The Oklahoma Sooners have had a down week with the start of school on Monday and only have had one practice this week, but there has been quite a bit of buzz around one player, Geneo Grissom. Grissom, a sophomore, was recruited to the Sooners as a defensive end but had to redshirt his freshman year due to a stress fracture in his foot. A second stress fracture in the other foot kept him out of Spring training, naturally falling behind in the depth chart during the healing process.
What do you do when you know the depth chart is deep in one position and lacking in another? Switch positions. Grissom approached head coach Bob Stoops with the idea of moving over to the tight end position. The Sooners haven’t utilized the tight end position as much as they had in the past since the Jermaine Gresham days.
Gresham was once called the most dynamic tight end the Sooners have had since Keith Jackson, which is saying a lot about how under utilized the position is for the Sooners, considering their careers were 20 years apart.
The Sooners were left with no experienced tight ends going into this season with the departure of James Hanna, Trent Ratterree and Austin Haywood; Hanna and Ratterree to graduation and Haywood transferred out. So Grissom approaching Stoops about moving over to the offense was a gamble worth taking.
Grissom on approaching Stoops:
As you guys know, he’s not a man of a lot of emotions. I went up there and asked if I could make the switch, and he was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll try it out and see what happens.’
So far, word from Norman is that Grissom is doing well and currently sitting somewhere near the starting position on the depth chart. He is competing with freshman Taylor McNamara and Brannon Green. McNamara is a true freshman who has had quite a bit of hype surrounding him since his arrival in Norman.
Grissom is now on the opposite side of the line as his former defensive team teammates. Instead of looking for a way to stop the offense, he is looking for a way to make a catch. Players have used the word “beast” to describe Grissom’s performance so far. This could be a great offensive edition for the Sooners.
