CARSON, Calif. — It’s a special game, so here’s a special kind of practice report: Updates on both Oklahoma and Georgia, who are each practicing at the StubHub Complex. (But on different fields.)
First, Oklahoma, just for the purposes of updating the status of a certain Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback.
Baker Mayfield was indeed in uniform and throwing at practice. How much in total he’s doing – whether he’s participating in full 11-on-11 drills and such – is hard to say. The media was allotted 15 minutes, and the Sooners weren’t showing much during that time.
But for what it’s worth:
- Mayfield was healthy enough to throw and jog over when the offense switched fields. He and the quarterbacks were just throwing what amount to warm-up passes to receivers, with no defense contesting the passes. During these throwing drills, Mayfield overthrew one receiver on a long route, but otherwise looked like his normal accurate self.
- When the offense switched fields to do another non-contact throwing drill, Mayfield sat it out. He walked over to a couple athletic trainers and drank Gatorade, keeping hydrated. As the media was leaving the field, Mayfield was jogging back to re-join the offense.
- Oklahoma was generally taking it very slowly while the media was out there, at one point stopping drills, just milling about. Head coach Lincoln Riley looked over in the direction of the media, perhaps buying time until they left. Or perhaps Lincoln was merely looking to the other field, where the defense was, waiting for it to wrap up so they could move to the next period.
Now for some Georgia notes:
- Sophomore defensive lineman Michail Carter was not at practice on Friday. Carter was seen being treated by trainers during Thursday's practice.
- Freshman defensive back Tray Bishop was again working on the side with trainers.
- Freshman walk-on quarterback Stetsson Bennett is acting as Mayfield in practice this month. On Friday, Bennett was in a drill with the outside linebackers, mimicking how Mayfield leaves a pocket and fakes a throw. The drill was aimed at helping the outside linebackers take pursuit angles.
