Defensive newcomers shine
In Brent Venables’ opening spring practice press conference 34 days ago, the Oklahoma head coach said he expects his defense to be on “another planet” next season.
On Saturday, at OU’s spring game, there were glimpses of that defense Venables is aiming for. And it was largely thanks to the newcomers – both transfers and true freshmen.
“There is a lot still in front of us,” Venables said Saturday. “But even prior to today, been incredibly pleased with the work, the buy-in, the humility, the competitiveness and then the play. It certainly hasn’t been perfect with any of them. There are signs that we’re moving in the right direction. Bringing those guys in is making everyone else around them better, and they’re going to help us.“
A course of a season will really tell the story. But we're making the improvement we need to make and there's still a lot that we have to continue to develop and improve at for sure. This was the step that was necessary to do so.”
There were a host of new faces on defense who had nice days Saturday.
True freshman cornerback Jasiah Wagoner, who has had one of the best springs, started on the first-team defense and had a pass breakup. Texas Tech safety transfer Reggie Pearson had seven tackles and two pass breakups, including one in the end zone. True freshman safety Peyton Bowen had arguably the play of the day with an impressive interception on quarterback Dillon Gabriel. Wake Forest defensive end transfer Rondell Bothroyd, who has quickly become one of the team’s top leaders, had a big tackle for loss on the edge. True freshman Adepoju Adebawore – arguably the most physically-imposing player on the field – had a 7-yard tackle for loss. And Indiana linebacker transfer Dasan McCullough maybe stood out more than anyone, disrupting several plays including the first play from scrimmage.
“They’ve approached this the right way,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “And that’s good for your locker room and good for your football team, on top of having competitive depth where guys are pushing each other for reps, and that makes everybody better. Again, pleased with that. Still got a ways to go but we’ve made strides, we’ve got more competitive depth, and we’re going to continue to make strides.”
Not much can actually be gleaned from a spring game – games aren’t won in April. But it appeared Saturday that Oklahoma does have more talent on defense than it did a year ago. They upgraded at all three levels – defensive line, linebackers and the secondary. And they needed to.
Last year’s defense struggled in Venables’ first season. And while some of that was due to learning a new defensive scheme, it was also clear there was a lack of depth and talent.
“I think that’s why a lot of guys got brought in,” said Bothroyd, who played five years at Wake Forest. “Just because they lost people and needed guys to make the defense better. You hear ‘Coach V’ talk about it all the time about how the defense needs to improve. He says this group has what it takes, but we have to execute and do our job.”
Oklahoma was an attractive portal destination because of that, with guys like Bothroyd, Pearson and McCullough, among others, knowing they’d have a chance to play immediately.
“I feel like as a group this defense is one of none,” said McCullough, who was a freshman All-American at Indiana last year. “So I mean, we have guys at every position. We have depth, too. So I think we're gonna make a great run.”
Venables was aware of the lack of talent on the defensive side of the ball when he arrived at Oklahoma. That’s why he took six defensive players in the portal. And that’s why 15 of OU’s 26 signees in the 2023 class were on the defensive side of the ball.
Those transfers, and really the freshmen, will be the ones that lay the foundation of the defense Venables wants to build.
“We’re trying to bring a new perspective,” said Bowen, a five-star recruit out of Denton Guyer High School. “We’re trying to bring life. We went 6-7, we don’t want to do that again. We want to bring in a winning culture again, set the standard high and just bring back Oklahoma.”
Bringing defense back to Oklahoma would be a welcome sight to Sooner Nation. It’s what Venables promised when he was hired a year ago, and what he failed to deliver in his first year. He'd be the first to admit that.
But one thing Venables doesn’t lack is confidence. He has an unwavering belief in his defensive philosophy and he’s hopeful the additions he made this offseason will help execute it.
“We fell incredibly short of our standards and expectations. But this is a group, if they showed something last year, through a tough, challenging year, through strain, failure and experience where many of these guys had never had that experience before, but they kept swinging... For me, that gave me what I needed to see.
“A lot of things that you can build off from that and give you hope going into this year. I’m not sure if that’s momentum or not, but I don’t think our guys have not stopped believing in what we’re asking them to do and what the vision is and again, what it takes, to be successful and for us to again flip that script.”