ftblbob5 did a great writeup preview of the oklahoma defense..
The Oklahoma defense is fairly young, only 2 seniors. They have been scrappy, but have had moments where teams were able to gouge them. Statistically, the Sooners have been a pretty good defense. But they have struggled against the stronger offenses.
The Sooners like to give the offense a lot of looks. The Sooner defense tries very hard to disguise their intentions as long as possible. Against Tech, they were very successful at timing the snap count and jumping into coverage changes right before the snap. Teams that have been well prepared have been able to find the open man on the Sooners when they blitz. Lesser teams have gotten blown up by the Sooners blitzes.
Defensive Line
Oklahoma bases out of a 4-man front with two defensive tackles and two ends. Listed as starters at defensive tackle for Thursday night are #93, Jordan Wade (RS FR, 6’4”, 296, out of Stony Point HS in Round Rock, TX) at nose tackle and #98, Chuka Ndulue (RS JR, 6’3”, 274, from Dallas Jesuit Prep) at defensive tackle. They are backed up by # 94, Torrea Peterson (RS JR, 6’3”, 295, from East Central HS in San Antonio) and #95, Quincy Russell (JR, 6’4”, 315, transfer from Trinity Valley JC), respectively. This group has been the major point of concern for the Sooners from last spring until now. Throughout the spring and fall camps, the Sooner coaching staff really didn’t believe that they had solidified this position as much as they had in years past. The biggest play of the night in the Tech game might have been the 13-yard sack by Chuka Ndulue. Ndulue did a good job of a delayed twist on the right side. In addition, he just ran right through the midsection of the Tech quarterback, taking no chance at missing the tackle.
The defensive ends are #91, Charles Tapper (SO, 6’4’, 261, from Baltimore, MD) and #85, Geneo Grissom (R JR, 6’4”, 263, from Hutchinson, KS), backed up by #90, Matt Dimon (FR, 6’2”, 268, from Katy HS) and #99, Chaz Nelson (R SR, 6’2”, 237, from Garden City CC), respectively. Tapper is the alpha dog in the defensive line. Charles Tapper is a very active and athletic defensive lineman. He really pursues the football and does a great job of trying to rip the ball away from the opponent. Geno Grissom made a huge play when he intercepted a Case McCoy screen attempt and returned it for a touchdown.
This defensive line is very large, but not quite as active as we have seen Sooner defensive fronts in the past. They are gap players, but don’t always get off the blocks like you’d want them to do. They can be locked up. Even when they get free, they don’t often make the play. Texas Tech was surprisingly effective at running the football, especially as the game continued. This defensive front makes very few tackles and doesn’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback without blitz help. Texas was very effective at running the inside zone and the power scheme against this front. The Horns offensive line dominated the Sooner defensive front. The Sooners just didn’t have an answer for the running game of UT.
Linebacker
At middle linebacker, the Sooners say they are starting Frank Shannon (20), the 6’1”, 229, R SO from Dallas Skyline. But the leader of the linebacking corps is Eric Striker (19), the 6’, 219, SO, from Florida). At Outside Linebacker the Sooners start Dominique Alexander (42), the 6’2”, 216, FR, from Tulsa. He is backed up by Aaron Franklin (25), the 6’1”, 222, R JR, from Marshall, TX) and P.L. Lindley (40), the 6’2”, 254, R SO, from Stony Point HS in Round Rock. At Nickel Linebacker, the Sooners start Julian Wilson (2), the 6’2”, 199, R JR, from Oklahoma City, backed up by Kass Everett (23), the 5’10”, 189, SR from Philadelphia.
Eric Striker has terrific speed. He can just flat run by offensive tackles when he comes on a blitz off the edge like he did in the very first long yardage play of the Tech game. Mike Stoops likes to overload a side and bring Eric as the widest rusher. Striker is very effective at this tactic. But Striker is most effective when he is unblocked. When the tackles are able to get their hands on Eric, his impact is lessened greatly. I was very impressed with Frank Shannon’s ability to lock up with a running back in coverage. He is able to really break on the route well.
Alexander is a good linebacker, but he’s not great in space. He is more of a downhill player. This is where Dominique is very effective. He runs right through ball carriers when he is able to work toward the line of scrimmage and find a fit. There was several times where Dominique Alexander missed tackles right at the point of attack on plays that had a little delay or a little stretch to them that you’d expect him to make. He has a tendency to reach for tackles and gives up his feet. This allows strong legged backs to drag him for extra yardage.
Julian Wilson made a huge play when he diagnosed a draw as he was coming from the outside on a blitz. On 4th and 2, Wilson got beaten badly for a big 1st down when he took the inside fake as the receiver (Grant) went vertically. With the Baylor receivers, this play would have probably gone to the house. When Texas caught Kass Everett in man coverage, they ran a wheel route for a 59-yard touchdown. Everett just wasn’t fast enough to stay with the Texas receiver.
Tech had some significant success working the passing game on the interior of the coverage of the Sooner defense. This is not something that Baylor has done with any great regularity. Coach Briles likes to work outside or deep, primarily. Both Texas and Tech were pretty effective with draw plays against the interior of the Sooner defense.
Secondary
The Sooners vary their coverages and they vary their alignments to keep the opponents guessing on their presnap reads as to what OU is going to do. They will show press coverage and bail right before the snap and, conversely, they will show soft coverage and squeeze up on wide receivers. OU likes to play very aggressively early in the ball game, banking on pressure to make the opposing quarterback to make a quick decision. The DBs like to “sit” on routes and jump the first move to put as much pressure on the protection and quarterback as possible. They really drive hard on the ball and could be easily susceptible to double moves. Tech’s Eric Ward beat Zack Sanchez soundly on an “out-and-up” move for a big gain. Just a few plays later, Sanchez took the slightest head fake outside and got beaten vertically for a touchdown by Ward (Tech). If you want to get a short pass to a wide receiver, it appears that going trips into the boundary might be the best way to get a softer look on the outside man. The trips formation locks up any help that might be available to the corner. Therefore, he has to play a little softer than normal.
All of the Sooner defensive backs try to be extremely physical. They use arm bars and grab receivers as they run by them. They put a lot of pressure on officials to make judgments on holding or pass interference on any close play. In most coverages, the corners try to keep ½ and eye on the quarterback and read the shoulders and hands for the release. This makes them very quick to redirect on the quarterback’s release in the short and intermediate passing game. One of the things that the Sooners are extremely impressive at defending is the perimeter screen game. The Sooner NLBers and safeties are just all over these plays.
When you place trips formation to the field, the Sooners don’t like to play with just one linebacker in the box. In this situation, look for OU to go man on the short side and drop the free safety (Lynn) down into the box as an extra linebacker. This leaves a void over the top of the box that field side inside receivers might be able to exploit on quick crossing routes right behind the supporting safety.
The cornerbacks for Oklahoma are Zack Sanchez (15), the 5’11”, 176, R FR, from Keller Central HS, at right corner and Aaron Colvin (14), the 6’, 192, SR, from Tulsa, at left corner. Sanchez is backed up by Cortez Johnson (22), the 6’2”, 201, R SO, from New Orleans, while Colvin is backed up by Stanvon Taylor (6), the 5’11”, 173, FR, from Tulsa, and Dakota Austin (27), the 5’11”, 151, FR, from Lancaster, TX.
These Sooner corners are excellent on supporting on short passes. This will be a real test for the perimeter blocking of the Baylor receivers. Those guys come right through Red Raider blocks time and time, again. For a young player, Zack Sanchez is a very solid cornerback. He is a strong hitter and has good reactions in coverage. But after Sanchez had been burned a couple of times on subtle moves and double moves, Zack’s coverage got a lot softer. Texas beat Zack with a slant and go for a touchdown. Tech beat Sanchez twice on double moves: once with an out-and-up and just a few plays later with a nod of an out and then inside vertically. Tech was very good at diagnosing the short side corner blitzes. Almost every time the Sooners tried to bring a corner off of the short side, the Tech receiver would run a 6-yard stop and be wide open until the safety could get there to make the tackle.
Aaron Colvin got an important interception in the Tech game when the Red Raiders had penetrated deep into Sooner territory. Colvin showed press coverage to encourage Tech to think they might be able to get vertical on him. When TT took the bait, Colvin bailed and got over the top of the go route and made a terrific diving interception.
The safeties are Gabe Lynn (9) 6’, 204, R SR, from Reagan HS in San Antonio at free safety and Quentin Hayes (10), 6’, 193, JR, from Lancaster, TX at strong safety. These guys are backed up by Hatari Byrd (4), the 6’1”, 198, FR, from Fresno, CA and Ahmad Thomas (13), the 6’1”, 215, FR, from Miami, FL, respectively.
Because previous Baylor receivers have had tremendous success running “drag-and-go’s” on the OU safeties, I’d expect the Bears to plan for several early drags by inside receivers. The Sooners have been burned too many times vertically off of the drag look. I expect the Sooner safeties to be very slow to jump the drag or square-in routes. If you want to run a quick out to get decent yardage, go to the inside receivers covered by the safeties. These guys are decent cover guys, but they can’t keep up with the quick out moves of Reese, Fuller, Norwood, or Coleman.
Gabe Lynn does a great job of keying offensive linemen for run or pass. When he gets a run look, Lynn is very quick to support and he is a decent tackler when he arrives. If the Baylor offensive line can create a good enough run look on play action pass, Lynn might be lured into supporting when the Bears want to go downfield. Lynn got a nice interception on a tipped pass against Texas Tech. Quentin Hayes made a big play when Amaro tried to run a quick out from the tight end position. Hayes did a great job of jumping this route and creating the incompletion.
Overall
The Sooners really work the ball when they are tackling. They are trying very hard to develop turnovers on every tackle. The Baylor skill players must do an exceptional job of protecting the ball.
Historically, the Sooner defensive teams have been great tackling teams. This year’s version appears to be a little hit-and-miss with their tackling. Too many defenders come up and try to bang runners down with a shoulder hit. There isn’t enough wrapping up of ball carriers or keeping the feet alive after contact.
Texas Tech was very creative in some of their kicking game and offensive play selections. These plays (out of the ordinary and unexpected) seemed to catch the Sooner defenders by surprise each time.
Uncharacteristically, the Sooners have been gouged in the kicking game by both Texas and Texas Tech, too. These teams have been able to get kickoff returns and punt returns on the OU coverage teams. Tech was able to get an extra possession with a surprise onside kick, too.
The Sooners like to give the offense a lot of looks. The Sooner defense tries very hard to disguise their intentions as long as possible. Against Tech, they were very successful at timing the snap count and jumping into coverage changes right before the snap. Teams that have been well prepared have been able to find the open man on the Sooners when they blitz. Lesser teams have gotten blown up by the Sooners blitzes.
Defensive Line
Oklahoma bases out of a 4-man front with two defensive tackles and two ends. Listed as starters at defensive tackle for Thursday night are #93, Jordan Wade (RS FR, 6’4”, 296, out of Stony Point HS in Round Rock, TX) at nose tackle and #98, Chuka Ndulue (RS JR, 6’3”, 274, from Dallas Jesuit Prep) at defensive tackle. They are backed up by # 94, Torrea Peterson (RS JR, 6’3”, 295, from East Central HS in San Antonio) and #95, Quincy Russell (JR, 6’4”, 315, transfer from Trinity Valley JC), respectively. This group has been the major point of concern for the Sooners from last spring until now. Throughout the spring and fall camps, the Sooner coaching staff really didn’t believe that they had solidified this position as much as they had in years past. The biggest play of the night in the Tech game might have been the 13-yard sack by Chuka Ndulue. Ndulue did a good job of a delayed twist on the right side. In addition, he just ran right through the midsection of the Tech quarterback, taking no chance at missing the tackle.
The defensive ends are #91, Charles Tapper (SO, 6’4’, 261, from Baltimore, MD) and #85, Geneo Grissom (R JR, 6’4”, 263, from Hutchinson, KS), backed up by #90, Matt Dimon (FR, 6’2”, 268, from Katy HS) and #99, Chaz Nelson (R SR, 6’2”, 237, from Garden City CC), respectively. Tapper is the alpha dog in the defensive line. Charles Tapper is a very active and athletic defensive lineman. He really pursues the football and does a great job of trying to rip the ball away from the opponent. Geno Grissom made a huge play when he intercepted a Case McCoy screen attempt and returned it for a touchdown.
This defensive line is very large, but not quite as active as we have seen Sooner defensive fronts in the past. They are gap players, but don’t always get off the blocks like you’d want them to do. They can be locked up. Even when they get free, they don’t often make the play. Texas Tech was surprisingly effective at running the football, especially as the game continued. This defensive front makes very few tackles and doesn’t get a lot of pressure on the quarterback without blitz help. Texas was very effective at running the inside zone and the power scheme against this front. The Horns offensive line dominated the Sooner defensive front. The Sooners just didn’t have an answer for the running game of UT.
Linebacker
At middle linebacker, the Sooners say they are starting Frank Shannon (20), the 6’1”, 229, R SO from Dallas Skyline. But the leader of the linebacking corps is Eric Striker (19), the 6’, 219, SO, from Florida). At Outside Linebacker the Sooners start Dominique Alexander (42), the 6’2”, 216, FR, from Tulsa. He is backed up by Aaron Franklin (25), the 6’1”, 222, R JR, from Marshall, TX) and P.L. Lindley (40), the 6’2”, 254, R SO, from Stony Point HS in Round Rock. At Nickel Linebacker, the Sooners start Julian Wilson (2), the 6’2”, 199, R JR, from Oklahoma City, backed up by Kass Everett (23), the 5’10”, 189, SR from Philadelphia.
Eric Striker has terrific speed. He can just flat run by offensive tackles when he comes on a blitz off the edge like he did in the very first long yardage play of the Tech game. Mike Stoops likes to overload a side and bring Eric as the widest rusher. Striker is very effective at this tactic. But Striker is most effective when he is unblocked. When the tackles are able to get their hands on Eric, his impact is lessened greatly. I was very impressed with Frank Shannon’s ability to lock up with a running back in coverage. He is able to really break on the route well.
Alexander is a good linebacker, but he’s not great in space. He is more of a downhill player. This is where Dominique is very effective. He runs right through ball carriers when he is able to work toward the line of scrimmage and find a fit. There was several times where Dominique Alexander missed tackles right at the point of attack on plays that had a little delay or a little stretch to them that you’d expect him to make. He has a tendency to reach for tackles and gives up his feet. This allows strong legged backs to drag him for extra yardage.
Julian Wilson made a huge play when he diagnosed a draw as he was coming from the outside on a blitz. On 4th and 2, Wilson got beaten badly for a big 1st down when he took the inside fake as the receiver (Grant) went vertically. With the Baylor receivers, this play would have probably gone to the house. When Texas caught Kass Everett in man coverage, they ran a wheel route for a 59-yard touchdown. Everett just wasn’t fast enough to stay with the Texas receiver.
Tech had some significant success working the passing game on the interior of the coverage of the Sooner defense. This is not something that Baylor has done with any great regularity. Coach Briles likes to work outside or deep, primarily. Both Texas and Tech were pretty effective with draw plays against the interior of the Sooner defense.
Secondary
The Sooners vary their coverages and they vary their alignments to keep the opponents guessing on their presnap reads as to what OU is going to do. They will show press coverage and bail right before the snap and, conversely, they will show soft coverage and squeeze up on wide receivers. OU likes to play very aggressively early in the ball game, banking on pressure to make the opposing quarterback to make a quick decision. The DBs like to “sit” on routes and jump the first move to put as much pressure on the protection and quarterback as possible. They really drive hard on the ball and could be easily susceptible to double moves. Tech’s Eric Ward beat Zack Sanchez soundly on an “out-and-up” move for a big gain. Just a few plays later, Sanchez took the slightest head fake outside and got beaten vertically for a touchdown by Ward (Tech). If you want to get a short pass to a wide receiver, it appears that going trips into the boundary might be the best way to get a softer look on the outside man. The trips formation locks up any help that might be available to the corner. Therefore, he has to play a little softer than normal.
All of the Sooner defensive backs try to be extremely physical. They use arm bars and grab receivers as they run by them. They put a lot of pressure on officials to make judgments on holding or pass interference on any close play. In most coverages, the corners try to keep ½ and eye on the quarterback and read the shoulders and hands for the release. This makes them very quick to redirect on the quarterback’s release in the short and intermediate passing game. One of the things that the Sooners are extremely impressive at defending is the perimeter screen game. The Sooner NLBers and safeties are just all over these plays.
When you place trips formation to the field, the Sooners don’t like to play with just one linebacker in the box. In this situation, look for OU to go man on the short side and drop the free safety (Lynn) down into the box as an extra linebacker. This leaves a void over the top of the box that field side inside receivers might be able to exploit on quick crossing routes right behind the supporting safety.
The cornerbacks for Oklahoma are Zack Sanchez (15), the 5’11”, 176, R FR, from Keller Central HS, at right corner and Aaron Colvin (14), the 6’, 192, SR, from Tulsa, at left corner. Sanchez is backed up by Cortez Johnson (22), the 6’2”, 201, R SO, from New Orleans, while Colvin is backed up by Stanvon Taylor (6), the 5’11”, 173, FR, from Tulsa, and Dakota Austin (27), the 5’11”, 151, FR, from Lancaster, TX.
These Sooner corners are excellent on supporting on short passes. This will be a real test for the perimeter blocking of the Baylor receivers. Those guys come right through Red Raider blocks time and time, again. For a young player, Zack Sanchez is a very solid cornerback. He is a strong hitter and has good reactions in coverage. But after Sanchez had been burned a couple of times on subtle moves and double moves, Zack’s coverage got a lot softer. Texas beat Zack with a slant and go for a touchdown. Tech beat Sanchez twice on double moves: once with an out-and-up and just a few plays later with a nod of an out and then inside vertically. Tech was very good at diagnosing the short side corner blitzes. Almost every time the Sooners tried to bring a corner off of the short side, the Tech receiver would run a 6-yard stop and be wide open until the safety could get there to make the tackle.
Aaron Colvin got an important interception in the Tech game when the Red Raiders had penetrated deep into Sooner territory. Colvin showed press coverage to encourage Tech to think they might be able to get vertical on him. When TT took the bait, Colvin bailed and got over the top of the go route and made a terrific diving interception.
The safeties are Gabe Lynn (9) 6’, 204, R SR, from Reagan HS in San Antonio at free safety and Quentin Hayes (10), 6’, 193, JR, from Lancaster, TX at strong safety. These guys are backed up by Hatari Byrd (4), the 6’1”, 198, FR, from Fresno, CA and Ahmad Thomas (13), the 6’1”, 215, FR, from Miami, FL, respectively.
Because previous Baylor receivers have had tremendous success running “drag-and-go’s” on the OU safeties, I’d expect the Bears to plan for several early drags by inside receivers. The Sooners have been burned too many times vertically off of the drag look. I expect the Sooner safeties to be very slow to jump the drag or square-in routes. If you want to run a quick out to get decent yardage, go to the inside receivers covered by the safeties. These guys are decent cover guys, but they can’t keep up with the quick out moves of Reese, Fuller, Norwood, or Coleman.
Gabe Lynn does a great job of keying offensive linemen for run or pass. When he gets a run look, Lynn is very quick to support and he is a decent tackler when he arrives. If the Baylor offensive line can create a good enough run look on play action pass, Lynn might be lured into supporting when the Bears want to go downfield. Lynn got a nice interception on a tipped pass against Texas Tech. Quentin Hayes made a big play when Amaro tried to run a quick out from the tight end position. Hayes did a great job of jumping this route and creating the incompletion.
Overall
The Sooners really work the ball when they are tackling. They are trying very hard to develop turnovers on every tackle. The Baylor skill players must do an exceptional job of protecting the ball.
Historically, the Sooner defensive teams have been great tackling teams. This year’s version appears to be a little hit-and-miss with their tackling. Too many defenders come up and try to bang runners down with a shoulder hit. There isn’t enough wrapping up of ball carriers or keeping the feet alive after contact.
Texas Tech was very creative in some of their kicking game and offensive play selections. These plays (out of the ordinary and unexpected) seemed to catch the Sooner defenders by surprise each time.
Uncharacteristically, the Sooners have been gouged in the kicking game by both Texas and Texas Tech, too. These teams have been able to get kickoff returns and punt returns on the OU coverage teams. Tech was able to get an extra possession with a surprise onside kick, too.
