Alabama.

We're in Dallas. A lot of fun to be back in the hometown, even though I'm a long way away from the real hometown. It is nice to be down here, especially avoiding the heat. A ton of it outside. But I do know that things will be cooling off here at some point. Looks like, at least in the forecast. So I checked it out this week and got some rain in the forecast. Had some weather running through last night. Hopefully everybody's all right down near Alex City and Auburn. Looked like got hit pretty hard with a storm. So, Cole.

We just visited with Kalen DeBoer a moment ago, and look, he's not. He's never going to be a guy that feels uptight. I do sense an increased level of focus from him. Does he not feel just the tiniest bit more dialed in? I mean, when we were with him earlier in the summer, it was like, I guess it was May now at the Regents. He was so laid back.

And now it's like, and if that's his version of like locked in, guy's just the most cool dude ever. I was trying to explain to a couple of people yesterday, and they were asking me the difference. And some folks with the SEC Network, some other folks just around media, you know, one of the things they want to focus on is how does Alabama move on or how does Alabama keep this going? And I'm just...

it's completely different. Right. And I don't know if that's really good, and I don't know if that's not really good. I don't know if there's a right answer, but I do think there are some real positives with what he brings that is different. The vibe in the facility, how he manages things, handles himself, it's just, it's not anywhere near the same as it used to be, but...

I think if you're going to have a transition from the greatest college football coach of all time, having Kalen's demeanor is critical to at least being close to continuing that success. And Alabama's got that. And you saw some of that today. I mean, like you said, if that's Kalen DeBoer tight, then they're going to be good. And the other thing, one thing I've also noticed, too, is it's amazing to me.

People are very hesitant in the media. I don't think necessarily in our neck of the woods, but people are very hesitant in the media to give Kalen DeBoer his flowers because they feel like if they talk glowingly about Alabama in the future, it's almost like they're taking away from what Nick Saban accomplished. That's not accurate. You can think that Nick Saban is the greatest coach of all time and think that maybe –

In the next two or three years, Alabama's every bit as good, if not in some ways, maybe better. I don't know. Absolutely. I mean, I think there's a unique circumstance going on right now where they feel like if you give Kalen too much love, you're almost discrediting what Nick Saban built, and that's just not real. And a little over an hour from now, we'll go to the podium and let you hear Kalen DeBoer live as well. But Chris Plank, the sideline for Oklahoma football, joining us now. Plank, we talked a little bit about Venables yesterday. He can get...

Lengthy, by the way. He can go. But, man, he's just a ball coach. I think that's what you have to love about him. We had a contingent where we – I guess for all the coaches, they'll have a little local media time where they talk to him, get a little huddle with him, and we were – I don't know. I guess we crashed the party. We somehow got to go into that. And I was cracking up because he went through this whole explanation about some injuries and things of that nature. Then all of a sudden he goes, what do I know? I'm just a linebacker.

coach. That's who he is. He's a ball coach. And I thought, you know, it's funny you talk about how you can get lengthy. I thought yesterday was as concise. At the podium, yes, but we asked him on set. Did you get two questions? Roman asked him, no, the three of us, Dusty, me, Roman got one each. Tess didn't even get one. And Roman asked him about his personnel and defense. And Plank, he went through the three deep.

Every individual, every position told us, I mean, most of the kids, where they were from, their high schools, what they did well. And, I mean, it had to have been a 15-minute answer. It was incredible. He was good. And, Greg, I don't know. Did you get to spend some time around Jackson Arnold at all yesterday? I did not see. It was the strangest thing. I don't know if they were hiding or what. I did not see a single Oklahoma player. Okay, because I'd love to get your perspective on him. I just thought –

yesterday was the first time he was on the stage, right? And as a redshirt freshman, bringing him to media day, maybe a bit of a surprise, but he's the guy. He's that dude. Yeah, lean in. So I thought, and I'm a homer, so it's just as long as I accept it, I think that you guys will know where it's coming from. But I thought the Oklahoma guys did really well yesterday. I was impressed with them there. You know, sometimes you can get bogged down in –

Hearing guys stumble, stammer, a lot of likes, uhs, you know. I was really impressed with them yesterday. They were really sweet. If you have good kids, it is honestly a pretty good reflection of the team. I don't know why. The other thing I'd say, too, looking at him, he's got all the game in the world. But my questions are really more about the maturity and understanding when to do what you need to do to win the game. And that, I think, is something that we won't know until...

Let's be real. It might be the Tennessee game. You're right. And I think knowing, hey, this is when I got to try one. And this is when I need to maybe just check it down just to live to play the next play. Like, say, Uncle, the defense won. That's what I'm most interested in with him. He's got all the game in the world. It's about he's never experienced adversity in his career as a high school prep player.

A little like Cade Klubnick. When he got hit, it didn't end well. Great comparison. And that's the thing. Similar high school pedigree, high school power in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I just think he's going to do really well. I just hope that he's able to weather the storm because there will be a storm at some point this year. Absolutely. Absolutely. I agree. And, you know, it's wild to think that

When I say it out loud, it seems crazy. Oklahoma allowed the Heisman Trophy favorite to leave and turns to a quarterback who turned it over four times in the bowl game. You say it out loud, and you're like, what? Because there's been a lot. Why did Dylan Gabriel leave? Well, this is kind of in the plan. Dylan Gabriel didn't get a draft grade that he wanted. So you let a guy walk that's now the Heisman favorite and going to a potential national championship contender. And, oh, by the way, you're replacing him with a redshirt freshman that has started one game?

And you're going into the toughest conference in all of college football. It's going to be one heck of a case study this year. All right, Chris Plank does sideline for Oklahoma football radio broadcast, joining us on Radio Row Live. Where do you make of the depth of this Oklahoma football team, just top to bottom heading into this season? It's as much depth as they've had. And I think you got the whole depth chart on the ESPN set yesterday you were talking about. It's as much depth as they've ever had. But, you know, it's –

It's competitive depth is a term that Coach uses a lot. And, you know, they got a break whenever Billy Bowman and Danny Stutzman decided to come back. Now, two dudes do not make a defense, but when one of them is your linebacker and understands what your coach wants and Stutzman, and the other one is kind of the quarterback of the defense and Bowman, I think it makes a big difference for him. And Ethan Downs came back. But...

I don't really know if you'll truly see the rewards of what the defensive mindset is doing for Oklahoma, maybe until next year. I think you'll start seeing it this year. Like, whoa, they're coming for the Big 12 where...

The idea is they don't play a lot of defense. They can ball, they can play some defense. But I think as you get into year four and year five and they continue to recruit in the trenches like they're supposed to, there's two freshmen this year that could play defensive tackle. That seems crazy going into the SEC and having two true freshmen that are going to be near the top of the depth chart. It was imperative for them to get Dominic Williams to be able to do what they need to be doing in the trenches this year. So I'm a firm believer that –

It's just a matter of time for Brent Middlesbrough. They're going to be better on defense than I think people expect. I think they're going to be good this year. I do too. I think they're going to have a good football team. Marty Smith coming up with us next hour. Kalen DeBoer, we'll let you hear him at the podium at 9 a.m. this morning. We've got a lot to get to, a lot to talk about. Blake Chapin is going to join the show, Mississippi State. Quarterback at some point during the show today. Jeff Lebby is scheduled to stop by the show today. It's going to be a lot of fun.

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