Oklahoma’s lack of defensive success was due to several factors in 2022. A lack of depth on the roster led to overextending the linebacker position, among others.
Earlier this offseason, we outlined how much Oklahoma’s trio of Danny Stutsman, David Ugwoegbu, and DaShaun White played for the Sooners last year.
According to Pro Football Focus, only 11 off-ball linebackers played more than 900 snaps in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and three of them were Oklahoma Sooners. Toledo was the only other team that had multiple linebackers with more than 900 snaps on the season. – John Williams, Sooners Wire
Linebacker was up and down in 2022. Largely due to overuse but also because of the new system or position that the trio was working in.
[autotag]DaShaun White[/autotag] was playing the cheetah, something he had never played before. [autotag]David Ugwoegbu[/autotag] was a great leader, but [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] admitted he was someone who should have been a defensive end but had to play linebacker out of necessity. [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] had a really strong end to his season and looks to carry that over this season, but even he was up and down at times.
There’s no question the linebacker group will look a lot different in 2023. [autotag]Justin Harrington[/autotag] won the cheetah position spot and [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag] earned the starting spot next to Stutsman. The athleticism of this group is going to be a lot better than it was a season ago. They just don’t have the experience the previous group had.
Kanak talked to reporters and said learning the position has taken some time.
“There’s a lot more technicalities to it,” Kanak said. “In high school all I played was offense, and you know what you’re going to do and how to execute it. On defense, it’s a trained reaction. It’s knowing what to see and knowing when this happens, why I’ve got to do this, and who’s with me. Just the trained reaction of it, knowing where to put my eyes and knowing what to do when this happens, that’s kind of the bigger thing that I started adapting to.”
Kanak might still be learning the position and getting everything down, but he has Sooner fans excited about his potential. It’s a very real possibility this linebacker group could be the best Oklahoma has seen in many years.
Now, they still have to go out and prove it, and there will absolutely be some bumps along the way. Their first chance to prove it comes this Saturday in Norman.
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