NORMAN — You can add this compliment from Taylor Wein to the growing list of superlatives used to describe Tank Carrington. A few weeks after Brent Venables compared Carrington to Jayden Jackson, Wein echoed that sentiment on Tuesday.

"Kind of reminds me of like a Jayden Jackson in a way," Wein said. "Jayden picked up the game so quick as a true freshman."

It isn't just Carrington's strength that's helped him gain the respect of his more experienced peers, it's been his reception to tough coaching according to Wein.

"That's when you know you're gonna be successful, is when you're getting coached really hard, but you're willing to meet them halfway and go 'Ok, I'm going to expect this and I'm going to figure out a way to implement this in my game and get better,'" Wein said.

Now, brute strength doesn't hurt. Carrington has it according to reserve center Caleb Nitta.

"Tank is strong...really strong," Nitta said with a smile. "I mean, we, you see it in the weight room and he translates it to the field. I mean he's really, really strong."

Wein saw Carrington's strength early on back in January.

"He caught my eye off the rip when we were doing winter workouts," Wein said. "We were doing like sled pulls and this man, he did not look like a D-tackle. Tank's explosive, he's powerful."

But strength can only get you so far when you're trying to scratch and claw for playing time in a stacked Todd Bates defensive line. That's where Carrington's rare knack for picking up on key fundamentals has helped seperate him.

Venables and David Stone praised Carrington's block recognition, with Venables saying that the vital fundamental for a defensive lineman isn't something common amongst freshmen.

"Jayden had it, David didn't," Venables said. "The fundamentals of block rec weren't quite there yet for him, which is more normal than not. Most guys, it's not. Jayden was fantastic. That's why he became a freshman All-American. It started with that."

Carrington still has work to do before he meets many of these lofty goals, but he appears to have the mentality for the grind.

"He's got a lot of improvement to do, and he's gotta continue to learn each day, but I'm excited to see what he ends up doing," Wein said.

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