Oklahoma football: The team’s subpar defense will see new results and a new perspective thanks to new players.
Both Sooner supporters and skeptics anticipate seeing a different Oklahoma football defense from the one that played in the previous season.
The Sooner defense, which had been deteriorating steadily for a few seasons, reached a new low in 2022. Out of 132 FBS teams, the OU defensive unit was rated 122nd in overall defense, 119th in pass defense, and 106th in run stopping.
Teams who score a lot of points, like Oklahoma, may win a lot of games, but even the Sooners couldn’t overcome OU’s startling defensive weakness from the previous season. Oklahoma won less than seven games for the first time in 25 years as a consequence. Even more disheartening, Brent Venables, whose defensive record is among the finest in college football, was the head coach of Oklahoma during this season.
But Venables can’t take full credit for the Sooners’ dismal defensive showing the previous season because he had to play the hand dealt him by Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch, the former OU coaching staff, who saw defense as a stepchild to what matters most for a winning football team.
But you can’t contain a top dog for very long, and in terms of recruiting and constructing championship college defenses, Venables is a proven top dog. This offseason, Oklahoma started a serious defensive overhaul.
Riley recruited nearly every member of Oklahoma’s 2022 recruiting class, so Venables really started to search and bring in guys in the 2023 cycle that would fit into his system and the culture he is establishing with this football program. As a matter of fact, 53 of the 71 players that Venables took over from Riley following the 2022 Alamo Bowl are no longer associated with the team.
The Sooners’ 2023 recruiting class marked the official start of the defensive overhaul. Of the 26 players that OU signed in the 2023 class, 16 are defensive players. Among them are DE Adepoju “PJ” Adebawore and S Peyton Bowen, two highly regarded five-star recruits, while eight more are ranked as four-stars.
Additionally, Venables used the transfer window to add three defensive lineman, who not only offer years of experience but should also see play quickly and significantly improve the defensive side of the ball.
Along with a few others who are expected to be major backups, at least four of the 2023 additions are anticipated to be starters.
The most significant addition to the OU defense in 2023 could be Dasan McCullough, an Indiana transfer. According to ESPN, McCullough was a four-star recruit and ranked No. 43 nationally in the 2023 class. Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, and Venables recruited him while the OU head coach was Clemson’s defensive coordinator. He also had scholarship offers from these schools.
McCullough was ranked No. 2 among linebackers by 247Sports and ranked No. 19 on the transfer portal. He got a call from Venables at OU as soon as he entered the transfer site. The 6-foot-5-inch linebacker had a strong first campaign at Indiana. In 12 games, he was credited with 49 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss.
It is anticipated that McCullough would operate as Venables’ “Cheetah” in the offense. DaShaun White represented OU in that role the previous season.
Other transfers that are anticipated to have an effect on Oklahoma’s defense this season include Da’Jon Terry from Tennessee, Trace Ford from Oklahoma State, and Jacob Lacey, a defensive lineman from Notre Dame.
It’s fairly obvious that Venables is sticking to his Clemson game plan of building a championship-caliber defense anchored at the point of attack by exceptional physicality, strength, and agility on the defensive front, as evidenced by the players he brought in through the portal and the highly regarded D-line prospects in the 2023 and 2024 Sooner recruiting classes. In addition to meeting an urgent need, the transfers enable the development of exceptional talent found through conventional recruitment methods.
