OU's linebacker group in 2023 is an interesting one to analyze.

Danny Stutsman established himself as the model of consistency, playing nearly every snap at the weakside linebacker spot in conference play when he was healthy. However, the coaching staff shuffled things around at the middle linebacker spot, particularly over the second half of the season.

In this installment of the OU season review series, we'll dive into the stats, snap counts, Pro Football Focus performance grades and takeaways for the Sooners' weakside and middle linebackers in 2023:

(Note: All snap-count data and performances grades are provided by Pro Football Focus. PFF assigns both game and season-long grades for individual players on a 0-100 scale; 90-99 is considered elite, 80-89 good, 70-79 above average, 60-69 average, 50-59 below average, 0-49 poor. PFF performance grades are independent and separate from coaching staff evaluations.

(Note: This does not include players who logged fewer than 40 snaps)

Danny Stutsman — 104 tackles (led team), 16 tackles for loss (led team), 3 sacks, 1 fumble recovery, 2 forced fumbles

Kip Lewis — 66 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery

Jaren Kanak — 62 tackles, 6 TFLs, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble

Kobie McKinzie — 22 tackles, 1 TFL

Danny Stutsman — 722 (71.0 performance grade)

Jaren Kanak — 596 (49.5)

Kip Lewis — 358 (55.3)

Kobie McKinzie — 165 (56.3)

Lewis Carter — 30 (59.9)

Konnor Near — 22 (84.6)

Shane Whitter — 21 (80.6)

Owen Heinecke — 5 (56.3)

— What is there left to say about Stutsman? Despite missing the second half against Kansas and the entire game against Oklahoma State, he still played the third-most snaps on the team and 76% of the total defensive snaps. He almost never came off the field in conference play. His grades and advanced stats also took massive step forwards compared to 2022.

Here's a look:

Not every performance was great. Stutsman struggled a bit against Kansas before exiting with injury — his performance grade was 41.2 — and against BYU. But he's certainly established himself as the leader of the defense, arguably the most consistent player on the team and one of the top defensive players in college football. It can't be overstated how massive it is that he's returning in 2024.

— Kanak is an interesting case study. He earned the starting middle linebacker spot long before fall camp and played nearly every snap over the first eight weeks, averaging over 50 snaps per game. But his snaps, and his production fell off dramatically over the final five games, as he averaged just 24.2 snaps and was eventually replaced by Lewis in the starting lineup. He earned a PFF grade over 55 just five times this season, and his missed-tackle rate of 22.2% was much higher than any other linebacker. It's important to note that Kanak is still early in his career, and the true sophomore doesn't have a ton of experience playing linebacker. He also still finished with the fourth-most snaps on the team. But it'll be interesting to see what his role is next season.

— Speaking of Lewis, the redshirt freshman barely played before the Kansas game, averaging just 11.4 snaps per game over the first seven weeks. But his snaps significantly increased to end the season. There were some growing pains — he really struggled against West Virginia and BYU — but the potential is clearly there. Has he earned the starting job moving forward?

— 56 of McKinzie's 165 snaps came against Oklahoma State, which was easily his best game of the season. It appeared he was primed for a bigger role after that, but he only played 52 snaps the rest of the season and didn't log a single second against Arizona. Unless he takes significant steps forward, it's hard to project him seeing the field a ton in 2024 considering Stutsman, Lewis and Kanak are returning.

— Lewis Carter didn't play much, so it's hard to gleam too much from his limited snaps. But it is interesting that he appeared in five games, thus making him ineligible to redshirt.

— Samuel Omosigho didn't play this season after suffering an injury. Near, Whitter and Heinecke also just didn't see the field much. While there's still some things to figure out between Kip Lewis and Jaren Kanak, the linebacker room doesn't have a ton of questions heading into 2024 unless some other players on the depth chart make real strides in the spring.

— One thing to note: The Sooners' rush defense was excellent early in the season. Only one of the Sooners' first seven opponents (Iowa State) averaged more than 3.9 yards per carry, and the linebackers were a big part of that. But those numbers slipped down the stretch. Four of OU's final six opponents averaged over 4.2 yards per carry. The Sooners surrendered 5.7 YPC and 217 rushing yards against BYU, the worst performance of the season. The linebackers need to be more consistent late in the season moving forward.

— We will cover the cheetah position in a later installment of this series.

SEASON GRADE: B

Not an OUInsider.com premium member? Sign up today to get loads of inside information on Oklahoma football, basketball and recruiting, all for just a few dollars a month. Click HERE to get started!