Oklahoma football spotlight: Senior DT Jeffery Johnson

With a 22-member 2022 recruiting class and 13 additional players picked up from the transfer portal, almost one-third of the Oklahoma football roster for the coming season is made up of newcomers.

Periodically into the summer months, we will introduce you to these new faces. Today we introduce incoming Senior defensive tackle Jeffery Johnson, who came over to Oklahoma from Tulane. ESPN rated him as a four-star prospect coming out of high school, and 247sports ranked him as a four-star player as a transfer.

Who is Jeffery Johnson?

Well, Sooner fans may remember last season’s opener against Tulane when Jeffery Johnson had six tackles, including a TFL against Oklahoma. He put a whooping on Robert Congel that day in the interior. Johnson is listed at 6 foot 2 inches and 313 pounds. He is expected to be either a starter on the interior or a player who plays several snaps alongside Jalen Redmond. Johnson was a highly sought-after transfer and chose OU over the likes of USC, Michigan, LSU, and others. In high school, Jeffery was named to the 5A Mississippi All-State team. Johnson graduated from Tulane with a degree in health and wellness and is in a Master’s program at Oklahoma in Human Relations.

Depth chart and playing time

Jeffery is penciled in by many to be the starter in the interior next to Jalen Redmond, though the Sooners do have quite a few players who are good enough outside of Johnson to start there. However, even if he does not become a starter, he will play quite a lot. He is a polished, experienced player with tremendous leadership ability. This is a young man Sooner nation should already be familiar with because of his performance in the Palace last September, but if they aren’t, they will be very quick.

Johnson plays with a physical demeanor and has quite a lot of play strength. He controls the line of scrimmage, able to take on doubles and still impact the play. Anchor in the run game can collapse the pocket or pursue and get to the passer. It has nice arm length and is an effective run stopper largely due to good instincts. This is a good player the Sooners got on campus, and he will be drafted in April.

Impact and what it means for Oklahoma?

The first thing is that the Sooners will be getting a seasoned veteran to help with the Sooners’ new defensive scheme, which is closer to a traditional 4-3 defense and requires a bit bigger size on the interior than the defense employed by former DC Alex Grinch. Oklahoma has some other players who fit the body type, but not nearly as many as you would like to have if you are Brent Venables and DL coach Todd Bates.

The other thing it means is that whether it’s on the recruiting trail or in the transfer portal, Oklahoma has a master recruiter in Todd Bates. Bates led the way in getting a kid who lived in Louisiana to spurn LSU and play for the Sooners. Oklahoma was not winning many battles such as these in the past. The Sooners did so again when Bates flexed his muscles to land Derrick Leblanc in recruiting from Florida over the Gators.

Here is an excellent interview he did while at Tulane that Sooner fans can watch to get a good feeling about who he is: