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Oklahoma's pre-snap communication on defense became a problem last week

LB DaShaun White says as the "alpha dog" he needs to communicate the calls better; DE Isaiah Thomas says "everyone was thinking too much" instead of relaying assignments

At the root of the problem for the Oklahoma defense in 2017 and 2018 was a disconnect between the players and the defensive coordinator.

Mike Stoops told The Athletic he acknowledged that he couldn't always reach today's players.

But it wasn’t just a philosophical disconnect. When it came to communicating on the field, the Sooners frequently didn’t know what Stoops wanted them to do. The calls from the press box were too often unclear, confusing, or relayed conflicting information. Players gestured to the sidelines that they didn’t get the call or didn’t know their assignment, and then the ball was snapped and chaos ensued.

Alex Grinch fixed all that in 2019 — but it seemed to resurface again in Saturday’s loss to Kansas State.

A split second before a handful of K-State snaps — particularly during the Wildcats’ comeback from a 21-point deficit — the Sooner defense was still checking the play on their wristbands rather than lining up. A few times, linebackers were shifting the defensive linemen in front of them at the snap of the ball. Defensive backs were shouting instructions across the field as the Wildcats were coming at them.

It didn’t permeate the entire game, but too many times the players simply didn’t know what the call was when the ball was snapped.

“It was definitely a communication thing,” said middle linebacker DaShaun White.

“I would probably say more towards the end of that game, more so,” said nickel safety Brendan Radley-Hiles. “Maybe it fell off a little bit. But earlier in that game, it was hitting on all cylinders. The communication was really, you know, elite.”

When the offense started going three-and-out and the defense had given up big pass plays and the special teams got a punt blocked, things became a little more frenetic on the field. There were times the Sooners — with young players across the lineup — lost their poise. When that happens, communication can be the first thing to go.

“I wouldn’t say that it’s anything new (added to Grinch’s calls) or that’s changed (for 2020),” defensive end Isaiah Thomas said. “I would say at the heat of the moment, the momentum that K-State had and the type of urgency that they were having on that possession in those particular situations, I think that everyone was thinking too much and more so worried about what they had to do instead of relaying the call to everyone else.

“It was more of a team communication thing on our side, from my perspective of it being on the d-line.”

Grinch communicated to the media on Wednesday that the problem last week was not a lack of effort — at least not in the classic sense. The result has to be better, but the effort is there, he said.

“That’s the number one thing that we grade on Sundays,” Grinch said. “The first thing you look at when you watch film is you see guys flying around. What’s so disappointing is when you give effort and yet not execute — what a shame. What a shame to play at max velocity, and we have GPS numbers and you see these guys run 20 miles an hour and 23 miles an hour. You’re like, ‘Good lord.’ Just really playing hard, guys flying to the football to the bitter end. They’re just not executing on certain plays, and those plays unfortunately added up.

“You say, ‘OK, well I don’t know that we played to the end. We didn’t play to a standard to the end, but we played with effort till the end.’ Is that a consolation? Nothing’s a consolation prize. But certainly your tone and how you communicate to the guys is a whole lot different if you’re talking about effort. If you’re talking about guys who aren’t willing to put it on the line for Oklahoma football, then we’ve got real issues. No, is that a big deal? It’s a huge deal.”

As for pre-snap communication and organization, White — a first-year starter replacing Kenneth Murray at middle linebacker — said Grinch’s scheme hasn’t grown in complexity. It’s the same as it was last year. He knows it needs to improve, and it needs to begin Saturday at Iowa State.

“That starts with me,” White said. “I’m the alpha dog. Everybody is looking at me. Everybody is listening to me. I have to be better in that situation.”

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