Tag: Danny Stutsman

Danny Stutsman among top draft-eligible players for 2025 NFL draft per CBSSports

The Sooners got a big lift with Danny Stutsman returning to school as he is a top 20 NFL Draft-eligible player per CBSSports.

The Oklahoma Sooners got some massive news this offseason as their leader, [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], announced he would be returning to school for one final season. Stutsman finished the year with 104 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and three sacks.

You could tell a major difference from when he was on the field and when he wasn’t. Stutsman missed the second half of the game vs. the Kansas Jayhawks and the whole game vs. the Oklahoma State Cowboys, both Sooner losses in the regular season.

Stutsman decided to return to school one more season after reports surfaced he was going to enter the NFL Draft. Stutsman confirmed those reports but felt he didn’t want to have any regrets.

CBSSports put out their early top 20 NFL Draft-eligible players and Stutsman made the list.

I don’t know that Stutsman has the athleticism to wow you in a combine setting, but he’s got enough to succeed at the next level. Plus, I don’t care what his cone drill looks like; just put on the tape and watch Stutsman play. He’s a heat-seeking missile who flies to the ball and puts and end to the play. He had 104 tackles for the Sooners this year, including 16 tackles for loss, three sacks and an interception. – Tom Fornelli CBSSports

With Oklahoma heading to the SEC, they bring one of the most experienced defenses in the country with them. Stutsman wasn’t the only one who announced their return as Billy Bowman and Woodi Washington both decided to comeback. Hopefully, with that comes a big jump on that side of the football so the Sooners can get back in the national championship picture.

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Where are the Oklahoma Sooners heading in 247Sports 2024 bowl projections?

The Sooners first year in the SEC could end with them in the Mayo Bowl if 247Sports’ way too early projection is correct.

The Oklahoma Sooners 2023 season just came to an end less with a loss to Arizona in the Alamo Bowl just a few weeks ago. But we are already looking ahead to their first season in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] with our Way-too-early 2024 SEC Power Rankings. It’s also the first season of the 12-team playoff.

The Sooners go into next year with one of the most experienced defenses in all of college football after a number of starters and key contributors announced their returns for 2024. But on the offensive side of the ball, they have to replace one of the most prolific passers in college football history as well as nearly their entire offensive line.

Yes, we are excited about the [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] era and think he will be better than Dillon Gabriel, but until we see it, that is a question mark for next season.

247Sports shared their way too early bowl projections, and because of the turnover, the Sooners ended up in the Mayo Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes.

The Mayo Bowl will be an ACC and SEC matchup next season. Hearing that name probably makes a lot of OU fans groan, but I have said an 8-4, 9-3 season in the SEC your first year will be a success.

I know it’s Oklahoma, and they should be better than that. They will be in the future, but they still have a roster to build, thanks to what [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag] left or wasn’t able to recruit to begin with. That’s not to say this staff hasn’t had their own mistakes because offensive line recruiting hasn’t had the star power, and the development on that side of the ball hasn’t been great either.

But if 8-4, 9-3 is a success, the two teams that played in the Mayo Bowl a year ago went 8-4. What might make Oklahoma fans mad, though, is 247Sports has four SEC teams making the playoff, and of course, Oklahoma isn’t one of them. Neither is the Alabama Crimson Tide, for what it’s worth.

Ultimately, this is an early projection that is a good talking point in the offseason. Oklahoma can definitely make the College Football Playoff next season, but there is going to have to be a major jump and some questions answered.

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Oklahoma officially announces Zac Alley as Sooners co-defensive coordinator

The Oklahoma Sooners officially announce the addition of Zac Alley as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

What was reported more than a week ago is no official as the University of Oklahoma announced the hiring of [autotag]Zac Alley[/autotag] as Sooners co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Alley comes to the Sooners after helping Jacksonville State finish top 10 in turnovers per game and interceptions per game. The Gamecocks were 33rd in the nation in points allowed per game, helping Jacksonville State win nine games in their first season at the FBS level.

“This a tremendous opportunity,” said Alley in the Sooners official release. “Oklahoma is an elite and historic program that has consistently competed for championships. The opportunity to come to OU and work for someone I really respect and who thinks like I do on defense and who wants to be aggressive and get after people on that side of the ball is exciting.

“Everything I do is based on what Coach Venables did at Clemson. That’s been the foundation for how I’ve built defenses. I always respected how he handled himself as a coach and as a man, and I wanted to emulate that as best I could. From the moment I met him, I always wanted to be like him, have a career like his, lead the best defense in the country like him. He’s obviously had a huge influence on me and I’m excited to be back with him.”

More: Social Media Reacts to the report of Zac Alley as OU’s next defensive coordinator.

Oklahoma’s new defensive coordinator has familiarity with [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] after spending time with the Clemson Tigers from 2011 to 2018 as both a student assistant and graduate assistant. He then spent two seasons at Boise State, coaching the inside and outside linebackers before taking the defensive coordinator job for the University of Louisiana-Monroe and head coach Terry Bowden.

The strong relationship with Brent Venables and the success Alley’s had at his previous stops provide the Sooners continuity on defense and a rising star to help lead the defense.

More: What does Zac Alley bring to the Sooners?

“I’m incredibly excited to welcome Zac to our coaching family here at Oklahoma,” said Venables in the release. “He’s going to fit in really well from a cultural, chemistry and philosophy standpoint. Obviously, there’s a familiarity and comfort based on our background together at Clemson. He’s exceptionally hard-working and tough, and has earned his way up the professional ladder by going out on his own and establishing himself. He’s incredibly bright, innovative and passionate.

“Our players are going to love him. He’s got great humility and confidence, and is always finding ways to get better. He’s coached linebackers and the defensive line, he’s been exposed to the secondary and he was an award-winning special teams coordinator at Boise State. Wherever he’s been he’s molded his units into better versions, and he’ll do the same here. He really fits in well with our staff.”

Oklahoma’s defense took a positive step in 2023, improving in scoring defense, turnovers, and total defense. They are an ascending group that will need to take another step as they prepare for their first season in the SEC.

The Sooners keep the rest of their defensive staff intact while also returning stars [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], and [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag]. Oklahoma also brings in one of their best defensive recruiting classes in the modern era for Alley and the Sooners to work with.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on Twitter @john9williams.

Oklahoma Sooners inside top 10 in USA TODAY Sports’ way-too-early top 25

The Oklahoma Sooners are a top 10 team according to USA TODAY Sports’ way-too-early top 25.

The college football season has come to an end but it’s never too early to start looking to next season. I mean we only have 232 days until the 2024 season starts back up.

The Sooners are a team that will probably get some preseason hype like they usually do. They bounced back with a 10-win season and finished top 15 in the country this season.

USA TODAY Sports put together their way-too-early top 25 for next year, and Oklahoma comes in at No. 8.

The Sooners went from six wins to 10, including a victory over Texas, in Brent Venables’ second season. Will that upward trend continue in the SEC with a schedule that is much deeper? QB Jackson Arnold showed promise and inexperience in the Alamo Bowl loss to Arizona. How quickly he and a rebuilt offensive line get up to speed will determine if this team can be in the playoff mix. The defense has standouts LB [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] and DB [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] among its leaders. The unit has made great strides in two years under Venables and looks better-positioned to adjust to life in the SEC. – Paul Myerberg and Erick Smith

They are spot on as to why expectations are where they are going into next season. The Sooners return their defensive standouts after that unit made a ton of progress this season. They will have one of the more experienced groups in the country on that side of the ball.

They have to figure out the offensive line, though. There is no question about that, while also developing their young quarterback. If they can do that, it could be a big first year in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] for the Sooners.

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How did USA TODAY Sports grade the Sooners 2023 season?

The letter grade for the Oklahoma Sooners’ 2023 campaign is in. How did they grade out in Year 2 under Brent Venables?

The 2023 campaign was a year of redemption for the Oklahoma Sooners. After a 6-7 season in 2022, the Sooners bounced back with a 10-3 season in 2023.

The Sooners got a massive win over their arch rival the Texas Longhorns but lost two games they shouldn’t have lost to the Kansas Jayhawks and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. You can argue the Arizona Wildcats as well but it was a bowl game with a bunch of new starters in a game that to me, doesn’t matter anyway.

But overall this year was a year fans wanted to see improvement and they got that on both sides of the ball. So, each year USA TODAY Sports gives each team a letter grade for their season. Now, keep in mind the grades are on a relative curve based on preseason expectations weighed against in-season performance, with attention to special circumstances such as injuries or marquee wins.

There were a lot of people who didn’t think they hired the right coach and they were going to turn into the Nebraska Cornhuskers. I mean this was a team that had one preseason All-Big 12 player on the team and he was selected to the second team. Instead, they finished with two who made All-American teams and six on the All-Big 12 team.
We knew coming in the Sooners needed to win 9 or 10 games in 2023. They did that. So, to me, I think they deserved at least an A- for that but with the teams they lost to I don’t have too big of a gripe with a B+ either.

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Billy Bowman named Oklahoma’s MVP for 2023 by ESPN

Billy Bowman had an incredible year for the Sooners which led to him being named MVP for the Sooners in 2023 by ESPN.

The 2023 season for the Oklahoma Sooners was a year of redemption. The Sooners bounced back from 6-7 the season prior to go 10-3 on the year.

Several key players took their games to a new level like [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] and [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] to name a few. Stutsman and Bowman will even be returning in 2024 for the Sooners.

ESPN licked the MVP of every top 25 team, and for Oklahoma, it was their All-American safety, Billy Bowman.

OU’s MVP choice sparked some debate, as a strong case could be made for quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who had 3,660 passing yards and 30 touchdowns, and heroically lifted the Sooners past Texas and several other solid opponents (SMU, West Virginia). But the Sooners’ turnaround in coach Brent Venables’ second season could be traced to the defense and players like Bowman, who earned first-team All-Big 12 honors after a season filled with big plays. “Everything you want,” an Oklahoma source said. “Consistent, hardworking, leader. Dillon was Dillon, too. Dillon was tremendous.” Bowman finished with six interceptions, which led the Big 12 and ranked second nationally, and returned three for touchdowns, most in the FBS. His 238 interceptions return yards also led the FBS. – Adam Rittenberg ESPN

Bowman was obviously great this past season and was huge for a secondary and a defense that took leaps in 2023. We’ll see if he can continue to improve his game and help the defense take another step in 2024.

An argument could have been made for Danny Stutsman in addition to Gabriel. The Sooners two losses during the regular season came when Stutsman missed a game and a half of action.

But what Bowman did was special. He had a fantastic season and made a number of game-changing plays.

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What does Zac Alley bring to the table as defensive coordinator?

The Sooners are expected to hire Zac Alley as their next defensive coordinator but what can fans expect from the new hire?

On Thursday the Oklahoma Sooners announced they would be mutually parting ways with Ted Roof who had been the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma since 2022. That immediately brought speculation about who the next guy would be for the Sooners.

Would they promote from within with [autotag]Brandon Hall[/autotag], [autotag]Todd Bates[/autotag] or [autotag]Jay Valai[/autotag]? Or would they look for someone outside the program? Reports started surfacing Thursday night the Sooners were expected to hire Jacksonville State defensive coordinator Zac Alley.

Now, it hasn’t been made official yet but let’s take a look at what Oklahoma could be getting from Alley as defensive coordinator.

Alley has a lot of familiarity with [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. He worked for four years (2015-18) under Dabo Swinney as a graduate assistant at Clemson. Alley spent the entire time on the defensive side of the football, where he worked primarily with the defensive tackles and linebackers.

He would leave there and head to Boise State to be the co-special teams coordinator and linebackers coach. His first opportunity as a defensive coordinator came from Louisiana-Monroe.

He turned what was the No. 125 ranked rushing defense in FBS in 2020 into the 69th-ranked rush defense in 2021. The Warhawks improved in 11 of 14 defensive categories from 2020 to 2021.

He took the same position with Jacksonville State in 2022. 2023 was their first season in FBS.

In 2023, they allowed 352.8 yards per game, 111.5 rushing yards per game, 241.3 passing yards per game and teams converted 32% of their third downs. They also ranked No. 8 in the nation in stop rate, in the 96th percentile in run defense success and 67th percentile in pass defense success.

Jacksonville State led Conference USA in almost every statistical defensive category including, total yards, rushing yards, yards per carry, sacks, forced fumbles, total touchdowns allowed and was second in interceptions.

More: Social media reacts to reports that Zac Alley will be the next defensive coordinator

From reports, Alley is a “mini” Venables. In fact, in an interview with the Post and Courier back on Nov. 2, 2023, he talked about the similarities.

“I laugh about it,” said Alley, the JSU defensive coordinator who learned the trade while working as a student assistant and graduate assistant when Venables was defensive coordinator on Clemson’s best teams. “But I talk like Coach V. I coach like him. My parents tell me my mannerisms are like him on the sidelines.” – exceprt from the Post and Courier article

He also requires the services of a “get back coach” just like his new boss used to. You can even see the similarities from practice when he was Mic’d up at ULM.

All signs pointed to this type of move. Bringing in someone Venables had trust in to run the defense and had a similar philosophy. Venables can hand his defense off to someone so he can be more of a “CEO” type of head coach.

That doesn’t mean he won’t have any part in the defense because he will. Every head coach still has a say in everything going on. It just means he can now focus on other things more because he has someone he trusts leading the defensive group.

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Oklahoma Sooners land two on ESPN’s top 100 college football players list

It was a bounce-back season for the Oklahoma Sooners and they were awarded with two on ESPN’s top 100 college football players list.

The 2023 college football season was a season of redemption for the Oklahoma Sooners. After going 6-7 the year before, the Sooners finished 10-3 this season.

A big part of that was the improvement made by several key players, including two of their best. So, much so that ESPN listed two Sooners on their top 100 college football players list for the 2023 season: [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] and [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag].

Prior to the season, Gabriel was No. 60 on ESPN’s list but finished 2023 at No. 28.

Gabriel has already moved on to Oregon, but he cemented his place as an Oklahoma legend when he became the first OU QB with at least 250 passing yards and 100 rushing yards against Texas, driving the Sooners 75 yards in 1:02 and throwing a 3-yard TD pass to Nic Anderson with 15 seconds left in a 34-30 win. He passed for 3,660 yards, 30 TDs and 6 INTs and ran for 373 yards and 12 touchdowns. — ESPN’s Staff

Stutsman was No. 52 in the preseason, but finished at No. 89.

Stutsman, the Sooners’ leader on defense, led OU in tackles for the second straight year, with 104 total stops, adding 3 sacks, an interception and 2 forced fumbles despite missing half of the Kansas game and all of the Oklahoma State game, both OU losses. He was named a third-team AP All-American and is bypassing the NFL draft and returning to Oklahoma next season, big news for the Sooners. – ESPN’s Staff

That ranking for Stutsman is way too low in my opinion. Also not having [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] on the list is a shame. Several writers for ESPN broke down the top 100 players list, and David Hale believed Stutsman was underrated.

There are a bunch of guys in the bottom half of our list whom I’d have higher, but let me make the case for Oklahoma’s Danny Stutsman. He played in 12 games, had 104 tackles (16 for a loss), two forced fumbles and a pick-six. Moreover, he was the heart, soul and personality of the Sooners’ D, a Brent Venables archetype that, frankly, Oklahoma had too few of. Besides, if you’re being compared to Brian Bosworth, you’re a top-50 player with a bright future either in the NFL or running a small sheriff’s department in a Dr. Pepper-obsessed town outside Tulsa.

He’s right. Stutsman was snubbed as a finalist for the Butkus Award all because of an injury he suffered, and he wasn’t the same the latter half of the season. That still shouldn’t take away from how dominant he was for much of the season.

It also was clear in the second half against the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag] and the full game against the [autotag]Oklahoma State Cowboys[/autotag], the defense was not the same with him not on the field.

It’s probably not a coincidence they lost both of those games with him out although you could argue the defense wasn’t exactly the issue.

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Woodi Washington returning for another year with Oklahoma Sooners

The Oklahoma Sooners received some good news with the announcement that Woodi Washington is returning for 2024.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ defense continues to get good news this offseason with the return of veteran cornerback [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] for his sixth season. Using his extra year of eligibility available to him due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington provides the Sooners with another experienced piece for Brent Venables and Ted Roof’s defense.

Washington joins other vetarn leaders on the defense like [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], and defensive tackles [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] to help give that side of the ball a ton of experience heading into the SEC.

Oklahoma had issues at cornerback in 2023, largely due to inexperience and a number of injuries that plagued the position. But Washington was a mainstay, starting each of Oklahoma’s 13 games and finishing first on the team in defensive snaps with 851. Bowman was second, 70 snaps behind Washington.

Though Oklahoma’s defense was 112th in the nation in passing yards allowed, they were also 22nd in the country in completion percentage against. With Washington returning, they have a chance to continue to improve on their defense that jumped from 99th in the nation in scoring in 2022 to 48th in 2023, improving their points per game allowed by a touchdown.

With Washington, the Sooners have security. As they continue to develop their cornerback talent, they know they have a good veteran option to rely upon for 2024.

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Jackson Arnold will be better for Alamo Bowl experience

Jackson Arnold’s first start for the Oklahoma Sooners wasn’t smooth sailing, but the adversity will only make him better.

Offensive coordinator Seth Littrell wasn’t concerned about easing his true freshman quarterback into the game. Jackson Arnold threw the ball on the Sooners’ first three plays of the game.

They weren’t straight dropbacks as the Sooners dialed up the run-pass option on the first play of the game and a play action naked bootleg on the second. On his first straight drop on 3rd and 10, Arnold threw a good ball to Drake Stoops, but Arizona safety Genesis Smith drove on the ball and through Stoops to intercept the pass.

It was Arnold’s first interception of his career and first in a game in which the Sooners had six turnovers. In total, Arnold had three interceptions and a fumble.

Despite three first half turnovers, the Sooners took a 14-13 lead into halftime, thanks in large part to a tremendous defensive effort, but also because Arnold settled in and found his stride.

It wasn’t the start that everyone had hoped for as the Sooners ultimately fell 38-24, but it was a game that revealed a lot of positive things about the Sooners’ quarterback.