ARLINGTON, Texas – The challenge for the Oklahoma defense isn't just defending a great player in Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner. The Sooners have faced great players before, as they will again in Friday's AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic.
What makes preparing a defense for Manziel so difficult is trying to anticipate what he's going to do. Not even his own coaches are sure what will happen when Manziel has the ball in his hands.
"We have a quarterback that has the ability to, as [former offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury] used to say, would go rogue on us," Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. "I haven't had anybody, and I've been around a bunch of really good quarterbacks, with his skill set. It is just a different animal."
Manziel is the rare quarterback who is often more dangerous outside the pocket than in it. Not only can he spin and juke away from pressure to find running room, he has the presence and field vision to use his scrambling ability to make plays down field.
"The extension of the play makes you have to cover and defend longer than you are accustomed to," OU linebacker Tom Wort said. "A big part of defending that will be the guys up front not allowing him to get away and keep him in front of them."
Oklahoma will have to walk the tightrope between getting pressure on Manziel and keeping him in one spot. It's in the pocket that Manziel, listed at 6-1, could have the most trouble finding throwing lanes and squirting past defenders.
"I don't think you stop him," Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. "Nobody has been able to stop him. I think you try to contain him and try to limit his big plays. Being able to keep him in the pocket is easier said than done."
Oklahoma faced a Heisman Trophy winner last season and didn't have much success containing him. Baylor's Robert Griffin III passed for 479 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another 72 yards in a 45-38 win over the Sooners.
Griffin's elusiveness is based on having a sprinter's speed, while Manziel escapes tackles seemingly with eyes in the back of his head. But both are dangerous because they are multi-faceted quarterbacks.
"I would say in some ways they are similar," OU defensive back Aaron Colvin said. "They both are great at creating plays when there are no plays. They both find a way to win. They both do great things, and that is why they both won the Heisman Trophy."
Although Oklahoma and Texas A&M were Big 12 foes until this season, the Sooners haven't seen A&M's offense up close. Sumlin installed his spread attack from the University of Houston when he was hired to take over the Aggies a year ago.
However, the Sooners have seen plenty of similar offenses in the Big 12.
"They are a typical Big 12 offense, just in SEC form," OU defensive back Tony Jefferson said. "They spread you out and do the same type of things we have seen all year in the Big 12."
Some of what they see in A&M should be very familiar, since Sumlin is a former Oklahoma assistant on head coach Bob Stoops' staff.
"I think it has been quite obvious to everyone that they brought a Big 12 offense to the SEC and have lit it up," Bob Stoops said. "The way they have spread it out, they've handled those SEC defenses fairly well."
Oklahoma hopes to avoid becoming another defense Manziel has handled well.
"If you don't cover guys, he puts the ball where it needs to be," Bob Stoops said. "If you do cover them, uh oh, there you go, he's running. He just has a knack for making something happen even when you have played well."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
