Growth Under Grinch: Where Oklahoma's Defense Came from, and Where it's Going

Ten Sooners defenders have gone from trying to figure out what Grinch was talking about in 2019 to knowing exactly what he means in 2021.

When he was a redshirt freshman, Nik Bonitto used to have to process the situation, diagnose the formation, figure out the personnel groupings, understand the tendencies — and then react in real time to the play.

Now, that all happens in a microsecond.

Bonitto is one of 10 Sooner defenders who were getting impactful snaps and mental reps during Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch’s first season. At times it must have felt like they were drinking through a firehose, taking in literally everything at once.

Now, Grinch’s calls are second nature to DaShaun White, Pat Fields, Delarrin Turner-Yell, LaRon Stokes, Jalen Redmond, David Ugwoegbu, Caleb Kelly, Jaden Davis, Brian Asamoah and Bonitto.

“It's a lot of guys who have been in the system for three years now since he's been through that door,” Bonitto said, “and I feel like now, it's just a matter of, ‘OK, we know it, now we’ve gotta help the young guys know it.’ ”

The longer Grinch stays, the more his players will pick things up. Of course, the more OU wins, the more other schools will look into making him their head coach. Which is why Grinch gets $1.8 million a year to stay at Oklahoma and improve the defense and compete for championships.

The growth OU’s defense has shown since the debacle of 2018 has been nothing short of remarkable: from 119th in the nation on third downs, 121st in takeaways, 101st in points allowed, 114th in yards allowed, 59th in run defense and 130th — dead last — in pass defense to last year’s respective rankings of 4th, 19th, 29th, 29th, 9th and 83rd. (That last one obviously still needs work.)

And yet, the Oklahoma defense’s path seems totally planned heading into Year 3 under Grinch.

“It’s kind of gone along as what the coaches said it would be the first two years,” said Kelly. “The first year, we made that really big jump going from my sophomore year to my junior year. And then they said there would be another big one. And then this year there’s supposed to be an event bigger one, because the defense was really strong last year.

“So then going into this year, it’s just kind of like, ‘OK now we’ve just gotta set it in stone and make it to where we can be a top 10 defense every single year over and over and over again.’ ”

That’s Lincoln Riley’s goal, of course, to have a defense that can actually complement his record-setting offense. He didn’t in 2017 or 2018. He does in 2021.

The journey isn’t over yet, but it’s clear that OU’s depth and athletic talent on all three levels is vastly better heading into 2021 than it has been at almost any point in the last 10 years.

“In some positions,” Riley said, “especially defensively, it’s gone from, ‘How are we gonna get this guy off the field?’ to, ‘We’re gonna try to create a lot of reps for a lot of guys (and) opportunities for a lot of guys.’ There's so many guys that are able to play, that are gonna be ready to play and ready to contribute, so it's good.”

“If you have depth,” said Bonitto, “it's just a long day for the offense. An o-lineman, it's scary when you can take one guy out and you can bring in another guy who is just as good (or) even better at specific areas. That's just a tough time for an offense. I feel like it benefits us because whenever we're on the field, we're gonna be 100 percent, and if we're not, we can get the next guy in and there's no drop off.”

Grinch said a total of 28 players got time on defense last year, “so you don’t have to be a starter to contribute. … And we anticipate those numbers increasing this year.”

Gone are the days when Fields and Turner-Yell got the most snaps on the entire team just because they were the only viable options to play safety. Grinch says he feels much better about the young talent he and the defensive staff have recruited over the last two years to fill in where needed — and even push the starters for playing time.

“It creates competition,” Riley said. “It pushes guys. It creates the opportunity to rep guys and get their very best reps in games and not to get into survival mode. It develops guys down the line. It's all positive.”

Said Grinch, “As you're trying to change the narrative, there's only one way to do it. This is a results business and you got to go out there and do it.

“Complacency is something that that does not kind of go and say here I am. It's something that kind of sneaks in if you're not careful. And so that’s something we're very conscious of, as defensive coaches.”

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