Oklahoma LB Kobie McKinzie's Lubbock Homecoming a Perfect Ending to Freshman Year
Saturday’s season finale will be extra special for Kobie McKinzie.
The freshman linebacker is slated to redshirt for Oklahoma this year, but he’ll still return home to Lubbock this weekend as the Sooners take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
A former 4-star recruit, McKinzie graduated high school from Lubbock-Cooper High School.
“It’s going to be fun,” McKinzie said on Monday. “There will be a lot of friends and family there who I haven’t seen in a few months. They haven’t got to see me play. It’s going to be a lot of excitement. I know a lot of guys on that roster. We’re a tight-knit group. It’s going to be fun to see them.”
McKinzie’s high profile recruitment, a process where he initially committed to Oklahoma, flipped his commitment to Texas before returning back to the Sooners upon the hiring of Brent Venables put him on the radar as he entered the program.
But he’s had to bide his time and learn under both Venables and defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Ted Roof.
Snaps behind Danny Stutsman and David Ugwoegbu have been essentially nonexistent, and McKinzie has been focused instead on adjusting to life as a collegiate player and diving into the OU playbook.
“This is a unique defense. Not everybody can play it and it’s not easy to learn,” McKinzie said. “Once you get those things down, you have to be confident in yourself to know the gaps and schemes.”
Working on the scout team hasn’t disheartened McKinzie, though.
Despite the fact that he isn’t getting snaps every single Saturday, he’s still been able to take in all the highs and lows of the season and learn from the team’s results on the field.
“It wasn’t hard to be engaged at all because I love football, regardless of if I’m playing or not,” he said. “I can be engaged in a game anywhere – on a couch, on a field, on a sideline. It’s a little different aspect on the sideline. I haven’t been in that situation ever until I got to college. It wasn’t hard for me to stay engaged because I’m excited to see those guys get the things they deserve as well.”
Venables has been pleased with how McKinzie has approached the year, too.
The true freshman has used the experience on scout team to continue to better himself, working on his technique and the physical side of his game, Venables said.
“Kobie has really made improvement fundamentally,” Venables said ahead of the Oklahoma State game. “Leaned his body up. He's playing quicker and faster and he's got great instincts. He's got concrete in his helmet. Really a striker.”
This season built a strong foundation for McKinzie, but there are still plenty of areas he needs to improve before 2023 rolls around. Working on the mental side of his game will continue to be an emphasis, McKinzie said, as he will continue to pour over film to continue to take mental reps in the offseason.
“Understanding the game, the fits, the gaps, the schemes, all of that good stuff,” he said. “Just in the off-season … I won’t be the youngest guy in the room. You have to take on that role of being mature and knowing that playbook really well.”
The transition to watching hours of film hasn’t shocked McKinzie, as it’s just something the coaching staff expects of him.
But even in the early stages of his career, the 6-foot-2 linebacker understands the importance of mastering the small details in Venables’ defense.
“That one step or that one shade over is a ginormous difference,” he said. “But once you get those things down, the sky is truly the limit for this group.
“… I truly feel like you have to be a student of the game every day. Coach V says he’s a student of the game every day. He’s one of the greatest defensive minds in college football. To become great and be at that top level, you have to be a student of the game and love it, genuinely.”
McKinzie is looking forward to suiting up and taking the field back at home this weekend.
And though he hasn’t seen enough game time already this season to burn his redshirt, he knows his development off the field this season will help him have a productive career at Oklahoma.
“I’ve matured a lot in ways that I didn’t think I could and that’s been good for me,” he said. “Playing defense as a young guy in college, it’s a different ball game. A lot of the guys in that box are very mature and older. When you come in younger at a university like this and playing the guys that you play, you grow up really fast.”
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