Oklahoma Sooners safety [autotag]Robert Spears-Jennings[/autotag] is off to a fantastic start in 2024. In fact, his start has been so good that Pro Football Focus has him as their highest-graded safety in college football after week two of the season.
Robert Spears-Jennings is the highest-graded defensive player among players at the Power Four level, having at least 40 snaps this season.
Spears-Jennings is one-third of an excellent trio of safeties at OU, alongside [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] and [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag]. The junior from Broken Arrow is a thumper in the run game for OU’s defense. It turns out that he’s been pretty good in pass coverage as well.
https://twitter.com/PFF_College/status/1833983103380947006
The local product has waited his turn over the last two years, developing in the background with veterans taking a vast majority of the safety snaps. In 2024, he’s broken out with impact plays in both games so far.
Against Temple, Spears-Jennings forced a fumble, one of OU’s six forced turnovers in a 51-3 win.
Against Houston, he stepped in front of a Cougar wide receiver on a pivotal third-and-long early in the fourth quarter that gave the Sooners some momentum. Who knows what could have happened if Houston had converted on that play, as they were only down two points at the time.
According to Pro Football Focus, Spears-Jennings hasn’t missed a tackle through two games this season. He’s fourth on the defense in snaps.
Head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and safeties coach [autotag]Brandon Hall[/autotag] recruited a good one in Spears-Jennings, who is ready to break out even more this year, having contributed on defense ever since he was a true freshman back in 2022.
https://twitter.com/soonergridiron/status/1832607218052497877
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