Hoping to recover
Cornerback Parnell Motley hasn’t been the same player since early in the season as the Sooners look for answers in the secondary.
NORMAN — Parnell Motley looked lost.
With Kansas State driving the field, threatening to take the lead against Oklahoma with 2:30 to go, wide receiver Byron Pringle faked a post route.
Motley, in man-toman coverage on Pringle, bit on the fake, continuing to run toward the end zone while Pringle cut back to catch the pass.
Motley cut back too late and dove, missing Pringle by inches, and linebacker Caleb Kelly had to shove the Wildcat out of bounds to save a touchdown.
KSU would score two plays later, but the damage was already done on Pringle’s 30-yard pickup. That’s when it became apparent that something was off with Motley, who up to that point, appeared to be OU’s top cornerback.
Motley’s regression has become more noticeable in the two games since then, culminating on Saturday in Stillwater when he was benched twice.
“Parnell, it hadn’t been the same here lately,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said after the 62-52 win.
With No. 5 Oklahoma making a final push for the College Football Playoff, Motley’s struggles come at an inopportune time and present another challenge the Sooners must solve in the secondary before Saturday’s game against No. 6 TCU (7 p.m., FOX).
Motley started out the year strongly, building on momentum he gained in the spring game when he intercepted quarterback Baker Mayfield. With fellow sophomore Jordan Parker sidelined for the season after an injury in the first game, the cornerback spot belonged to Motley.
Motley responded with an attention-grabbing game at Ohio State, picking off one of quarterback J.T. Barrett’s passes and nearly grabbing another. He also posted a careerhigh eight tackles.
Motley’s profile continued to rise as he recorded a pick-six the next week, returning an interception against Tulane 77 yards for the score.
Motley was a talker, and he was backing up his words with a strong game. Teams often targeted Jordan Thomas on the other side of the field rather than test Motley.
The sophomore from Washington, D.C., opened Big 12 play with at least one pass breakup in every game until the Sooners took on Kansas State.
That’s when Motley started to slide. Since that week in Manhattan, Kansas, Motley has only had one pass breakup, coming against OSU.
In that game, Motley was mostly assigned to cover James Washington one-on-one, but he struggled to shut down the receiver.
Midway through the second quarter, Washington ran into the end zone untouched for a 35-yard touchdown reception with Motley trailing behind him.
When OU’s defense took the field for the next series, Motley wasn’t a part of the unit. Instead, true freshman Tre Norwood came out in his place.
“You get knocked down, you have to get back up,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. “I told them you just have to work through it. There’s no easy way around it. You have to work at it. You have to look at yourself and understand fundamentally what you can do better. You have to understand why you are getting yourself in these positions and how you can get in a better position.”
Motley made a brief appearance in the second half, entering the game when Thomas went out with an injury, but he finished the game on the bench when he was again taken out of the game in favor of another true freshman.
Lincoln Riley hasn’t decided how his cornerback rotation will work this weekend against TCU, but Motley’s starting job isn’t as secure as it was after the Ohio State game.
“I think he’ll respond well,” Riley said. “He’s a competitor. I think some of his youth showed up the other day.
“Sometimes you get beat because a guy made a great play. You can’t let that change how you play during the next three quarters of the game … He’ll learn. He’ll grow. He’s competitive. He’s a really, really good player and he’ll be much better for it.”