Oklahoma 2020 Report Card: Safety/Nickel

SI Sooners Publisher John Hoover and Deputy Editor Ryan Chapman look back on the 2020 season, handing out position-by-position grades for every position group

Author:
Ryan Chapman
Publish date:
Jan 9, 2021 8:00 AM EST

Hoover's grade: B+

Remember in 2019, when Delarrin Turner-Yell, Pat Fields and Brendan Radley-Hiles kept having to play all the snaps at safety and nickel because Alex Grinch kept saying no one else was stepping up?

Well, in 2020, almost everyone stepped up.

Tre Norwood’s knee got healthy, Jeremiah Criddell got some valuable experience, Bryson Washington got playing time, Justin Broiles helped out — and Turner-Yell and Fields were certainly better for it.

The key was Norwood, who spelled both safeties early but eventually took over the nickel spot for Radley-Hiles. Norwood’s instincts and ability helped him get five INTs this season, the most by an OU player since Zack Sanchez had seven in 2015.

After struggling mightily against Iowa State, both Turner-Yell and Fields were playing the best football of their careers by the end of the season — in no small part because all that depth allowed them to get some rest.

Tre Norwood made play after play for the Oklahoma defense, finishing the year tied for third in the country with five picks.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Chapman's Grade: B+

When both your safeties are returning, things can go one of two ways. Either it can be a bad thing, as you’d like to replace them both, or it can be a benefit to return two experienced starters.

For Alex Grinch, the play of Pat Fields and Delarrin Turner-Yell was a steadying force on the back end of the defense.

Outside of Fields’ pair of dropped interceptions in Ames, both safeties grew in confidence as the season wore on and weren’t a weakness in the Oklahoma defense.

Pair the safety play with the re-introduction of Tre Norwood at nickelback and Grinch ended up with a real difference maker. Nabbing two interceptions in his grand return at Texas Tech, Norwood would make play after play, finishing the year tied for third in the country with five picks.

If Norwood had been able to contribute from day one, this group would have had a real shot to earn an A on my 2020 report card.