Oklahoma LB Cole Sullivan Making Strong Impression as he Learns new Roles

The Michigan transfer is the Sooners defender most impacted by Owen Heinecke's return.

Oklahoma linebacker Cole Sullivan, who worked primarily at middle linebacker during the spring, is expanding his role in preseason camp to include the cheetah spot. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

NORMAN — Last spring, Nate Dreiling was sitting across the table from Cole Sullivan when the call came that Owen Heinecke had been granted an injunction allowing him to return to Oklahoma.

“I looked at Cole Sullivan’s face and he’s cheering and high-fiving people and clapping,” Dreiling, the Sooners' inside linebackers coach said. “He arguably lost his starting Mike linebacker spot, right? But he understood what Owen could bring. He’s been around Owen enough to realize it’s gonna be way better for the team than just him individually.”

That’s not to say it was easy for Sullivan, who transferred from Michigan with the hopes of becoming the starting middle linebacker for the Sooners.

“At first, there’s a bit of uncertainty, like, ‘What’s this going to mean for me?’ But I think this is just going to help the team overall,” Sullivan said. “Down the line, if it helps the team it’s going to help me too. I truly believe that my success is just going to come through the team’s success. Coach (Brent) Venables says all the time that there’s enough room for everybody to eat on this team and if the team succeeds, everybody is going to have their own individual success as well.”

With Heinecke back, the scope of Sullivan’s role has broadened.

Now, he’s spending plenty of time working at the cheetah position also as the Sooners work to figure out the best way to take advantage of Sullivan’s talents with the personnel available.

Sullivan has made quite the impression on Heinecke.

First, in the wake of the decision, Heinecke was impressed with the way that not only Sullivan but his family embraced Heinecke.

At the spring game, Sullivan’s dad pulled Heinecke aside and told him how excited the family was for the ruling.

Sullivan has made it a point to foster a strong relationship with Heinecke, both for this year and because of what the lessons he can learn from the relative veteran cane mean for Sullivan’s development down the road.

As a freshman at Michigan last season, Sullivan was named the team’s co-most improved player on defense after playing in 11 games and starting three with 44 tackles and three interceptions.

Sullivan has had to go through the process of learning a new defense once more, and considering how complex Venables’ defense is — especially for linebackers — that’s not an easy tast.

“There have only been a couple people that I’ve seen, a handful of people, that have been able to come in and pick up Coach V’s defense quickly,” Heinecke said. “Kendall Daniels was one, the Bowen brothers are another. Cole is one of them. Cole came in and he just does everything really well. His game is smooth. He’s long. He’s athletic, and so when somebody like that gets a complex defense down, the sky is the limit.

“We’re really excited about Cole. His game has developed a lot since being here.”

---

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook and X for the latest news.