DT Bishop Thomas is Finding His Place in Oklahoma’s Demanding Defensive System

NORMAN — A young man wise beyond his years, Bishop Thomas has already made an impression. Coming from Georgia State after stints at Colorado and Florida State, that would make sense — he's played a lot of ball.

Brent Venables has already praised his "growing and maturing" over the years to "figure out what he wants." As simple as it seems, that's sometimes an important piece to playing big-time college football.

And understanding that pesky playbook.

"Really ain't nothing harder than that playbook," Thomas said last Thursday. "I'm going to keep it real with you. But I would just say the daily process, you know, just outside the playbook, just film, studying and school. Just all the things. That's how I say, basics."

That's not to say that Thomas' problem with the playbook is indicative of his inability to play or is unique only to him. Defensive back Michael Boganowski mentioned that his biggest hurdle has been the playbook while Thomas was conducting his media scrum.

Young players and new players both spend much of their offseasons learning the playbook — let alone defensive players learning a complex system like the one Venables runs.

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"It's definitely a fun system to learn. You know, once you know the ins and outs of football itself, I think it's good," Thomas said.

Like an offensive-minded head coach who runs a quarterback-friendly system, it makes sense that Venables' aggressive defenses that ask its players to move around more than a military family would be attractive to defensive players. Just look at the Sooners' 2027 recruiting class.

Thomas, who has played nearly 30 games at three different schools, is no different.

"It's fun because you know, now the offensive line has to choose which one they want to block," Thomas said. "I love (this defense) because you know, you can't just sit still and because offense will pick up on that. So you just got to move around, play with their mind. I like the way (Venables) thinks."

The elder Thomas keeps impressing his new teammates.

Trent Wilson has already found a connection with Thomas and has used him as a resource in his own growth.

"Bishop has brought a lot to the room," Wilson said last Tuesday. "His enthusiasm, his consistency. He’s a very versatile player. He that quick-twitch guy that every d-line needs. He a vet as well. Me and him, I feel like we’ve got a good connection. We be out there on the field at the same time."

But Thomas knows there's still work to do. "If you make it complicated, I would say anything is complicated if you make it that way," Thomas responded with a smile when asked if Venables' system was difficult to grasp.

His attitude suggests that he knows the light bulb will come on so he can truly provide help to this defensive line.

"If it's anything, I'll prove something to myself right now. You know, I'm just at a level where I've been dreaming about and so now it's just time to put in that work," he said.