Three adjectives to characterise each Oklahoma defensive position group.
The Oklahoma Sooners football team has completed its spring football season. Summer is nearing, and the 2024 college football season will kick up in late August. But with two and a half months until then, let’s take a look at the OU defence heading into the season, using only three words to define each position group.
It’s year three of the Brent Venables era in Norman, and the Sooners are approaching their first season in the SEC. Following a poor performance in 2022, the defence improved significantly. In 2023, the Sooners moved closer to the ideal that OU fans had when Venables was appointed.
Change struck the coaching staff early in the summer. After the season, Oklahoma parted ways with Ted Roof, their former defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. Venables selected Zac Alley, the former defensive coordinator at Jacksonville State, to coach the linebackers and manage the defence in Norman.
However, in today’s college football landscape, coaching staff changes aren’t the only type of mobility that occurs. Recruiting and the transfer portal alter the roster from year to year and month to month.
Assuming the roster is mostly established, each defensive position group at Oklahoma can be summarised in exactly three terms.
Todd Bates, the defensive tackles coach at Clemson, came to Oklahoma with Venables in December 2021.
Bates was awarded college football’s recruiter of the year in 2018, so Sooner supporters were optimistic about the talent he and Venables could assemble. After some early recruiting mistakes, Bates has found his groove with the Sooners, bringing in crucial players through both recruitment and the transfer portal.
Da’Jon Terry and Damonic Williams, a TCU transfer who was a huge recruiting success for Bates and the Sooners earlier this month, are expected to fill the two defensive tackle positions. Williams brings a new, aggressive style to the NIL for Oklahoma and should lead the way in an already outstanding position group. Terry, a sixth-year senior, was a strong presence up front a year ago.
Over the course of the spring, depth has become a strength up front, with youthful players Markus Strong and Ashton Sanders joining veterans Gracen Halton and Davon Sears.
Then there’s the true freshmen class at the position Bates recruited, which includes David Stone, Jayden Jackson, and Nigel Smith.
Stone was the highest-rated prospect in the group, and the former five-star signed with the Sooners following a lengthy recruiting campaign that Bates ultimately won.
Jackson has been perhaps the most remarkable of the three thus far. As a true freshman, he has the potential to contribute significantly. He received starter experience in the spring game before OU signed Williams.
Smith can play inside or outside, but moving inside gives Bates another piece to work with, and the four-star will bring a wide range of talent to the field.
Defensive tackle is one of the areas where OU suffered the most from graduation, but Bates has recovered well ahead of the 2024 season. It’s evolving into a unit that resembles the SEC rather than the Big 12.
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