What will new defensive coordinator Zac Alley's impact be on an improving Sooner defense?

As Oklahoma prepares for its first season in the defensive strong Southeastern Conference, it also will be the first season for new Sooner defensive coordinator Zac Alley.

The 30-year old was a prodigy of Brent Venables at Clemson for seven seasons as a student and graduate assistant from 2012-2018. At the end of January this year, Alley, replaced Ted Roof, who joined Venables' staff when he took the Oklahoma head job at the end of 2021.

I don't believe there is any question that the Oklahoma defensive unit is in a better place heading into the SEC than it was when Venables took over the football reins two years ago. Through more rigorous recruiting efforts targeting elite defensive talent, complementary transfer additions and player development, Venables and his defensive coaches have appreciably ungraded at every level of the defense.

This has given Alley a strong foundation to continue to build upon in the transformation of what Venables, Alley and the other assistant coaches are determined to develop into an SEC championship-level defense to complement the Sooners high-powered offense.

The Sooner players have had nothing but high compliments and praise for the new defensive coordinator since in arrived in Norman. This is not really all that surprising given that Alley is like a clone of Venables, having worked under the OU head coach as an assistant while Venables was defensive coordinator at Clemson.

"He is going to fit in very well from a cultural chemistry and philosophy standpoint," Venables said at the time Alley was hired. "Obviously, there's a familiarity and comfort based on our background together at Clemson."

During the time Alley worked under Venables as a graduate assistant at Clemson, the Tigers compiled an overall record of 55-4 and won two national championships. He left Clemson after the 2018 season to take a job at Boise State as co-special teams coordinator and linebackers coach.

Alley's first job as a defensive coordinator came at Louisiana-Monroe in 2020. While at ULM, Alley turned around a rushing defense that ranked 125th among 130 FBS teams to the 69th ranked rush defense in 2021. The Warhawks improved in 11 of 14 defensive categories that season.

He moved on to Jacksonville State for the 2023 season, where the Gamecocks ranked No. 8 in the country in stop rate (percentage of a defenses drives that end in punts, turnovers or turnovers on downs), in the 96th percentile in run defense and the 67th percentile in pass defense success. Jacksonville State led Conference USA last season in virtually every major defensive category.

And now Alley is at Oklahoma charged with continuing the improvement that Venables and former DC Roof had started.

"I'm comfortable where his (Alley's) football acumen is and how he thinks in relation to how I think," Venables told reporters during the Sooners' spring practice sessions. "I know how he grinds. I know how he thinks. He understands what the expectations are and the standards are, and he's relentlessly been working to get the players to feel confident and comfortable."

With Venables bringing in someone he can trust and is confident and comfortable with Alley's ability to lead and run the defense, it allows the Sooner head coach to attend more to his other head coach responsibilities and check in more with the other position groups.

"He dumbs it down for all of us, so everybody has the same learning curve, and it helps everyone out," said OU safety Robert Spears-Jennings in the spring. "He doesn't get mas when you mess up. He explains why you messed up."

It all looks and sounds like the ideal organizational move on paper, but the real proof, as they say, is in the pudding and how the Oklahoma defense performs on the field in what is certain to be an arduous adjustment year as the Sooners navigate through a very challenging SEC schedule