Oklahoma's Key Lawrence and Billy Bowman are Finding Stability at Safety
NORMAN — Key Lawrence is enjoying stability on the back end of Oklahoma’s defense.
The junior transfer from Tennessee bounced around the OU secondary last year, starting at safety and getting moved over to corner once an injury to Woodi Washington depleted the secondary depth.
Once he found his role, Lawrence made his presence felt. Lawrence was one of the few bright spots in the OU pass defense, breaking up four passes and forcing three fumbles.
Offseason coaching changes along the defensive staff could have disrupted Lawrence’s momentum, but instead he’s embraced the changes.
Safeties coach Brandon Hall moved Lawrence back to his position group, and Lawrence embraced the change past offseason.
“Football is football no matter where you go,” Lawrence said after practice on Tuesday. “The whole thing that’s different is the fact that I’m lining up at different places no matter what the offense does. So I think I’m doing pretty good so far with it.”
Digesting the new playbook, Lawrence also looked within himself to take on a new role off the field in 2022.
“(Playing safety) feels like home,” he said. “Understanding that I’m a leader now and I’m just trying to hold that accountability to myself. Just trying to keep everybody in front of me to the highest standard that I hold myself.
“Just keeping everything structured with how Coach (Brent) Venables wants it to be and just want to hold myself to a higher standard as well.”
Two people really helped Lawrence embrace all the changes this past offseason.
Hall worked all offseason with Lawrence to help him understand Venables’ scheme, giving Lawrence the tools to play fast and rely on his football instincts.
“(Coach Hall’s) like a father figure,” Lawrence said. “Just trying to understand that there’s a lot of things coming at us at once so we just need to take our time, slow it down. Try to learn it, diagnose it, living in the moment.”
And while Lawrence built a great amount of trust with his coach on the sidelines, he’s built another strong bond with his fellow safety, Billy Bowman.
The pair started Saturday’s season opener against UTEP together, playing a majority of snaps as OU’s deep defenders.
Bowman went through his own roller coaster ride last year, as he was also asked to play multiple positions in the secondary as a true freshman.
Venables’ defensive system is much more complicated than the previous regime, but the consistency of Bowman and Lawrence working together at safety every day has allowed the two to form a strong partnership.
“I just build off his chemistry, man,” Lawrence said. “Just like we have a brotherhood and everything is so close now, I feel like everything is intertwined with each other. I understand where he’s gonna be just by being at practice with him every day. We understand the offensive schemes better. So everything’s just intertwined with each other. It helps me that I have somebody just as good as Billy is next to me and I can just trust him and understand that he’s gonna be where he’s supposed to be.”
Lawrence and Bowman wasted no time showing off their potential against the Miners.
Bowman tied linebacker Danny Stutsman as the team leader in tackles, wrapping up the UTEP ball carrier nine times, while also breaking up a pair of passes. Lawrence wasn’t responsible for any defended passes, but he also logged three tackles in the victory while not having a ton to do as a result of OU’s stout run defense.
On Saturday, Lawrence and Bowman will look to continue to grow into the defense, as Lawrence said Venables just preaches that if the team plays within themselves, good things will happen.
“I trust that Billy is gonna be where he’s supposed to be at all times,” Lawrence said. “And BV preaches that we have to trust each other and trust like, no matter what, we don’t need to do the extra things. We don’t need to go make plays because plays will come to us if we’re just doing our job.”
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