Can Oklahoma football defense be good enough to defend its head coach’s expectation?
By Chip Rouse
What makes Oklahoma football head coach Brent Venables so sure that the Sooner defense will be all that different than it was in his first season as the man in the big chair in Norman.
For one thing, the Sooners almost have to get better defensively to some measurable degree because it can’t get much worse than it was in the hugely disappointing 2022 season. Oklahoma ranked 106th in rush defense, 119 in pass defense and 122nd in total defense a year ago among the 131 FBS teams.
We can only imagine what that outcome did to the psyche of Venables, who is widely regarded as one of the best defensive coaches in the college game today. Venables is not the Sooners’ defensive coordinator, but as head coach the accountability clearly stops with him and he fully accepts that.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the OU head coach set off a viral explosion with his comment, “If we just get better on defense, we’re going to win 10-plus games and have a chance to hang a banner up at the end of the year.”
Part of the social media reaction — or overreaction, actually — ostensibly was over the comment about hanging a banner. The banner he was most likely referring to was a conference championship banner, not one for a national championship, although, to be fair, that will always be a prime goal starting out every OU season.
As far as the potential to win as many as 10 games, that is not as unreasonable as it may sound heading into the 2023 season when you consider that four of the Sooners’ seven overall losses last season were by just three points.
It is no secret that getting better on defense is central to any improvement in overall season performance that Oklahoma can expect in the coming season, and the actions taken by Venables and his coaching staff in procuring the 2023 recruiting class and in the transfer portal are heavily weighted toward improving the defense talent and bringing in the right players at the right positions to execute Venables’ defensive scheme.
Morever, the Sooners returning defenders have already experienced one full year operating within the new defensive system. That learning curve in and of itself should result in improvement.
At least 16 of Oklahoma’s 26 incoming freshman class are defensive players, including a pair of five-star defenders in safety Peyton Bowen and edge rusher Adepoju “PJ” Adebawore, both of whom are expected to see the field early and often in the 2023 season.
Linebacker Danny Stutsman, who led the Big 12 in tackles last season, edge rusher Ethan Downs and defensive back Billy Bowman all had strong seasons on a not-very-good OU defense last season. All are returning starters for OU in 2023 and should have an even bigger impact in 2023.
Out of the transfer portal, Venables has brought in at least three transfers who are expected to start or play significant defense snaps this season.
Dasan McCullough comes in from Indiana, where he had an outstanding 2022 season. He will play the “Cheetah” position in Venables’ defense, the spot occupied by DaShaun White last season. The “Cheetah” is best described as a hybrid position between linebacker and cornerback.
Defensive lineman Rondell Bothroyd comes to the Sooners from Wake Forest, where he registered 13 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss over the last two seasons. Reggie Pearson joins the OU defense from Texas Tech, where he was a starting safety the past two seasons. He most likely will start immediately in the Sooner secondary.
The Oklahoma defensive line is one of the strengths of the 2023 defensive unit, and the Sooners are making a big push in the 2024 recruiting cycle to secure that strength into the future. Joining Bothroyd on the opposite side of the D-line at defensive end is sophomore R Mason Thomas, who some are projecting to have a breakout 2023 season. Anchoring the interior of the defensive line are veteran defensive tackles Jonah Laulu and Jacob Lacey. Both are transfers (Laulu from Hawaii in 2022 and Lacey from Notre Dame this offseason).
Phil Steele, publisher of the eponymous and widely respected College Football Preview publication, ranks the Oklahoma defensive line in a tie with Texas as the best in the Big 12 coming into the 2023 season and 17th best nationally.
Venables knows that if OU gets better at the point of attack and causes more disruption in the opponent’s backfield, the job of the entire defense is greatly enhanced.
There remains a lot of skepticism among college football experts and media about Oklahoma’s ability to show dramatic defensive improvement in just one season, but CBS Sports’ Will Backus, for one, believes in what Venables is selling and rates the Sooners as having one of the most improved defenses for the 2023 season. Backus cites Oklahoma, Texas and LSU as three teams expected to show the most defensive improvement over a year ago.
“Venables (has) leaned heavily (on recruiting and) the transfer portal to plug any holes and primarily addressing Oklahoma’s biggest defensive worry: the pass rush,” writes Backus.
“The Sooners managed just 28 sacks as a team last season, which ranked 64th nationally. Adding difference makers like McCullough and Bothroyd, who would have led the Sooners in 2022 with his six sacks, will go a long way toward fixing that.
“Pair those two with the likes of (Trace) Ford, who should see a return to form after a couple of injury-plagued seasons (at Oklahoma State) and returning stars like Ethan Downs and Danny Stutsman, and the Sooners should have a pretty imposing front.”
The momentum appears to be on Venables’ side, but it is still up to the players to execute in order to deliver his new reality.