Inside the Huddle with Daymond Patterson (Oct. 13)

Oct. 13, 2011

Inside the Huddle Blog Archive

Hey everybody! It’s Daymond and I’m back with another installment of my blog. Before I get started with anything else, I would like to make sure I wish a very special Happy Birthday to Todd “Leaper” Williams! Leaper is such a great guy and he works so hard for our team. We all love seeing him at practice and at our games. He is truly one of kind. Happy Birthday Leaper!!! (I promised not to say how old he is!)

It seems like every week I get to experience something different. The first two weeks following my injury I had to watch the game on TV and then sit in the stands. Now, this past week, I had to listen to the game on the radio. Since I did not actually get to see the game, I will not talk about last week’s game too much in this blog.

Of course, everybody knows we took a tough loss down in Stillwater, but there were some positives to come out of the game. For example, TE Tim Bierewas honored with the College Football Performance Awards as the top TE performer of the week. Tim had a really good week. He recorded seven catches for 93 yards and made a lot of good plays throughout the game. He has been a really reliable target throughout his senior season and really for most of his career. We are really counting on Tim to make big plays during the rest of the season. With that said, not only is Tim one of our most dominant players on the field, he easily ranks as one of the top five `funny guys’ on the team. He has that sly, sarcastic sense of humor. I enjoy hearing his “commentary” throughout practice.

As far as this upcoming week, when the Sooners come into town we will need to be on top of our game. The Sooners are ranked No. 1 in the Coaches’ Poll and they have been very impressive throughout this year. Knowing that, we will have to really limit our mistakes and make sure we come out swinging this week, so that we can compete and get the results we are looking for this Saturday. The team knows that this matchup versus the Sooners is no easy task, but if we go out there and play fundamentally sound and fight for four quarters, it could make for a very entertaining Saturday.

Not only are we playing the top-ranked team in the nation, but we are playing them on primetime on ESPN2, so that adds a little more excitement to the game. I am looking for us to bounce back after a really tough loss. I say that from being out at practice this week. I can see more determination and passion in the defense this week, because the defense knows what OU’s offense is capable of and they want to stop it before it gets rolling.

I would like to congratulate, Jake Laptad, aka “Gerber Baby”, as I call him, for being signed back to the Chicago Bears practice squad. He is a really good friend and person and he really deserves it.

One of my special friends that I have known for a little over a year now, Elijah Penrod, is a 10-year old boy from Topeka, Kan., who has been diagnosed with leukemia. He loves the Kansas Jayhawks just as much as any fan you will meet. He will be in attendance this Saturday at the game. You will probably see him hanging out with me and wearing a #15 jersey. So if you see him, give him a big Rock Chalk welcome!

We all know basketball is kicking off around these parts tomorrow with `Late Night in the Phog.’ I want to wish the men’s and women’s players the best of luck with their skits. I hope they are funny! This will be my one and only chance to see what this thing is all about–so I hope it lives up to the hype!

Until next week–Rock Chalk Jayhawk!