Oklahoma Sooners senior inside linebacker [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] will play in the final home game of his excellent college football career on Saturday, when OU hosts Alabama.
Stutsman’s four seasons in Norman have seen him come to the forefront of OU’s defensive transformation under third-year head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. He’s become the vocal and emotional heartbeat of the Sooners over the last couple of years.
Stutsman has raised his level of play again in 2024, spearheading the best defense Oklahoma has had in a long time. He’s been particularly great at stopping the run. Pro Football Focus has recognized this as well, as they have Stutsman as their highest-graded linebacker in the nation when it comes to run defense.
Despite OU’s 5-5 campaign, the defense has rarely been the source of the problems, and even when they have, it’s normally been against the pass. The Sooners stop the run well, obviously led by No. 28.
Stutsman could have left the program when Lincoln Riley and Alex Grinch bolted for USC after the 2021 regular season. He instead decided to stay and help turn things around under Venables.
After last season, he could have jumped to the NFL, and would have likely been picked fairly early. He instead decided to stick around and lead the program into the SEC.
Though the wins haven’t come this year, and the season hasn’t gone the way anyone has expected, Stutsman certainly isn’t to blame for that. He’ll likely end up as OU’s leading tackler for the third season in a row, and he’s now moved into the top 10 all-time at Oklahoma in career tackles with 363 and counting.
One of the greatest defensive players of the past decade at Oklahoma will get one more outing in front of his home fans on Owen Field when the Sooners face the Crimson Tide in Week 13.
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