Former Sooner Mario Williams is making a return to Norman

Oklahoma faces Tulane at home this Saturday at 3:30 pm ET. These two teams have only ever played twice in history with Oklahoma winning both of those games.

Transfer Mario Williams spoke to the media this week about returning to Norman and what he sees from the OU defense.

Mario, you go back to Oklahoma for the first time since leaving there. How excited are you and what are you looking forward to the most about going back to Norman?

Mario: I’m definitely excited. I’m not worried about going back there. I think it’s pretty cool to play some of my former teammates so that’s what I’m most excited about. I’m ready for the challenge of going against some of my former teammates in a real game. I’m definitely not worried about their environment or trying to do more or do less. I’m just trying to be me, go out there and have fun.

You know how loud that place can get. Do you talk to your teammates about what to expect going into an environment like that?

Mario: Yeah, definitely. I talked to some of my teammates . I let them know that it may be 80,000 but at the end of the day, it’s still just a football game. So we still have to go out there and execute even if there was nobody in the stands or 100,000.

I’m sure that you still communicate with your former teammates. Did you shut down that communication this week?

Mario: No, I’m still Mario and they’re still whoever they are. We’re still friends. We’ve got a game to play and we’re going to play the game. However it goes, I’m still going to love them and they’re still probably going to love me. And that’s it.

From what you’ve seen on film, what stands out to you the most on defense?

Mario: They do their job and they’ve got playmakers. Billy [Bowman] is one of my great friends and he’s a ball hulk. Also, Danny Stutsman is a really great player. That’s one of my other great friends that I play with. Just making sure that we do our job and the game’s going to play itself out.

Oklahoma leads the country currently in turnovers. How important is ball security and watching for that when facing this team?

Mario: I don’t think it’s that we have to watch out for ball security. That’s the thing we preach, week in and week out. So it’s not just because we’re playing Oklahoma, we’ve still got to go out there and execute.