Oklahoma’s new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Ted Roof has been all over the map over the course of his 35-year collegiate coaching career.
He has been the defensive coordinator at Massachusetts, Western Carolina, Georgia Tech, Duke, Minnesota, Auburn, UCF, Penn State, North Carolina State, Appalachian State and Vanderbilt.
Auburn won the 2011 BCS national championship game 22-19 over Oregon with Roof pulling the defensive triggers. Before that, Roof was also Duke’s head football coach during the 2004-07 seasons.
So, why Oklahoma now? The biggest reason is Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables. Roof said he’s known, respected and admired Venables for 10 years, but, after working directly with Venables last season as a defensive assistant at Clemson, he couldn’t say yes fast enough when the opportunity to come to Oklahoma presented itself.
“He’s a guy, again, that’s a very strong leader, has a great track record, but I wanted to be with great people and I am with him. He’s a guy that is going to touch, obviously as a head coach, is going to touch every part of our program, every aspect of it and do what he has to do to make this the absolute best experience he can for our players. At the same time, his passion, his energy, but his commitment because he knows what it’s like to hand kids off to somebody and the privilege and the responsibility that comes with it. I’m excited about that. I’m excited about being part of this staff, the group of men and women that he’s assembled,” Roof said.
Meeting with the media on national signing day, Roof talked about how proud he was to join the Oklahoma staff and what it meant to coach at a place that’s had Hall of Fame coaches like Bud Wilkinson, Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops.
“I have so much respect for the coaches and the players that have come through here before where we are right now. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you want to make an impact and you want to leave it better than where you found it. I’m certainly not critical of anything that’s gone on here and, at the same time, excited about the opportunity to try to make it better. Again, I know because of the history of Oklahoma and all of the great coaches, players, teams, tough-minded competitors that have built this place, there’s a responsibility that goes with it and one I’m ready to embrace,” Roof said.
Roof was familiar with the seven national championships and seven Heisman trophy winners Oklahoma has won and had in its history, but he said the 50 conference championships jumped out at him when he arrived in Norman and at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for the first time.
Now, in order to add to the Sooners’ trophy collection, it’s about installing his and Venables’ vision and structure of this defense during the spring and fall before Oklahoma kicks off its 2022 season against UTEP. Roof described what he wants the Sooners to look like.
“Aggressive and attack. No matter what we’re doing, to do that above all else. Then, be multiple. Extremely multiple where you can get into some three-down structures, obviously four-down structures, some five-down structure. To continue on the attack, some simulated blitzes, things of that nature. You want to change the picture for the quarterback. Obviously, you’ve got to have the ability to stop the run, but the multiplicity of being able to change the picture for the quarterback and attack at the same time,” Roof said.
Again, the allure of continuing to work with Venables was too attractive to pass up. Over the 10 years since Venebles took over as Clemson’s defensive coordinator, the Tigers led the nation in sacks (445) and third-down conversion percentage defense (30.2%).
From 2013-16, Clemson led the nation in tackles for loss and were top 10 nationally in TFLs during the 2013-20 seasons.
Over that stretch, Venables’ defenses were second in opponent pass efficiency rating (111.1) and takeaways (244) and third in scoring defense (17.8 points per game).
“Again, attack, attack, attack in everything we do. Regardless of what the structure looks like, that’s what we hang our hat on. If you look at college football for the last 10 years, the amount of sacks and TFLs, it’s not even close. Clemson has led the country in both of those categories in the last ten years by a long stretch. That’s a combination of a lot of things, but certainly the mindset and the philosophy of the defense that coach Venables instilled. Players that are willing to do it and then players that have ability that can execute that as well, so it’s a combination of a lot of things but it starts with a mentality,” Roof said.
Oklahoma addressed its transfer portal and 2022 NFL draft defections by adding players out of the portal and with its 2022 signing class.
OU signed defensive backs Jamarrien Burt, Robert Spears-Jennings, Jayden Rowe and Gentry Williams; linebackers Jaren Kanak, Kip Lewis and Kobie McKinzie; and defensive linemen and edge rushers Gracen Halton, Kevonte Henry, Cedric Roberts, Alton Tarber and R Mason Thomas in its 2022 class.
The Sooners also brought in defensive linemen Jeffery Johnson and Jonah Laulu, linebacker T.D. Roof and defensive backs C.J. Coldon, Trey Morrison and Kani Walker out of the transfer portal.
“The emphasis is get better at every spot, you know, because at a place like this, when you go through the grind of a season, you’ve got to have quality depth. One deep is not going to get it done. I know that we’ve got some guys that have started some games in the front, but we were able to address the defense at every level. Certainly, if you’re not winning up front on defense, you’re not going to win very many ball games. If you can’t get to the quarterback and you can’t stop the run, that’s going to be a long day at the office,” Roof said.
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