Oklahoma football: Sooners pick up Hawaii defensive-line transfer

Faced with a number of roster defections because of transfers and the NFL Draft, the Oklahoma football staff is paying special attention to the transfer portal this offseason.

The Sooners have already picked up QB Dillon Gabriel, TE Daniel Parker Jr. and OL McKade Mettauer via the transfer superhighway, and on Thursday they added DL Jonah Laulu from Hawaii.

The addition of Laulu adds depth and an immediate plug-and-play with size and experience on a D-line that loses some key players heading into the 2022 season.

Laulu was rated only two stars when he was recruited out of high school in Las Vegas, but he his growth and development in three seasons at Hawaii has been such that the likes of Georgia, LSU and USC, among others, have been recruiting him out of the portal.

Credit the presence of Brent Venables and his outstanding reputation on defense for being able to win over Laulu from other big-name schools.

Listed at 6-foot, 6-inches and 290 pounds, Laulu had 33 tackles, four sacks, one fumble recovery and 40 quarterback pressures this past season.  His 40 QB pressures ranked 34th this season among Group of Five pass rushers. Over the past two seasons with the Rainbows, he has been credited with 59 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

Laulu will give new OU co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Todd Bates a Swiss Army-knife option on the D-line. Laulu played multiple defensive line positions at Hawaii, lining up both on the edge and in the interior plugging the A-gap.