Tag: Jacob Lacey

Trace Ford brings much-needed experience to Oklahoma’s defensive line

Trace Ford will step into a leadership role in his second season as a Sooner.

The Oklahoma Sooners return plenty of experience on the defensive side of the ball in 2024. However, most of it comes at the linebacker position and in the secondary.

Defensive line is a different story for OU entering Year 3 under head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. While there is some experience in the trenches with Ethan Downs and Da’Jon Terry, a number of new faces will have to get acclimated to [autotag]Miguel Chavis[/autotag]’ and [autotag]Todd Bates[/autotag]’ way of doing things.

Oklahoma lost standout performers [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag], [autotag]Jonah Laulu[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag]. The veterans were crucial to last year’s step forward up front.

Each of those players were redshirt seniors, and all but Lacey ran out of eligibility. Lacey was forced to medically retire prior to spring football.

But another redshirt senior, [autotag]Trace Ford[/autotag], decided to return for his second season in Norman. He’ll step into more of a leadership role as OU moves from the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

Ford isn’t the most experienced player on the D-line for the Sooners (that would be Downs). He may not be a starter at his defensive end position (it’ll likely be [autotag]R Mason Thomas[/autotag] opposite Downs). But, his experience in college football will be extremely valuable for the bevy of talented true freshmen that Chavis and Bates brought in. As a former transfer, he’ll also be a resource for the younger transfer portal additions, such as [autotag]Damonic Williams[/autotag].

Ford played mostly in a reserve role last year on a crowded defensive line. After transferring from Oklahoma State following 8 1/2 sacks in three seasons, he had 18 tackles last year for the Sooners. He also snagged one interception against Tulsa.

Modest stats, sure, but Oklahoma is entering a conference where the trenches are the difference between winning and losing games. Teams that are strong up front and have the athletes to get the job done, typically win in the SEC. The teams that don’t get swallowed up and exposed quickly.

The offensive line remains a question mark for the Sooners, but the defensive line is an area to watch after a lot of player movement since this winter. Having a player like Ford, who provides depth and experience, can only serve to help OU the deeper they get into the season.

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‘Definitely handling my business’: David Stone knows what he needs to do to see the field early

With the loss of Jacob Lacey, it’s time for the younger guys to step up and David Stone knows what he needs to do.

The Oklahoma Sooners will return one of the more experienced defenses in all of college football in 2024. The one spot that doesn’t have a lot of snaps to its ledger is the interior defensive line.

They bring back [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag], who played 306 snaps at defensive tackle last season. [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag], who played a lot for Texas State prior to his arrival to Norman, didn’t play much for the Sooners in 2023. Neither did former four-star [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag] or 2023 signees [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag] or [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag].

Outside of Terry, no other Sooners defensive tackle played more than 100 snaps last season

There are some talented players with potential, but not much in the way of experience.

That’s why it was such a big loss when Jacob Lacey stepped away from the game due to a medical issue. Lacey led the defensive tackle position in snaps last season and was expected to start in 2024. With experienced depth lacking on the roster, the younger guys will have every opportunity to get on the field and make plays.

Someone who has an opportunity to fill that void is [autotag]David Stone[/autotag]. Last week the newcomers did a round of interviews and Stone spoke about what he needs to do to get on the field.

“Definitely handling my business,” Stone said. “Limiting the amount of errors that I make. As a freshman, that’s something that people tend to do is make mistakes but if I want to see the field, I know that’s something I’ve got to limit. I have very small room for error when it comes to technique so I just have to make sure I stay on top of things like that and learning the playbook.”

Defensive tackle is one of the positions that be difficult to make an impact early. They level of talent and physicality takes a significant step up from high school to college and from college to the NFL.

While the physical side is always tough, the mental side can be just as tough, if not more so, for incoming freshmen, especially in a complicated Brent Venables defense. But if Stone can figure things out and get the mental side down, he could be in for a big year.

Stone is no stranger to transition after moving from Del City to IMG Academy to play out his final two years of high school ball. He’s also no stranger to playing against the best as IMG attempted to schedule as difficult a slate of games as possible to highlight their athlete.

Every step of the way, David Stone has risen to the occasion. With his ability and mentality, there’s no reason to doubt he can’t come in and be an impact player in year one.

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How would a two minute warning affect the Oklahoma Sooners?

Another rules change could be coming to college football but how would that impact the Sooners and the rest of the teams?

This is an offseason of change. Gone are the Big Ten, Pac 12, [autotag]SEC[/autotag] and [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] as we’ve grown to know it. Instead, the Pac 12 is essentially gone, the Big 12, SEC and Big 10 are all adding new teams to their leagues.

But that might not be the only thing that is changing this offseason. The NCAA Football Rules Committee is set to meet at the end of February to discuss some possible rule changes. The biggest one would be the potential addition of a two-minute warning during the 2024 season.

For those that don’t know, the NFL has a two-minute warning where the clock stops at the two-minute mark unless a play is ongoing in the second and fourth quarters. It is basically an extra timeout late in games.

If you remember, the rules committee made a few clock-related changes last year. The clock doesn’t stop on first downs until the final two minutes of each half. So, wouldn’t this slow it down? Well not necessarily, this would essentially fill the place of an existing TV timeout. It would give a guaranteed break at the two-minute mark and could reduce the chances of back-to-back stoppages elsewhere, which we’ve seen after kickoffs.

The Athletic spoke to the NCAA National Coordinator of Officials, Steve Shaw, who explained how this would help with the back-to-back stoppages.
“We’d really like to avoid the back-to-backs. Nobody likes that. If we did it, the media partner would have to hold their last timeout to that, so they couldn’t get their timeouts in and then get a freebie. It would be the last media timeout and give them assurance they’ll get them all in. I think TV would be supportive of it.”

This would affect game management strategy going forward like when to use your timeouts and when not to. It also would affect how you run your offense. Maybe you’re okay with running the ball just before the two-minute mark, knowing you will get a stoppage.

Clock management will become an even bigger emphasis for coaches going forward. In the game vs. the Texas Longhorns last year, [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] sacked Quinn Ewers just before the two-minute mark. The Sooners ended up using two timeouts after their following two plays, but if you had the two-minute warning, the Sooners could have saved one of their timeouts for that final drive.

Obviously, it didn’t matter. But that is an area where it could impact teams going forward. For now, we’ll have to wait and see how much backing it gets and if it is something the committee can move forward with.

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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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‘Their focus is a little different’: Brent Venables on the importance of returning seniors

The Sooners have received a lot of good news on the defensive side of the ball with four key players returning for their senior seasons.

No matter where he’s been, [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] has been able to get players to return for their senior seasons. He did that once again this offseason as four key players on the defensive side of the ball announced they would be returning for one last ride.

[autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] all played key parts in the improvement of the defense and will all play a huge role in how the first year in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] goes.

Venables spoke about how important it is for players to return for their senior years.

“My experience has been, the older you are, the more you’ve played, the better you play,” Venables said. “Guys that are playing that fourth or that fifth or that sixth year, they just play more consistently. Their focus is a little different. They don’t get as distracted. These are guys that are coming back. They are focused on a mission, the mission of this program, certainly on the team and then themselves. So, it’s a very committed group of guys.”

It’s also important to have those guys there to be able to help the young guys continue to progress. It’s now year three in this system for them, so it helps the coaches out when the players can help teach the scheme. Which in turn should lead to fewer mental mistakes.

The Sooners will rely on underclassmen to step into big roles on both sides of the football. Having that experience on the defensive side will make the transition even smoother.

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DT Jacob Lacey announces return to the Sooners for 2024 season

The Oklahoma Sooners defensive line continues to get a boost after Jacob Lacey announced his return for the 2024 season.

Though the Oklahoma Sooners have suffered a lot of losses on the offensive side of the ball, the defense is retaining players left and right.

Billy Bowman and Danny Stutsman opted to return to Oklahoma instead of a potential top-100 draft selection. Yesterday, Da’Jon Terry announced his return. Coming back to help Terry man the middle for the Sooners will be [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag].

Lacey transferred to Oklahoma from Notre Dame last offseason and became a significant part of the Sooners defensive tackle rotation. Lacey was 11th in defensive snaps, but led the defensive tackle position with 363 snaps in 2023.

In 2023, Lacey recorded 16 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a sack. And while those numbers may not be eye-popping, but he and his defensive tackle mates helped improve Oklahoma’s run defense and in particular their short-yardage defense.

In short, they did the dirty work.

Lacey and Terry provide the Sooners veteran leadership at the position as the Sooners continue to bring along [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag], [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag], and [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag] as well as the Sooners vaunted 2024 defensive tackle class projected to be headlined by [autotag]David Stone[/autotag] and [autotag]Jayden Jackson[/autotag].

Lacey and his defensive tackle teammates will be instrumental in the Sooners success when they move to the SEC next year.

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Sooners DL gets huge boost for 2024 with the return of Da’Jon Terry

The Oklahoma Sooners got some more new good news as their anchor in the middle will return in 2024.

While it seems like this has been a crazy week for the Oklahoma Sooners, they did receive some more good news on Thursday. The Sooners have been waiting to see how many of their key players from the 2023 season would return and how many would leave.

They are still waiting on a few guys to make that decision, but one very big piece, no pun intended, made his announcement Thursday. [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag] announced on social media that he would be returning to the Sooners in 2024.

The 6-foot-3, 321-pound defensive tackle was arguably the Sooners best defensive lineman in 2023. He was the man who clogged up the middle of the defense on key goal-line stands, including the one in the [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag].

 

His numbers aren’t eye-popping. He finished with 17 tackles, three tackles for loss and one sack. But unless you are a superstar like Aaron Donald, for example, your numbers at that position usually aren’t off the charts. That position is key for clogging up the middle and holding blocks so the linebackers can fly around and make plays.

That’s what he did all season, and you need that big of a body when you head to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag]. Oklahoma is going to need more of those kinds of players before next season. Something they are trying to do in the portal.

But with the losses of [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], the Sooners needed Terry to come back. If so, they could only lose two key players at defensive tackle going into 2024.

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Report Card: Offensive fireworks help gloss over Sooners’ defensive woes

Offense dominates the day and passes final Big 12 test en route to a 69-45 win over TCU. We graded the team’s performance in this week’s report card.

Oklahoma has rebounded from the nightmarish season from 2022. They’ll spend the rest of Thanksgiving weekend at 10-2, a sharp contrast from the 6-6 record they amassed before their bowl game last year.

Friday saw the Sooners end their final regular season as Big 12 members in true Big 12 fashion with an old-fashioned shootout. The two teams combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense and 114 points in a 69-45 Oklahoma win.

Senior Day festivities preceded the game, with more than 20 Sooners recognized. Oklahoma’s win also solidified their 59th undefeated home record as well.

As Oklahoma waits to see how the rest of the Big 12 race plays out, we’re here to grade their performance in the win over TCU. Here’s the final report card for the regular season.

‘I was on IVs right up until kickoff’: Danny Stutsman rose to the occasion when called upon

Although he was under the weather and didn’t have his best game, Danny Stutsman shined when it mattered most.

While [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag]’s 100-yard pick-six was the play of the game, their other star on defense also made a huge play late to help get the Oklahoma Sooners the win over the [autotag]BYU Cougars[/autotag]. This play also happened late in a tie game.

With 8:43 left in the 4th Quarter, the Cougars faced a 3rd and 4 from their own 37-yard line. [autotag]Jake Retzlaff[/autotag] dropped back to pass and [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] came on a blitz off the left side. Stutsman was able to get to Retzlaff and forced a fumble that was recovered by [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag]. The Sooners scored the game-winning touchdown three plays later.

Stutsman broke that play down for reporters after the game. “We had a blitz called,” Stutsman said. “Backer-backer check. Honestly, I wasn’t going to go, but Kobie (McKinzie) took control there and got me in the right position. Everyone executed, and we got off the field.”

Stutsman finished with 10 tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss. But he didn’t really look like himself all day long. There was even some concern that may not play due to an illness.

“I was on IVs right up until kickoff,” Stutsman said. “I haven’t eaten in like two days. I’m kind of hungry. Once it’s game time, it’s game time. I’m not going to let an external factor affect the team. It’s much more than myself. I’ve got to do whatever it takes to get on that field.”

After making that play, I’m sure everyone is happy he was able to be on that field. Now the Sooners head into their final game of the season hoping for a 10-win season.

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20 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through Week 10 per Pro Football Focus

The 20 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through week 10 per Pro Football Focus.

Though the Oklahoma Sooners are on a two-game losing streak, they’ve already surpassed their win total from a year ago with three games to go and a bowl game.

They still have a shot at a Big 12 title game berth. And after 6-7, that’s all we can really ask for.

The offense has shown improvement on third down and in the red zone. Dillon Gabriel is having a career year. The defense has shown significant improvement this season. A year ago, they allowed 30 or more points seven times. This year that’s only happened once against Kansas. Texas scored 30, but seven of those can be attributed to special teams on the blocked punt.

Yes, they lost winnable games the last two weeks, playing uncharacteristically sloppy football. Otherwise, they’ve been a really good team this year.

As they get ready to close the season, here are the top 20 highest-graded players according to Pro Football Focus through week 10.

Minimum 25% snap count

Offense: 177.75

Defense: 167.75