FRISCO, TEXAS – Bob Stoops had already been tabbed as a defensive genius when he arrived in Norman in 1999.
Stoops quickly hired Mike Leach, and showed he knew a little something about the offensive side of the ball too.
Fast forward to Lincoln Riley’s second season as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners and while NFL teams have been knocking on his door to pick his brain about offense, Riley has been focusing more and more on the defensive side of the ball this offseason.
During Big 12 Media Days Riley revealed after OU’s loss in the Rose Bowl to Georgia, he sat down with his staff and started hatching a plan to fix the issues on the defensive side of the ball.
While fans have understandably called for coaching changes, Riley has looked at the defense as a system that was broken. A system that needed to be fixed.
“Everything last year was so rushed,” said Riley of trying to establish a defensive recruiting foothold during his first season. “I think It was myself, our defensive staff, our recruiting staff sitting down and what are we really looking for out of these defensive players? What are we targeting? How are we going to get better? We can’t just say we’re going to bring in better players.
“That’s the watered down version but specifically what are we absolutely targeting? And a big spot for us has been that front seven.”
An improved front seven wasn’t something that Riley came up with overnight. It was something he understood from the moment Stoops turned over the Sooner Schooner to the 34-year old offensive coordinator.
He proved that with his first full-time hire.
“That was a big reason when we had the one extra coach to hire after Bob retired was that I hired Ruffin (McNeill),” said Riley. “I felt like we needed two defensive line coaches and two guys recruiting only defensive linemen.”
Another part of Riley’s plan to improve his defensive line was the hire of Bennie Wylie as his new strength and conditioning coach.
“His specialty has always been on the offensive and defensive lines which I think are absolutely the most important position group to train,” said Riley of Wiley. “I was excited about what he could bring there to us, especially on the defensive line. I’m excited about some of the early results there.”
The third piece of Riley’s plan is something we’ve seen being implemented more over the last couple of months.
Since the Sooners have put to bed the majority of their offensive class with quarterback Spencer Rattler, receivers Theo Wease, Trejan Bridges and Arjei Henderson, as well as running back Marcus Major, Riley has been freed up to help recruit more on the defensive side of the ball.
As good a job as any defensive assistant has done, it’s never a bad thing to have your head coach lending a helping hand in recruiting.
“I always tried to, when I was an offensive coordinator, to be involved in the offensive recruitment of all our players but then all of a sudden your board doubles pretty quickly,” said Riley of his focus on recruiting players on both sides of the ball. “That parts been fun. That’s been eye-opening for me.
“It was a little different. I recruited, of course, defensive players in my areas at various times of my career. But recruiting that many at one time was definitely different. It’s been good. I think it’s helped us, I think our guys have bought into it and I’m very excited about the young defensive talent we have.”
The system that was broke appears to be operating at a higher level than in year’s past.
Brendan Radley-Hiles was the first piece that showed hope for fans looking for bigger difference makers on the defensive side of the ball.
The Sooners are now winning defensive recruiting battles with Georgia, USC, Alabama, LSU, Florida and other prestigious programs.
But one of the biggest takeaways from Big 12 Media Days was not Oklahoma’s future on the defensive line, but where they currently sit on the defensive line heading into the 2018 season.
“They hungry. They are hungry,” said middle linebacker Kenneth Murray of his defensive line. “They are sick and tired of the things that have been said about them. I feel like that’s how all of us feel on defense. But those guys there are hungry.
“They are out there trying to get to the (championship). That’s just the type of hunger they have. My guy Neville Gallimore, he’s one of my d-tackles who’s been leading the group really well. Dillon (Faamatau), Amani (Bledsoe), Q. Overton, guys like that are out there every day.”
Riley knows the future of his defense is improving up front, but he also believes in his defensive line similarly to Murray after the way they’ve worked with Wylie over the summer.
“I just like, mentally and physically, I like where we’re at (on the defensive line),” he said. “And I think some of those results will be seen here pretty quickly.”
