Oklahoma football: LB Nik Bonitto is an emerging defensive star
By Chip Rouse
A prime reason why the Oklahoma football defense is performing better than a year ago is the pass rush and run defense from the guys upfront.
Related Story. Perkins, Stevenson have made Sooners whole. light
Head coach Lincoln Riley made the point in his weekly press conference this week that great team defense is as much a factor of great defensive performance as anything. It takes all 11 guys doing their job.
“I think some (could describe it as) evolution of the system, but the players and coaches make the evolution happen,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “These things don’t happen just because. You’ve got to make them happen.
“Players have continued to buy in to the way we want to play, and we’ve been able to (add) more body types and more pieces that fit this scheme…and we’re going to continue to add those and develop the ones we have.”
A number of Sooner defensive players have stepped up this season as coordinator Alex Grinch’s defensive unit continues to show major improvement over recent seasons.
Through seven games, the Oklahoma defense ranks 27th among FBS teams in total defense (338.1 yards allowed per game), 10th in rush defense (98.6 yards per game), seventh in sacks (26) and tied for 16th nationally in tackles for loss (57 for 252 yards).
No part of the Oklahoma defense is playing better right now than the defensive line and edge rushers.
That position group has been exerting its will on opponents all season, and the group got a giant lift when the team’s best defensive player overall, defensive end Ronnie Perkins, joined the group two games ago after serving a six-game suspension for failing a drug test late last season.
One of the unsung stars during Perkins’ absence has been rush linebacker Nik Bonitto. The redshirt sophomore from Ft, Lauderdale, Florida, is having a breakout season. He recorded three sacks for a total loss of 21 yards in the runaway win over Kansas and was virtually unblockable.
Early in his career, Bonitto was just all speed, Riley said about his emerging young defensive star, but he has added to that, which has made him extremely difficult to block.
Bonitto has played in all seven Oklahoma games this season. He is credited with 19 tackles, 11 of those of the solo variety, eight tackles for loss, 5.5 quarterback sacks and eight more quarterback hurries. His five sacks are two more than he had all of last season in 14 games.
“Nik, what he’s doing now is nothing new to us,” said Perkins after last weekend’s win over Kansas. “It practically became a race to the (Kansas) quarterback. We’re fighting each other for TFLs (tackles for loss). It’s all making us better having to battle each other for stats.”
In an interview with Oklahoma beat writer Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman earlier this season, Bonitto said:
"“I feel like the defensive line sets the tone. If we’re in the backfield, if we’re causing havoc back there, we’re going to make it hard for quarterbacks and we’re going to make it hard for running backs.“It’s going to be better overall for our defense. The defensive line takes pride in creating pressure and being disruptive.”"
The good news for OU fans looking to the future is Bonitto is just now starting to come into his own, and it just his second season.