Five years ago, zero Oklahoma fans could dream of the balance of depth, experience and production that is now there with the inside linebackers.

A spot that used to be an eyesore is now perhaps the brightest spot of them all and the singular position you can point toward when it comes to the turnaround under defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.

The one person that isn’t surprised is third-year inside linebackers coach Brian Odom. You could even say Odom is the opposite of shocked because, deep down, he feels his group is doing exactly what it should be doing at this stage.

“It's my responsibility to develop that room into the best linebacker room in the country. With that being said, guys getting reps, just being smart about reps throughout their careers here,” said Odom last week. “It's a credit to Coach Grinch and the system here.

“It allows you to develop these guys as linebackers from Day One into now, it's the third year in the program. Third year in the defense. So we should be seeing some jumps in production. You should be seeing some jumps in efficient play, especially from the second level of the defense.”

OU has always had at least one or two respectable inside guys, even during the lean years of the last decade. But there isn’t one or two or three or four, no, we’re talking a solid six and you argue for more if you really want.

There’s a lot that goes into that, obvious aspects like recruiting at a higher level and the incredible job Odom has done in terms of developing guys.

Ask someone who has been around, though. Ask Caleb Kelly, who has been there since 2016, and he’s not about to slight Odom one bit. Odom might not want the credit, but he’s deserving of it.

“I think just the mental aspect of him always being up here, he’s constantly working, he’s made so many cut-ups for us during the summer,” said Kelly earlier in camp. “There’s always something new, there’s always something to watch. There’s always something that he’s focusing on, trying to find something he can critique us on to help us be better, to think about things faster and react faster and play faster.

“So it really is a testament to him. Because he’s done everything he said he was gonna do. He wants to be the top linebacker coach and he wants us to be one of the top linebacker units in the country. So I think it’s been working out.”

The proof is in the results. The proof is in watching someone like Kenneth Murray take one year with Odom and turn himself into a first-round selection in the NFL Draft.

With this year’s crop, it’s a nice mix. You start with the trio that carried the day last season with Brian Asamoah, DaShaun White and David Ugwoegbu. White and Asamoah were supposed to be the guys, but Ugwoegbu came a little bit out of nowhere in his first year at the position.

Add in Kelly, now in his sixth year and hopefully injury-free to close out his OU career. Then take a couple of promising young guys like sophomore Shane Whitter and freshman Danny Stutsman, and then you have everything you’re looking for.

You want experience and leadership? Yep. But you’re gonna need youth to be able to shoulder the load in the future? Again, check.

“It shows how well he has done in recruiting and also his ability to bring out everybody’s abilities in that room,” Asamoah said. “All those guys in that room have an elite talent level. Talking stars, four or five-star guys in that room.

“You have to give kudos to Coach Odom and his way of recruiting and his ability to develop guys as well. us being able to help each other and improve our skills every day is going to be very evident and apparent to what we do this year.”

White might be the best example. When OU landed White for the 2018 class, it was a party. Not mincing words, it was. A pure middle linebacker and flipping him from Texas A&M, cause for celebration.

And it’s not that White has been a disappointment whatsoever during his time in Norman, but the fact of the matter is Odom’s room is full of those type of guys now. White doesn’t stand out as a singular dude because there are so many of them now.

He gets it. He understands that, and it’s driving him even more to prove he deserves to be among the two guys getting the nod at MIKE and WILL.

“It’s a complete 180 flip, is what it feels like. When I got to the room, it was talented, but there wasn’t a lot of discipline,” White said. “There wasn’t a lot of just the way we do things now. We do a lot of extra work together. There wasn’t a lot of that then.

“Now, every day we break out on ‘LBU,’ and that’s like something we put our hearts into and we mean that. Regardless of who says they think it is or not, we’re going to do our part. We’re going to put our best foot forward to becoming Linebacker U.

“I think having that really motivates us every day. I know it motivates me to be the best me, because I’m doing it for sort of a bigger purpose, to be one of the more respected linebacker corps in the nation. I’m talking, years from now, man, those OU linebackers are still playing a certain way and flying around. I can definitely say it’s changed quite a bit.”