Alex Grinch's DTs 'have got to step up'

Oklahoma's defensive coordinator 'needs production' from the men in the middle in 2020, including the two junior college transfers

John E. Hoover|

Alex Grinch's DTs 'have got to step up'

For any defense to reach its potential, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch knows it must start up front.

Aside from Neville Gallimore, OU’s defensive line play in 2019 was mostly ordinary.

“All those guys in the middle, they certainly do have to produce more,” Grinch said last week as the Sooners got spring practice started. “And that includes everybody on our defense.”

Grinch said he has high expectations for junior college transfers Perrion Winfrey and Josh Ellison.

Perrion Winfrey hudl highlights

Josh Ellison hudl highlights

They were ranked the No. 1 and 2 juco defensive tackles in the nation, and Grinch needs them to play like it.

“It’s been good,” Grinch said. “Obviously, the junior college guys you bring in, there’s anticipation they help you right away. Otherwise you’d sign a young guy and get him in the program for a few years.”

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Published Mar 20, 2020

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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