Oklahoma football: Good luck pushing around this defensive line group

Oklahoma football had a lot of questions heading into the offseason following a highly uncharacteristic sub-.500 season to mark Brent Venables’ first as head coach of one of college football’s most successful programs historically.

OU’s disappointing record a year ago was largely the result of having one of the worst defensive performances in the team’s long history. The Sooners’ averaged 32 points a game, but they also gave up 30. They were 122nd out of 131 FBS teams in total defense, 106th in rushing defense and 119th in passing yards allowed.

Although the Sooners struggled at all levels of the defense last season, it all started up front on the defensive line, where the OU defensive linemen were pushed around and outmuscled on a regular basis at the point of attack, which consequently put more pressure on the linebackers and back-end defenders. leading to further defensive breakdowns.

While Oklahoma wasn’t devoid of talent up front, there just wasn’t enough size or defensive line depth last season. The Sooner coaches have made a point of addressing that deficiency in the offseason in an effort to begin flipping the advantage in the trenches to the defensive side when the opposition has possession of the ball.

When you look at the preseason depth chart, there is a sizeable difference (pun intended) on the OU defensive line in contrast to the group last season. The 2023 roster includes 13 defensive linemen. Redshirt junior Isaiah Coe is the only returning player on the defensive line who weighed more than 300 pounds, and he has added nearly 10 pounds to his 6-foot, 2-inch frame to tip the scales at close to 315.

Coe played in 12 games last season and started in six. He was credited with 20 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.

Six-foot, 4-inch, 302-pound Jordan Kelley also returns in 2023. He played in 13 games with three starts a year ago but played only 399 snaps. Nevertheless, he made the most of his opportunities recording 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.0 sacks. Pro Football Focus gave Kelley a final season grade of 77.1, second highest on the team.

Redshirt senior Jonah Laulu, who transferred from Hawaii ahead of the 2022 season returns for his final season of eligibility. Laulu stands 6-foot-five and weighs 295 pounds. Defensive line coach Todd Bates has been impressed with the Hawaiian early in training camp, and he should have a stronger year in his second season in OU’s defensive system.

Bigger things are also expected from Kelvin Gilliam Jr., a former three-star recruit, who was rated as a top-150 national prospect by 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN. The 6-foot, 3-inch 299-pound Gilliam is entering his redshirt sophomore season.

Venables and Company dipped into the transfer portal to add not only size, but experience to the Sooners defensive line in 2023. The best of the lot appears to be Da’Jon Terry, a 6-foot, 4-inch, whopping 321-pound defensive tackle who played the last two seasons at Tennessee and the two before that at Kansas. He played 13 games at Tennessee last season with seven starts and finished with 16 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.

The most experienced of the transfer lot is Jacob Lacey, previously with Notre Dame. The 6-foot, 1-inch, 280-pound defensive lineman appeared in 36 games over four seasons with the Fighting Irish, totaling 35 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks.

The two other defensive line transfers Oklahoma has added are 6-foot, 3-inch, 305-pound redshirt-senior Phil Paea from Utah State and Davon Sears, a 6-foot, 2-inch, 287-pound redshirt- senior who played the last two seasons at Texas State.

When it comes down to size alone, Oklahoma is definitely in a better place on the defensive line than it was a year ago, and this year they’re also adding more experience.

"“When you talk about being more physical, it comes with heavy-handedness and girth,” Bates told reporters this week in talking about this group being bigger entering the 2023 season.“Having multiple 300-pounders is what you need this year, and especially where we’re going (to the SEC)."

And there are more elite prospects on the horizon in the Sooners’ 2024 recruiting class. OU is considered favorites in landing 5-star D-lineman Williams Nwaneri and five-star David Stone and are heavy in the mix for the commitment of four-star Dominick McKinley, as well. All are ranked in the top-10 nationally at their position.

OU Insider Jesse Crittenden of Rivals had this to say about the Oklahoma defensive line coming into the 2023 campaign:

"“Ultimately, the Sooners’ interior defensive line should be better in 2023. It’s still a work in progress particularly with the SEC move getting closer, but OU simply has more depth and more options at defensive tackle than it did last season.”"