Oklahoma football: Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman CBS Sports All-Americans

Oklahoma football defensive leaders Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman have been named 2023 All-Americans by CBS Sports and 247Sports.

Bowman was a first-team selection and Stutsman was named to the second team, which strikes me as an oversight.

Both players were a huge reason for Oklahoma’s 10-2 regular season and four-game turnaround from a year ago. They also were prime contributors to the Sooners marked defensive improvement.

Bowman finished second in the country with six interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns — and interception return yardage (238).

Stutsman was a beast on defense and a tackling machine for most of the season, but he suffered a lower leg injury in the eighth game against Kansas and his production dropped off slightly after that. While he was completely healthy, however, he seemingly was in on practically every tackle and constantly around the ball. He ended the regular season with 99 total tackles, three sacks and an interception that he returned for a touchdown. He led the Big 12 a year ago with 125 tackles.

It has been reported that Stutsman is planning to declare for the 2024 NFL Draft.

A year ago the Oklahoma defense ranked statistically among the very worst among the 131 teams at the FBS level. While head coach Brent Venables would be among the first to tell you that the Sooners are still very much a work in progress, especially defensively, OU ranked second nationally in turnovers forced, second in interceptions, 11th in tackles for loss and in pass breakups per game, 12th in overall defensive efficiency and 14th in third-down conversion percentage defense.

Both Stutsman and Bowman were key figures in that defensive improvement and are well-deserving of their All-America selection.