Oklahoma football: Defensive line starting point to any great defense
By Chip Rouse
New Oklahoma football coach Brent Venables played the linebacker position in college and coached linebackers at the same level, but he made his mark coaching all three levels of the defense and melding it all together to championship quality.
The front piece of every defense is the defensive line, and that’s a position with which the OU head coach has had tremendous success with as well. There is plenty of evidence of that at his last coaching stop. In the last seven NFL Drafts, four defensive linemen from Clemson were taken in the first round and two high in the second round.
In the 2019 draft alone, three Clemson defensive linemen were selected in the first 17 picks of the opening round.
So, it’s safe to say Venables knows a thing or two about the recruitment and development of elite defensive line prospects, a skill he has acquired in over 20 seasons as a defensive coordinator at two of the very best programs in college football.
Venables’ defensive units have appeared in six of the eight College Football Playoff and four CFP championship games, including two national championships. While coaching the defense at Oklahoma, four of his Sooner teams played in the BCS national championship game with the 2000 Oklahoma teams coming away with the national title.
The 2022 Oklahoma football team only returns five starters on defense and just one on the defensive line: DT Jalen Redmond. The Sooners are having to replace DE Isaiah Thomas, NG Perrion Winfrey and edge rusher Nik Bonitto. That’s a pretty formidable trio to have to replace.
A year ago, popular college football analyst Phil Steele ranked the Oklahoma defensive line as the best in the Big 12 and one of the top five in the country heading into the 2021 season. This season, by contrast, the Sooners’ defensive front is ranked 17th in the country by Athlon Sports and 26th by Phil Steele and fourth in the Big 12 behind Baylor, Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
The defensive line is missing some literally big pieces coming into the 2022 season, but OU has gone to the transfer portal to pick up experience by bringing in Jeffrey Johnson from Tulane and Jonah La’lulu from Hawaii. They also have sophomore Reggie Grimes, who Venables and the Sooner coaches believe is ready to produce some big things. They are also anticipating a good year from fellow defensive end Ethan Downs.
Redshirt juniors Isaiah Coe and Kori Robertson will also see action this season on the interior of the Sooner D-line.
This year is going to be a golden opportunity for some of the backup defensive line talent from last year’s squad to step up and seize the opportunity afforded to them. The talent is there, and you can bet Venables, and his two defensive line assistants Ted Bates, who coaches the defensive tackles and Miguel Chavis, the defensive ends coach, will have the Sooner defensive line unit well prepped, conditioned and ready to go. Both coaches joined Venables in Norman from the Clemson coaching staff, and we know how good that defense has been in recent seasons.
This will be a bit of a growth year for the Sooner defensive line, but you can see Venables and staff are already hard at work recruiting some elite defensive line talent for the future. OU already has 2022 commitments from five-star defensive lineman Adepoju Adebawore and four-star defensive end Colton Vasek, and the top defensive lineman in the 2023 class, David Hicks, is looking more and more like he could end up a Sooner. Oklahoma is in a close recruiting battle with Texas A&M over Hicks.
Expect the Oklahoma defensive line to get better and better as this season progresses and into the subsequent years.