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NORMAN, Okla. Vince Carter Jersey . -- For the past five years, Oklahoma coaches have had few worries about who would lead the Sooners offensive line. First All-American Gabe Ikard, then Ty Darlington starred at center and the two erudite linemen proved to be vital cogs on teams that won a pair of Big 12 Conference titles.Oklahoma will start this season at No. 3 in The Associated Press rankings and is considered a serious contender for a spot in the College Football Playoff for the second straight year, but one of the primary questions for the Sooners will be how quickly a young offensive line can develop and open the way for stars such as quarterback Baker Mayfield and running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon.Much will depend on junior Jonathan Alvarez, who is moving from guard to take Darlingtons place at center, and on the two other returning starters, sophomores Dru Samia and Orlando Brown. Their teammates and coaches believe they will be up to the challenge.Its been good so far, Mayfield said. Jon did a good job of watching Ty. Ty was a very smart player, always knew what he was doing, so he got to watch Ty for a couple of years. Now hes on his own, hes controlling his own path now. Hes done a good job of putting us in a good situation.It also helps to have Orlando and Dru at the tackles, to have experience, too, so we can kind of surround those younger guards with experience and try to teach them the ropes.The 6-foot-3, 308-pound Alvarez played center in high school and started at that position against Tulsa last season. He has the added benefit of being able to pick the brain of Darlington, who remains on the Oklahoma campus, about the nuances of playing center.Last year, when I was at guard, I still always heard what he was telling the centers, Alvarez said. Ty would always explain to me why he was making these calls. It helped me get my train of thought going a lot more. It helped me prepare the way I need to.As important as Alvarez will be to the Sooners fortunes, so, too, are Samia and Brown, who started as freshmen at right and left tackle. The 6-foot-8, 340-pound Brown is imposing physically, much like his father, the former NFL lineman by the same name, while the 6-foot-4 Samia has bulked up 30 pounds this season to 305 pounds, something offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh said will make a huge difference in his effectiveness.Bedenbaughs primary concern is figuring out who will play on the outside of the Sooners line and developing depth. Several candidates have emerged during preseason practices, including junior college transfer Ben Powers, redshirt freshmen Bobby Evans and Cody Ford and redshirt sophomore Alex Dalton.Junior Christian Daimler (who has yet to play in three years with the Sooners), redshirt sophomore Quinn Mittermeier and seniors Erick Wren, Sam Grant and Jamal Danley also could figure into the mix.Alvarez said the Sooners experienced linemen want to help teach the newcomers, but at some point, they have to pick it up on their own and figure it out. They cant have somewhere all the time. I cant tell them what to do. They have to figure out what to do on their own.Bedenbaugh wasnt satisfied with the lines performance in Oklahomas first preseason scrimmage, calling it very average and too inconsistent. He is aware hes under pressure to have a solid group of linemen ready for the Sooners opener against No. 15 Houston on Sept. 3. Two weeks after that, No. 6 Ohio State will visit Norman in a much-anticipated game.Ideally youd like to have a two-deep, Benenbaugh said. (But) that doesnt happen very often. What youd like to have is eight guys, a starting five and then a tackle that can play both positions and a backup center. I dont know how its going to work out. Were still young and inexperienced so well see how it shakes out. . But if we can get eight guys and some guys can roll, then well be fine.Having good line depth is critical for the fast-paced offense preferred by offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley.It gives you more confidence to do it as a coach, Riley said. It gives you the confidence if a guy gets nicked up here or there that you can keep going on with it. ... We were lucky last year. Injury-wise, we stayed pretty healthy until the last game. The depth did show up a little bit there. It was a major factor in that last game. Itll be a major factor at some point this year, too.---AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Kawhi Leonard Jersey . Haas said he "felt a lot of pain" in his right shoulder when he slammed his racket to the ground in frustration after losing his serve at 3-3 in the first set. C.J. Miles Raptors Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. https:///...City-Edition-Jersey/ . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. MASON, Ohio -- Dont let the sun and the sand and the beach party atmosphere fool you: An Olympian is an athlete first, even when shes wearing a bikini.While covering beach volleyball at two Summer Games, I heard plenty about the sex appeal of the sport, with the skimpy suits worn by the women attracting most of the attention. I knew there was much more to it, but it wasnt until I got on a court with an Olympic gold medalist that I understood just what makes the sport so difficult: Its the sand itself -- slowing every step, cutting short every jump and conspiring with the beating sun to wear down even the fittest bodies.Or even one belonging to a fortysomething sports writer.During a professional tour event outside Cincinnati this spring, I had a chance to hit the ball around with two-time Olympian and 2008 gold medalist Todd Rogers. Aptly nicknamed The Professor, Rogers is the coach at Cal Poly, where he took over a team that had won one match in each of its previous two seasons and led it to an 11-12 record in his first year.This would prove to be an even bigger challenge.I gave Rogers and his teammate, Robbie Page, a ride over to the practice facility that was the warmup area for players in the AVP Cincinnati Open, the last American stop for the FIVB tour before the close of Olympic qualification. Page, at 7-feet tall, could barely avoid kissing his knees in my midsized rental car.Rogers asked if I had ever played volleyball before, and I told him I had hit the ball around enough to know what I was supposed to do, if not how to do it. But my limited experience in a gym class on a hardwood basketball court did not prepare me to play outdoors, on the sand.Rogers started out by just tossing the ball over the net to me, under-handed, and that proved easy enough; I was able to return a few serves back to him, and pass most others to where my partner would be waiting. Then he stepped back and lofted some easy serves in my direction, and I really figured out what makes the sport so challenging.First there was the movement of the ball, which from a skillful server comes in like a knuckleball in baseball, darting around and confounding any attempt to hit it squarely. The wind also plays a part; many times I thought I had the balll lined up, only to see it drift off course. Jonas Valanciunas Jersey. The hardest part, though, proved to be just moving around.While I lacked the spatial judgment and reaction time of the elite athletes on the courts next to me, even when I correctly determined where to go to hit the ball it just took me too long to get there. I seemed to be moving in slow motion in the 16-inch layer of sand, like in those movies where the sound didnt quite sync up with the actors lips.As Rogers began to speed up his serves -- though still closer to batting practice than full-speed -- more often than not the ball would bounce past me for an ace or, if I was lucky, carom wildly off my increasingly reddening forearms onto a nearby court.On one serve, I didnt even bother. Instead, I watched the ball bounce off the sand a few feet away, turned back to Rogers and said: That was my partners. (This is an old stand-by in beach volleyball, so common it has a name: The husband and wife.)My only problem: I didnt have a partner.Still, Rogers was impressed at how quickly I was picking up the excuses, if not the actual skills.Afterward, he told me some of the things I was doing wrong.Although much of it was due to physical shortcomings, I was also awaiting the serves with my hands together, ready to pass. A pro -- actually, pretty much everyone -- knows that its easier to move with his arms free and only lock them when the ball clears the net. (Young players who make this mistake are often told to run laps around the court with their hands locked, to remind them how much more difficult it is.)I thanked Rogers for the lesson and wished him luck in the tournament. Later that day, I bumped into him back at the venue, where a fan was hoping for a picture with him. I offered to take it.Youre really doing it all, he said, running through the tasks he had witnessed that day: Driver, writer, photographer.And beach volleyball player, too, I reminded him.Nah, he said, better leave that off the list.---Jimmy Golen has covered Olympic beach volleyball for The Associated Press since 2008. You can follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jgolen. ' ' '