Tag: Jacob Lacey

Sooners defensive tackle Jacob Lacey reflected on his offseason scare after Tuesday’s practice

Jacob Lacey once thought he might not get a chance to play this year but ultimately made one of the biggest plays in the biggest game.

Much has been made of the improvement of the Oklahoma Sooners’ defense. One of the unsung heroes has been defensive tackle [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag].

Lacey only has 10 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and one sack but he’s been one of the best run defenders for the Sooners this season. That sack came at a pivotal moment in the [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag]. It ultimately led to the Texas Longhorns kicking a field goal, giving the Sooners enough time to mount their incredible last-minute comeback.

But all of that success almost didn’t happen for Lacey. He told reporters about the battle he faced this offseason.

“I got out of spring ball, and I was working out on my own, and my leg started hurting,” Lacey said. “Being a football player, I just thought it was a knot or something like that. Just go to the training room. I had done an internship with Chick-fil-A at the time, and we had flown around, but everything was fine. Just had a little pain in my leg.”

Ultimately everything wasn’t fine. After being checked out, it was determined Lacey had multiple pulmonary embolisms due to a blood clot in his leg.

“I flew back to Notre Dame to see one of my friends graduate, and on that plane ride, I started losing my breath and coughing up blood,” Lacey said. “That day, when I landed, I went to the hospital at 3:00 a.m. by myself. My friends were graduating, so they dropped me off. The doctor said I shouldn’t be alive. He said straight up, I don’t know how you are breathing. He said I’ll probably never play football again.”

Lacey admits during the summer and fall, it was tough watching his teammates practice while he was sidelined. Then came the news on Aug. 29, 2023, that he long awaited.

“I was cleared,” Lacey said. “Something that allowed me to play so fast was staying locked in, staying engaged, taking notes, doing everything I would do like I was practicing.”

Lacey said he had to do blood thinners for three months, but now he’s back to normal. His presence was felt in the biggest game of the year (to this point) with one of the biggest plays of the game.

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Da’Jon Terry leaves mark in Oklahoma Sooners win in the Cotton Bowl

Da’Jon Terry showed flashes of dominance in Oklahoma’s win over Texas.

The Oklahoma Sooners defensive line dominated the Texas Longhorns‘ offensive line on Saturday in the [autotag]Cotton Bowl[/autotag]. Several players made big impacts on the game, like [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag] and [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag].

Terry is someone a lot of Sooners fans had high hopes for when he transferred late in the offseason. His size was something the Sooners haven’t had in some time. Terry stands at 6-foot-3 and 321 pounds. Terry has been relatively quiet this season from a statistics perspective, but has been one of the better run defenders. His ability to eat blocks allows the linebacker to stay clean and get to the football.

But on Saturday he was able to have a big game himself. He talked to reporters on Monday about how crazy the atmosphere was for his first OU-Texas game.

“They said it was going to be 50-50, but in my head, I’m like there’s no possible way half the stadium is going to be crimson and half of the stadium is going to be orange like there’s no possible way,” Terry said. “Then when we got out there, I was like, ‘oh sheesh that was really for real.’ How loud it was just going back and forth like they were doing the Texas fight song and we were doing Boomer Sooner, it was amazing.”

Terry finished the game with four tackles, one sack, and 1.5 tackles for loss. He was a problem all day for a very good Longhorns offensive line.

When you get a game like this, it can become easy to start to relax. But now it’s key for a lot of these players, like Terry, who had their coming-out parties to build off of it for the rest of the season.

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Report Card: Sooners pass biggest test of the season in win over Texas

The Sooners won an instant classic against their rivals from Texas 34-30. We went and graded every position group’s performance.

Oklahoma’s win over Texas was a significant notch in the belt of head coach Brent Venables. It also signified the revitalization of Oklahoma football, just a year removed from getting blasted 49-0 in the same stadium by the Longhorns.

Venables’ team spent the entire offseason leveling up and striving to return to the standard people have become accustomed to.

This season, the Sooners handled everything that came their way. Every setback or adversity they faced in their first five games prepared them for Saturday in Dallas. The entire team and coaching staff handled it masterfully as the Sooners beat Texas, 34-30.

It was the most complete performance of the season, and some of the most significant areas the Sooners needed to work on after last season’s 6-7 record were on full display. After passing a test like that, it’s time to pass out some grades. It’s report card time.

Oklahoma Sooners name captains for OU-Texas

The Sooners have announced who the captains will be for the Red River Showdown vs. Texas.

The Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns are preparing for the 119th edition of one of the greatest spectacles in all of college football. There’s nothing quite like the [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag]. From the venue at the historic [autotag]Cotton Bowl[/autotag], to being surrounded by the Texas State Fair, to the stadium being split right at the 50-yard line.

In preparation for the game, the Sooners have announced its six captains. Those will be [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], [autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag] and [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag]. All have been lauded as leaders by the coaching staff since the offseason.

It’s also probably not a coincidence the group is mostly made up of players who play in the trenches. Whether that’s the offensive or defensive lines, three of the Sooners captains are from those groups.

This is a game historically won by the big guys up front. The running game is always a major factor in who comes out victorious.

But it’s also guys who have had big years. Stutsman leads the team in tackles, Bowman is tied for the team lead in interceptions, Gabriel has had the best season of his career, Mettauer and Guyton have been a big part of one of the nation’s best pass-blocking units, and Lacey has played a key role in a much-improved run defense for the Sooners in 2023.

With the captains now being set, it only means we are one step closer to game day.

Oklahoma Sooners pass rush will be better in 2023

With added talent and more experience, the Oklahoma Sooners pass rush will be much better in 2023 than it was a year ago.

Among the many issues the Oklahoma Sooners ran into when they entered Big 12 play was the dropoff of their pass rush. In a defense predicated on pressure, the Sooners finished tied for 64th in the nation with 2.15 sacks per game. Much of that success came in their nonconference, when the Sooners defense was looking pretty good. Once they entered Big 12 play, the pass rush was a different story.

The losses of [autotag]Nik Bonitto[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Thomas[/autotag], and [autotag]Perrion Winfrey[/autotag] were felt up front as Oklahoma broke in several new starters along the defensive line.

There was solid play from guys like [autotag]Reggie Grimes[/autotag], who got off to a hot start to the season, and [autotag]Ethan Down[/autotag]s, who closed the season strong. However, the play from their defensive line was inconsistent, and that was felt throughout the back seven.

With Downs and Grimes returning, along with other prominent fixtures in the defensive line rotation like [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], there’s hope that the Sooners’ pass rush will be improved this year.

[autotag]R Mason Thomas[/autotag] showed flashes last fall, as did [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag] in the spring. Both Thomas and Halton play with incredible quickness that they can create pressure in a hurry.

With more experience and another year of development, Oklahoma’s key returners along the defensive line will play a big part in the Sooners’ pressure resurgence.

But the Sooners’ coaching staff didn’t sit on their hands and assume the defensive front would develop. Brent Venables and his crew attacked the transfer portal with the same intensity that he coaches.

Oklahoma Added four defensive tackles in [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]Phillip Paea[/autotag], and [autotag]DaJon Terry[/autotag]. They also added defensive ends [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag] and [autotag]Trace Ford[/autotag]. [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag], who figures to factor in at Cheetah, played EDGE for Indiana in 2022 and accumulated four sacks as a true freshman. In Bothroyd, Ford, and McCullough, the Sooners added 28 career sacks to their defensive end room.

Then there are the incoming freshmen like [autotag]Adepoju Adebawore[/autotag], [autotag]Taylor Wein[/autotag], [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag], and [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag]. Adebawore is the five-star edge rusher that is long and super athletic. Wein flew under the radar until late in his senior year, but he’s also a very good athlete in his own right. Sanders and Strong offer good size and athleticism in the middle and can be disruptive. It only remains to be seen how quickly the freshmen can acclimate and help add to the Sooners’ depth along the defensive front.

If there’s truly strength in numbers, the Oklahoma Sooners have turned what was a weakness a year ago into a strength ahead of the 2023 football season. The talent added to the development they had in-house will be a big reason why the Oklahoma Sooners improve from the six-win team they were a year ago.

The Sooners raised their talent floor along the defensive line for 2023. Although we won’t be able to truly evaluate the pass rush until they get into Big 12 play, and the Texas game in particular, this team has added talent to rush the passer. They’ve raised the talent floor, minimizing any dropoff the Sooners might see from their starters to their rotational guys. That improved talent and more experience will help Oklahoma win on the rush a lot more frequently than it did in 2023.

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Oklahoma’s defensive line needs to make a significant jump in 2023

For the Sooners to improve defensively in 2023, Oklahoma’s defensive line will have to make significant improvements.

It’s no secret a big reason the Oklahoma Sooners didn’t achieve what they wanted to last year was the defense. The Sooners finished 106th in run defense, 119th in pass defense and 122nd in total defense.

A big reason those numbers were so horrific was how poor the defensive line was last season. It couldn’t generate a pass rush, and it struggled to get off blocks and make stops in the run game.

It’s clear the staff recognized the issues from last year and attacked the transfer portal, hoping to improve the defensive front. The big priority over the last few recruiting classes has been to add blue-chip defensive linemen.

The Sooners added six players from the transfer portal: Jacob Lacey, Trace Ford, Davon Sears, Rondell Bothroyd, Da’Jon Terry and Phillip Paea. Throw in Dasan McCullough, who played edge for Indiana in 2022, and the Sooners made a concerted effort to add players that can affect the running game and get to the quarterback.

Each of those additions should contribute this year, and a few might even start. The transfer portal is not the only place where the Sooners added talent. They also added five-star P.J. Adebawore.

He might not be a starter immediately, but he has the potential to start by the season’s end. The team also returns starters Isaiah Coe, Ethan Downs and Reggie Grimes.

A guy that played quite a bit last season as a true freshman and is poised for a breakout season is R Mason Thomas. He’s added weight and appears to have kept his speed and twitch.

The starting defensive line could be Thomas, Coe, Terry and Bothroyd when the Sooners deploy four-man fronts. When they go with a three-man front, it could be Thomas or Downs, Terry and Bothroyd until Adebawore becomes more comfortable.

There’s no doubt the Sooners needed to upgrade the defensive line. Now we’ll see if the results follow.

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What does defensive tackle look like after Derrick LeBlanc’s departure

What does the defensive tackle position look like after Derrick LeBlanc’s departure?

With the news of former four-star defensive tackle Derrick LeBlanc’s departure from the program, let’s take a look at where Oklahoma goes at defensive tackle.

LeBlanc announced on Twitter there were some “unforeseen circumstances” that resulted in him having to enter the portal.

Losing a guy like LeBlanc, you can look at it in one of two ways. On one hand, you don’t want to lose defensive linemen, especially those at defensive tackle. This is a position the Sooners are weak at, and you never want to lose talented players.

On the other hand, you aren’t losing any production. Did he have potential? Absolutely. But he hadn’t played a game yet.

Let’s be real. Unless something changed, he wasn’t going to be in the two-deep this year. I could argue he wasn’t top six at his position for 2023.

Injuries could change that, obviously, but it was unlikely he’d get playing time ahead of guys like [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag], [autotag]Phillip Paea[/autotag], [autotag]Jonah Laulu[/autotag], [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag], [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] and [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag]. One could make the argument that [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag] was in a better position to compete for snaps inside given the size he arrived in Norman with.

There’s been a great deal of buzz about Sanders and Halton this offseason, but both are still young guys that have developing to do. Halton was a four-star signee in the 2022 recruiting class after flipping from Oregon.

There have been rumors about Lacey not being able to play this year, so that would hurt. But we’ve heard Ethan Downs and Rondell Bothroyd could play up and down the line.

2024 is trickier, though. Laulu, Lacey, Kelley and Coe are out of eligibility after this season. Now the Sooners are in the running for elite players in the 2024 class. They can also address issues in the portal. But defensive tackle has some questions to answer in 2023 ahead of the program’s move to the SEC in 2024.

In their first year in the SEC, the Sooners could have very little depth at one of the most important positions. 

If there’s a positive takeaway from the departure from the Sooners’ perspective, it’s that Derrick LeBlanc made the decision now as opposed to next winter. The Sooners are in the midst of recruiting so they might be able to get in on some recruits they had moved on from now that they have an extra spot available on the defensive line depth chart.

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Oklahoma DL Derrick LeBlanc enters the transfer portal per On3 report

According to a report from On3 Sports, 2023 four-star DL Derrick LeBlanc is entering the transfer portal after just one semester with OU.

In an odd turn of events, one of Oklahoma’s 2023 enrollees is entering the transfer portal. After just one semester in Norman, four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag] is entering the transfer portal, according to a report from On3’s Matt Zenitz.

Derrick LeBlanc was Oklahoma’s sixth highest-rated signee in the 2023 cycle and one of two blue-chip prospects signed to the class. Out of Kissimmee, Fla., LeBlanc was the No. 33 defensive lineman in the class and ranked No. 246 overall.

This offseason, the Sooners have been active in the transfer portal, adding interior defensive line options since the portal initially opened in the winter. Oklahoma’s added [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag], [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag], and [autotag]Phillip Paea[/autotag] and moved Jonah Laulu from defensive end to defensive tackle this offseason. Those additions, along with the return of [autotag]Isaiah Coe[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], could have limited his opportunities to get on the field in 2023.

In 2024, the Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to add an impressive group of defensive linemen headlined by [autotag]David Stone[/autotag], [autotag]Williams Nwaneri[/autotag], and [autotag]Nigel Smith[/autotag], potentially creating a more difficult path toward playing time.

LeBlanc was a big addition for the Oklahoma Sooners, helping them secure one of their best recruiting classes in the modern recruiting era. Now with LeBlanc gone, [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag] and [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag] remain as the interior defensive linemen in the 2023 recruiting class.

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Oklahoma Sooners bolster DL depth with portal addition of Phillip Paea

The Oklahoma Sooners added their second transfer defensive line commitment in as many days with the pledge from Phillip Paea.

The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to have an improved defensive line in 2023. After allowing 187 rushing yards per game in 2022, the Sooners have been active in the transfer portal to improve that element of their defense.

The Sooners added their fourth defensive tackle through the transfer portal, receiving a commitment from Utah State transfer defensive tackle [autotag]Phillip Paea[/autotag].

Paea, who spent the last two seasons with Utah State, is coming off an ACL injury suffered early in the 2022 season. Prior to that, he was a starter for the Aggies, helping them win the 2021 Mountain West Conference championship. Paea originally signed with the Michigan Wolverines in the 2017 recruiting class, but didn’t make much of an impact in Ann Arbor, transferring to Utah State after the 2020 season.

Paea joins a defensive tackle room that’s added [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag], [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag], and on [autotag]Da’Jon Terry[/autotag] through the portal. Terry committed to the Sooners on Friday.

The defensive tackle group has a bunch of depth and experience with these additions. The transfer group joins ascending players like Isaiah Coe, [autotag]Jordan Kelley[/autotag], and [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag]. Jonah Laulu moved inside to allow his size and agility be more effective against guards.

Oklahoma also brought in a trio of interior defensive line prospects in the 2023 recruiting class with four-star [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag] and three-star prospects [autotag]Ashton Sanders[/autotag] and [autotag]Markus Strong[/autotag].

Like Terry, Paea figures to help the Sooners as a nose tackle in Brent Venables’ defense. Last year, Paea was listed at 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds.

With all of the additions up front, it’s going to be fascinating to see ow the Sooners deploy their defensive tackles in 2023. The Sooners’ defensive tackle rotation is going to be deep this season. The addition of Phillip Paea ensures they have multiple players that can make life difficult for teams that want to run inside against Oklahoma’s defense.

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Oklahoma Sooners offer Utah State transfer DL Phillip Paea

Looking to fortify their defensive line, the Oklahoma Sooners offer Utah State transfer Phillip Paea.

The spring period may be over, but as the Oklahoma Sooners prepare for summer workouts and fall camp, they’re still looking to add talent to their defense.

On Friday, former Michigan and Utah State transfer defenisve lineman Phillip Paea received an offer from [autotag]Todd Bates[/autotag] and the Oklahoma Sooners. Paea transferred to Utah State after spending four seasons with the Michigan Wolverines where he appeared in just three games.

The former On3 four-star prospect transferred to Utah State and was a starter along the defensive line during the Aggies Mountain West championship run in 2021. Paea started the first three games of the 2022 season before suffering a season-ending ACL tear.

Paea collected 14 total tackles and two tackles for loss in 2021. In three games in 2022, he had two total tackles and an interception.

Paea was a coveted prospect in the 2017 signing classes, earning offers from Michigan, BYU, Michigan State, Oregon, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Miami, USC, Utah and Washington State.

Oklahoma has added a pair of defensive linemen via the transfer portal: [autotag]Jacob Lacey[/autotag] and [autotag]Davon Sears[/autotag]. The Sooners are hoping to improve a defensive line that struggled against the run in 2022. If they’re able to add Paea, he would give them another piece to their defensive tackle rotation, joining Jordan Kelley, Isaiah Coe, Jonah Laulu, Sears and Lacey.

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