Tag: Isaiah Coe

Sooners DT Jeffery Johnson declares for the 2023 NFL Draft

Another interior defensive lineman heading to the league, Jeffery Johnson, declares for the 2023 NFL Draft.

Defensive tackle is a position the Sooners have already addressed through the transfer portal with the addition of [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag]. They’re looking to add Texas State transfer [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag] as well. They’ll need the defensive tackle depth after [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag] declared for the 2023 NFL draft. Now the Sooners are losing another one to the NFL.

After graduating, defensive tackle [autotag]Jeffery Johnson[/autotag] declared for the NFL draft.

Arriving from Tulane in the 2022 transfer portal, Johnson was integral to the Oklahoma Sooners’ defensive tackle rotation. He was third among interior defensive linemen in snaps for the Sooners and recorded 23 tackles and four tackles for loss in 13 games.

From a statistical standpoint, he had his best game of the season against Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl, recording five tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. Playing nose tackle for Brent Venables and Ted Roof, racking up big statistical numbers wasn’t going to be easy, but Johnson was an effective interior player taking up space.

After four seasons with the Green Wave and a fifth in Norman, Johnson is taking his talents to the NFL.

Following Redmond, Johnson is the second defensive tackle to declare for the draft. Josh Ellison opted to enter the transfer portal but played in the Cheez-It Bowl with the Sooners. It’s possible he returns.

With another interior player out the door, the Sooners will have [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], [autotag]Kelvin Gilliam[/autotag], [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag], and Notre Dame transfer Jacob Lacey as the next men up on the defensive tackle depth chart. The Sooners await word on [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], who could return for one more season and are in the running for Texas State transfer Davon Sears.

Because of the position he plays, Johnson may not hear his name called early in the draft. Nose tackles aren’t as highly-valued as some in the league, but he will catch on with someone at the next level.

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Sooners DT Isaiah Coe returning to Oklahoma for 2023

Oklahoma Sooners defensive tackle Isaiah Coe to return for 2023.

With the season over, there are a lot of decisions to be made for many of Oklahoma’s players. It’s a period of self-reflection which lines up perfectly with the start of the new calendar year. As they consider their future, several players have decisions to make.

Oklahoma’s seen plenty of defections to the transfer portal, with a number of them coming before the Sooners departed for Orlando to play in the Cheez-It Bowl. On top of the additions to the portal, the Sooners also lost five (and counting) starters to the NFL Draft.

Needless to say, some gaps need to be filled for Oklahoma if they truly hope to improve on their 2022 record of 6-7.

Receiving confirmation that one of their more impactful interior defensive linemen is returning is huge news for the Sooners.

Isaiah Coe announced via social media that he is returning for the 2023 season. With the departure of [autotag]Jeffery Johnson[/autotag] to graduation and [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag] early to the NFL draft, Coe’s return gives Oklahoma some veteran stability in the interior.

Coe and [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag] become the elder statesman of the defensive tackle room. They look to be front runners to start at defensive tackle in 2023.

In 2022, Coe only recorded two sacks 2022. Still, his ability to take on double teams, get penetration and disrupt plays, especially in the run game, was especially evident in the latter parts of the season. He finished fourth on the team in tackles for loss with eight behind Ethan Downs, Danny Stutsman, and Jalen Redmond. All while playing 80 fewer snaps on the season than Redmond and finishing tied for third among interior defensive linemen in snaps.

With Jeffery Johnson and Jalen Redmond moving on, look for Coe to be a crucial part of the defense and a leader in the defensive tackle rotation in 2023.

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Report Card: Young linemen, running backs stood out for the Sooners

With the final report card of the year, the Sooners’ young offensive linemen and running backs offer hope for the future.

Just like that, season 128 of Oklahoma football is done. By record, they were the worst Oklahoma team since 1998, finishing under .500 (6-7) on the season. However, after the Sooners’ performance against the No. 13 Seminoles, it’s hard to suggest they were as bad as that 1998 team.

Their performance against a good Florida State team offered hope. It provided encouraging signs as we head into the offseason.

Before doing so, we take a look at each position group and grade Oklahoma’s performance from the 35-32 loss to the Seminoles in the Cheez-It Bowl.

5 Oklahoma Sooners to watch on defense vs. Florida State

Oklahoma takes on Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl. Here are five Sooners to watch come game time.

Oklahoma has arrived in Orlando and has been preparing for its matchup with the No. 13 Florida State Seminoles. The Seminoles represent one of the toughest teams Oklahoma will have faced this season and that’s only magnified by the fact that the Sooners will play without three starters on offense and one of their best defenders.

Starting tackles Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris will be out alongside star running back Eric Gray. The loss of defensive tackle Jalen Redmond is where we turn our focus.

Redmond, despite all the inconsistent performances by this defense, was one of the more disruptive forces throughout the season. Oklahoma takes on a very good Florida State offense that is led by dual-threat quarterback Jordan Travis and flanked by running back Trey Benson and wide receivers Johnny Wilson, Mycah Pittman, and Ontaria Wilson.

With no Redmond and a few other depth guys missing thanks to the transfer portal, Oklahoma will have its hands full. However, this opens the door for playmakers to step up on defense, which may provide a glimpse of Oklahoma’s defense in 2023 and beyond. Here are five defenders to watch as the Sooners take on the Seminoles.

Oklahoma receives multiple crystal ball predictions for Notre Dame transfer DL Jacob Lacey

The Oklahoma Sooners projected to land former four-star defensive tackle and Notre Dame transfer Jacob Lacey. From @john9williams

It’s expected that the Oklahoma Sooners will be active in the transfer portal this offseason, and before the season’s even over, they look to be trending toward adding talent along the defensive line.

The Sooners look like the favorite to add Notre Dame defensive tackle Jacob Lacey via the transfer portal. Lacey, a former four-star player out of Kentucky, entered the portal back on October 6 after appearing in 25 games over four years for the Fighting Irish. Lacey was the No. 15 defensive tackle in the 2019 class according to 247Sports.

In four games in 2022, Lacey recorded five tackles, two tackles for loss, and two sacks. Snaps had been difficult to come by for the senior defensive tackle, seeing just nine snaps against North Carolina.  Against Cal, Lacey recorded both sacks and both tackles for loss in Notre Dame’s win.

Lacey visited with the Oklahoma Sooners back on Nov. 4, and Oklahoma’s now received a pair of crystal ball predictions from OUInsider’s Parker Thune and Brandon Drumm.

The Sooners will need veteran defensive tackle help with the possibility of losing [autotag]Jeffery Johnson[/autotag], [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], and [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag] to graduation or the NFL. Oklahoma has young guys like [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag], [autotag]Kelvin Gilliam[/autotag], [autotag]Cedric Roberts[/autotag], and [autotag]Alton Tarber[/autotag] in their first or second year with the program. So, having a guy that’s played more than 600 snaps for Notre Dame will help mitigate the potential losses of experienced depth on the roster.

The transfer portal may not be as active for the Oklahoma Sooners as it was a year ago in the wake of [autotag]Lincoln Riley[/autotag]’s departure to USC. However, [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and his staff will look to add players that make sense as they continue to rebuild the roster.

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Oklahoma Sooners earn bowl eligibility with 28-13 win over Oklahoma State

The offense erupted early, and the defense closed out a big win over Oklahoma State 28-13 in Norman. From @john9williams

The Oklahoma Sooners came out on fire in the first quarter, putting up a record-setting 28 points on the Oklahoma State defense. After the first 15 minutes of play, it looked like a Bedlam blowout was on the way, but from the second quarter on, the Sooners struggled to get anything going on offense and the defense made the plays necessary to pick up a win over the Cowboys to move to 6-5 on the season and gain bowl eligibility.

[autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] was hot in the first quarter, going 14 of 18 for 224 yards and two touchdowns, hitting [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] and [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] on beautiful deep balls down the right sideline. Gabriel added a touchdown on the ground

But after the first quarter, the offense struggled to find any footing. Two turnovers in the second quarter took points off the board, and Oklahoma’s struggles on third down continued. After converting just one third down a week ago against West Virginia, the Sooners struggled again on third down against Oklahoma State, going 1 for 14.

While the offense struggled, the Sooners’ defense played one of their best games of the season. It wasn’t perfect, but they came up with big plays in big situations to limit Oklahoma State to 13 points despite [autotag]Spencer Sanders[/autotag] throwing for 381 yards.

Oklahoma collected four Spencer Sanders interceptions and, with how they were flying around the ball, had several more opportunities to take the ball away from Sanders and the Cowboys. The Sooners’ defense also collected six sacks and 13 tackles for loss.

The Sooners’ defense bailed out an offense that produced just 135 yards of total offense over the final three quarters and no points. Dillon Gabriel was 6 for 22 after his efficient first quarter, for 35 yards and one interception. Though the finish wasn’t great for the Sooners’ offense, that first quarter would be all they needed on the night.

Drake Stoops had an incredible game in what could be his final home game as a Sooner. He led the Sooners with six receptions for 89 yards and a touchdown and made two incredible catches. One put the Sooners inside the five-yard line before their first score of the game, and the second closed Oklahoma’s scoring outburst in the first half.

After his 211-yard performance in last week’s loss to West Virginia, [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag] ran for 90 yards on 20 carries and picked up 30 yards on three receptions. Jovantae Barnes had a good game as well, carrying the ball six times for 59 yards.

Defensively, [autotag]David Ugwoegbu[/autotag] led the team with 10 tackles, but [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] (9), [autotag]DaShaun White[/autotag] (8), and [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag] (8) were right behind him. Washington made a couple of touchdown-saving tackles in the game. One on defense after [autotag]Braydon Johnson[/autotag] broke away from [autotag]C.J. Coldon[/autotag] for a big catch and run. The other came on special teams when [autotag]Brennan Presley[/autotag] was attempting a return. While blocked, Washington stuck his arm out to bring down the shifty playmaker to prevent him from getting into the open field.

In addition to his eight tackles, White added a sack and an interception to continue his strong play of late from the Cheetah position. [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], and [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag] each had great games from their interior defensive line positions. Kelley had two sacks and six total tackles. Coe had five total tackles, 0.5 sacks, and two tackles for loss. [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag] had a sack, while [autotag]Jonah Lau’lu[/autotag] had five total tackles, 0.5 sacks, two tackles for loss, and an interception.

The Sooners picked up a win over an in-state rival, and while it wasn’t pretty on offense for much of the game, the defense made plays in key moments to pick up a win and provide a glimpse of what a [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] defense could look like in Norman.

With some uncertainty about how many Bedlam games there are before Oklahoma moves to the SEC, picking up this win in Brent Venables’ first Bedlam matchup while keeping Mike Gundy from winning two in a row against the Sooners was a great way to finish off the home schedule for 2022.

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Mental miscues, lack of discipline plague Oklahoma in loss to Baylor

The Oklahoma Sooners did themselves no favors on Saturday against the Baylor Bears. From @john9williams

The Oklahoma Sooners had opportunities to take control of the game in their 38-35 loss to the Baylor Bears but instead struggled to get out of their own way throughout a disappointing afternoon in Norman.

Dillon Gabriel threw three interceptions, and the Sooners failed to convert a fourth and short. Oklahoma was penalized eight times for 64 yards. While there were certainly issues with execution and Oklahoma struggled with the Bears physicality, they could have been better were it not for the mental miscues and lack of discipline in the loss.

“Yeah, they’re happening at the most inopportune time. We have to play with better discipline,” Brent Venables said after the game. “We have to be a disciplined football team. Make better decisions, put yourself in a better position, don’t panic in the most critical moments. There’s a bunch of situational things where you have to have a focused intensity about you. This is an intense game, but you have to have great focus to you. Whether they are false starts, the holdings, hands to the face, or a pass interference. All those things add up.”

At the end of the first half, as the Sooners were driving to get into scoring range, Oklahoma had two penalties on a play that Dillon Gabriel picked up a ton of yardage with his legs. There was a holding call on the offensive line, which would have brought the play back, but it was Andrew Raym’s illegal hands-to-the-face penalty that pushed the Sooners to the fringe of Zach Schmit’s field goal range.

Schmit hadn’t attempted a field goal of more than 50 yards all season, and he wasn’t able to hit from 55 to tie the game going into halftime.

In the third quarter, David Ugwoegbu strung Craig Williams to the left and brought him down for a five-yard loss to set up what would have been a 3rd and 13 in the red zone. A personal foul penalty on Isaiah Coe during some after-the-whistle extra-curricular activities set Baylor up with a 1st and goal from the seven-yard line instead.

Jalen Redmond responded with a tackle for loss on first down to make it 2nd and goal from the eight. But then C.J. Coldon, who didn’t look for the ball interfered with Baylor wide receiver Hal Presley, and the ball was placed at the two-yard line giving the Bears a fresh set of downs.

That entire sequence was a microcosm of the entire day for the Oklahoma Sooners. Just when it looked like they were on the verge of turning the game in their favor, they shot themselves in the foot.

Throughout the game, Baylor capitalized on Oklahoma’s mistakes, taking advantage of the penalties and scoring 10 points off of turnovers.

“In wins, we’re able to overcome it,” Venables said. “In five wins, we had good discipline. In four losses, we did not. We have to be more disciplined. I have been talking about discipline for 11 months. It starts with the coaches getting the players to play with more discipline. And then the players, in the moment, playing with discipline. I’ve seen moments we’ve played with great discipline. And then plenty of critical situations where we didn’t. The ones we didn’t, they made them paid for.”

The Baylor Bears played well on Saturday, but Oklahoma was good enough to win the game. But you can’t shoot yourself in the foot as often as Oklahoma did in this game and expect to win. The penalties and the turnovers are too much to overcome. They haven’t been good enough to overcome mistakes, especially as many as they made on Saturday.

Not many teams would be able to.

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Report Card: Front seven failures, turnovers doom Oklahoma vs. Baylor

Oklahoma was inconsistent in their performance against the Baylor Bears. How did we grade each position group? From @thatmanbryant

Saturday’s effort for the Oklahoma Sooners followed an almost identical script to the game they played against the Kansas State Wildcats. An inability to stop the run, untimely errors on offense, and a chance late to flip the script. However, a crucial fourth-quarter fourth-down stop was too much to ask for. That same scenario played out in the Sooners 38-35 loss to Baylor.

Things weren’t all bad as a collective, but it wasn’t good enough, and that has become an all too familiar feeling after Oklahoma Sooners games this season.

How did Oklahoma perform in this week’s positional report card?

Eric Gray leading the way of highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners per Pro Football Focus

Eric Gray leading the way for the Oklahoma Sooners as the highest-graded player from Pro Football Focus.

At the midway point of the season for the Oklahoma Sooners, we’ve seen enough that we should have a good feel for who some of the best players are on this squad.

Dillon Gabriel may be the most valuable player on this team. We witnessed the difference in the offense when he wasn’t available. His and the Sooners’ performance against the Kansas Jayhawks a week ago put his value to this team on full display, throwing for 403 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

But there’s another player that should be in the discussion of best player on the squad and that’s Eric Gray. He’s been invaluable this season, rushing for 695 yards and averaging 7.2 yards per carry. Even after the bye week, he’s still inside the top 10 in runs of 10 yards or more.

Gray’s elusiveness has led to a breakaway percentage of 43.7%, which is top 20 in the nation among running backs with at least 96 carries on the season. Breakaway percentage reflects the percentage of carries that have gone for more than 15 yards. Eric Gray’s 12 runs of 15 yards or more is tied for 15th in the nation.

And it’s that ability to break big plays that has the Eric Gray as the highest-graded Sooner through the first half of the season.

Here’s how the Oklahoma Sooners rank and were graded by Pro Football Focus among players with at least 100 snaps.

5 observations from the Oklahoma Sooners first official depth chart

Observations from the first official depth chart released by Oklahoma as the Sooners prepare for their week one matchup with UTEP.

Folks, we have arrived at the first game week of the season for the Oklahoma Sooners. The wait is nearly over and we are merely days away from meaningful football being played in Norman, Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Sooners have been at it since the winter months getting in shape, lifting in the weight room before transitioning to spring ball, which culminated in one of the best spring game atmospheres the sport has ever seen.

All of that has led us to this week, which is the first game week for Brent Venables as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

Venables will don the headset and will see his first team as the head coach take the field against a UTEP team that lost its first game against North Texas 31-13 during week zero.

While UTEP has game tape already out there for the Sooners to watch, the Miners will only be able to piece together information from watching last year and game plan based on the Sooners’ depth chart, which was released Monday morning.

We took a look at the depth chart and offered five observations below.