The Daily’s Clark Foy stopped by the OU football team’s spring practice Wednesday.

Lewis looks to stay grounded

Freshman hard-hitter Ronnell Lewis said he was keeping a level head after his coming out party during the Sun Bowl. While Lewis has been the talk of the town ever since his bone crushing hits on special teams, the young linebacker said he is not focused on all that happened in the Sun Bowl and just wants to move forward. He also said he would like to continue playing special teams if he gets the start at linebacker.

“Yeah I do, I want to help the team out in any possible way I can, so if it means starting on defense then running down kickoffs or punt returns, I’m just going to help the team.”

McFarland follows in McCoy’s footsteps

Defensive lineman Jamarkus McFarland said he has been looking to teammate Gerald McCoy for inspiration and tips on how to be successful at OU. McFarland had a lot of high praise regarding McCoy and said he hopes he can be like him both on and off the field.

“I look at him as his whole person not just practice. I look at everything, I take what he does in the games, I take what he does in practice, what he does in the locker room, what he does at home, what he does in the media, everything and I piece it piece by piece and see what I can take out of it to take his personality that’s got him to where he wants to be right now. He was known just as much on campus as he was on the field, and that’s the way I want to be; not just a number, I don’t want to be 97. I want to be known as Jamarkus McFarland as a good person off the field just as on the field like he was.”

Martinez acknowledges challenges

The new secondary coach, Willie Martinez, said the process of selecting the starters for next year will be a slow process and will require a lot of studying before a definite decision can be reached. Of the many young and talented prospects OU has on its secondary roster, nobody has really separated themselves yet, Martinez said.

“It’s going to take some time, again because you come in here as a new coach and you really don’t know the entire history. All the reps that a player has had for three years, whether it’s good or bad, or has he progressed, obviously it’s a great staff and they’ve communicated that to me. There are certain guys that have progressed and some guys that haven’t. I’ve got some kind of a starting point, but I think going through spring will help and understanding what kind of dept we have and what kind of abilities we have.”