Fancy footwork makes Lamb tough to tackle
NORMAN — Any one of three escapes CeeDee Lamb made on his fourth-quarter, 70-yard touchdown reception two weeks ago against Kansas State would've been worthy for a highlight.
His quick stop-and-start to avoid one defensive lineman near the line of scrimmage on the screen play. The quick turn upfield against a defensive back two yards downfield — but on the opposite side of the field from his initial escape. The sideways step through a par of Wildcats defenders 25 yards downfield that finally sprung Lamb free for the end zone.
It was yet another example of Lamb's sensational footwork in what will almost surely be his final season with the Sooners.
Lamb's escapability has
elevated him from a very good college receiver to one of the game's elite.
The junior enters Saturday's game against Iowa State (7 p.m., Fox) as the 10th-leading receiver in college football. Lamb, thanks to a balanced OU attack that features a strong running game and other high-profile receivers such as Charleston Rambo, has at least 17 fewer catches than anyone ahead of him on the list.
Lamb has 36 catches for 816 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The Richmond, Texas, native said his footwork was a focus in the offseason.
Even in practices with no defenders, Lamb focused on footwork.
“Just having my own imagination that someone is guarding me every opportunity,” Lamb said. “Every route that we have ... just act like the guys in front of me, guarding me, trying to make him miss and just going and scoring. Just doing that consistently throughout the offseason I feel like has paid off a lot."
Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said Lamb's willingness to focus on the deficiencies in his game have led him where he is today.
“We always try to coach our best players the hardest,” Riley said. “Sometimes guys say they want that, but then they don't really want that. He's been on a constant climb to improve. You saw it in spring ball. We've talked about it a bunch, but the way he's changed his body. He's just continued to get better and better.
“He's never gotten to a point here where he feels like he's too good to all of a sudden get coached hard or pointed out things that he needs to do better. He takes them, he goes and he works on them. He's made himself a much more complete player.”
Lamb also studied NFL receivers such as Deandre Hopkins and Julio Jones to see what they did to avoid defenders.
“Just a lot of bigger receivers if you will. Just watch those guys be more elusive with the ball in their hands and just having the ability to break tackles,” Lamb said. “I kind of just looked to see what their mindset was during their route what they are going to do with the ball. Just them having that mindset that the first guy is not going to bring them down or if not get stopped at all. Kind of used that in my game.”
Senior Nick Basquine said there's more to it, however. Basquine said not everything Lamb can do has been because of the way he practices.
“I just think it's an innate ability,” Basquine said.