Oklahoma's Defensive Line Depth? Here's Alex Grinch's Plan

NORMAN — He watched them in spring practice. He’s spent most of the past month with them.

But now that game week has arrived, does Oklahoma defensive coordinator Alex Grinch feel an urgency to settle on a defensive line rotation?

“Yeah,” Grinch said on Tuesday, “I mean, I think we’re going to settle on rotating a lot.”

It’s a good problem to have, and one Oklahoma fans haven’t enjoyed for a long, long time.

Grinch said as a coach, he tends to look at the defensive line (and every position) “from a two-deep standpoint.”

But when it comes to OU d-linemen, it will probably go deeper than just two.

“They’ve earned the right to play,” Grinch said. “I think we’ll see in the vicinity of eight guys rotating on the interior of the defensive line. They’ve earned that. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t rotate them in.”

From true freshmen (several of them, actually) to guys trying out new positions, Grinch sees a steady stream of players rotating in at rush linebacker, defensive tackle, noseguard and defensive end when the No. 2-ranked Sooners take the field Saturday morning against Tulane.

“That doesn’t mean even reps along the way,” Grinch clarified. “I think we’ll play three different defensive ends. I think we’ll play three different rush linebackers. That’s not typical. Now, they’ve got to go play and they’ve got to go do it. And the expectation is that the quality reps that we get out of each individual, one of those guys needs get cranked way up.”

So who will it be?

Nik Bonitto is an All-American at rush linebacker, so he’ll start. Isaiah Thomas might have been the team’s defensive MVP last year, so he’ll be at end. Jalen Redmond led the team in sacks in 2019, so expect him to start at tackle. And Perrion Winfrey has the makings of a first-round draft pick. He’s the noseguard.

Behind them, there’s a long line. Caleb Kelly is tinkering with rush linebacker — likely with good reason. Marcus Stripling slid from end to rush linebacker and coaches say has been impressive in August. Reggie Grimes has had a fantastic training camp and is the No. 2 end. Freshman Ethan Downs has wowed coaches this preseason and should expect snaps at end. LaRon Stokes, Jordan Kelley, Josh Ellison and Kori Roberson rotated effectively on the interior last year and should do the same this year. Junior college transfer Isaiah Coe plays like a bully on the inside and could back up Winfrey at nose. True freshman Clayton Smith showed out in the spring and has drawn positive reviews this fall. And true freshmen Kelvin Gilliam has the versatility, smarts and passion to play any of the three down positions.

That’s 15 players at four positions. And there could be more.

“Just from an effort standpoint, you know, I see Ethan Downs on the edge,” Grinch said. “So he’s playing. He can make a mistake, but he’s playing, You talk about Caleb Kelly, OK, maybe he’s not starting, Nik Bonitto is. But he can play. You’re going to play a lot of Marcus Stripling. He plays hard. Isaiah Thomas plays hard. Kelvin Gilliam plays hard. He's going to play. They earned it.

“You know, if I’m a 1, I better fight like all heck to maintain that position on the defense. But understand too, that whether you’re a 2, on the depth chart or a 3 on the depth chart, whatever, you know — I don’t care what the board says. It’s where we put you in the game. The answer right now on the front is ‘We will.’ ”

If this Oklahoma team truly does have a shot at winning a national championship this season, it will largely rest on the impact the defensive line has. A young but promising secondary needs a high level of execution from the guys up front to maximize its potential. And a proven linebacker corps needs the d-line to dominate so they can wreak havoc.

For Lincoln Riley, the defensive line is key to OU finally having the kind of defense that can actually complement his dynamic offense. And the more players that get to play, the fresher they’ll be — and the more plays they can make.

It’s why Riley hired Grinch.

“Just the opportunities to make plays with the snaps that you have,” Riley said. “And that was one big thing we identified with him coming in, is we wanted to build a D-line that you just can't go play 80 snaps and play at the same level as if you played 50 snaps. I don't care who you are, I don't care how good of shape you're in. You have one guy 50 at his best and one guy at 80 at his best, that guy's 50 are gonna look better than the other guy’s 80. It just is what it is.

“But that that's taken time. I mean, it's taken recruiting, it's taken changing the bodies of some of these guys — as you see, I don't think we have a D lineman right now over 300 pounds. It's kind of taken the development, moving pieces, guys that can play multiple positions. But there's no question it's created competition and I think just a lot of opportunities.”

The best part: through all those intentional decisions, young players — those recruits who can handle it, anyway — are getting playing time. That eventually feeds itself.

“I think our players see that, ‘Yeah, if I'm a starter, I can get a chance to get a lot of reps, but even if I'm a 2, even if I'm a 3, I'm gonna have a chance to go in and impact the game and a chance to go make plays and show the coaches, if I'm a 3, why should I be a 2, or if I’m a 2, why should I be a 1.

“It’s kept it healthy. We've played at a higher level. Our effort level, playing relentless, has been better. I think because of that, we're also — our younger guys that maybe in previous years maybe wouldn't have been playing much or at all, they're playing a bigger chunk. So they're developing and getting more ready to be 1s maybe later on in their career. So it's been a it's been a healthy cycle.”