Why Oklahoma's Defense Will be More 'Focused' in 2024

NORMAN — Brent Venables’ defense will return plenty of help next year.

Since Oklahoma was invited to the Alamo Bowl, kicking off college football’s ever churning transfer portal carousel, a number of veterans have opted to forgo professional opportunities to come back to Norman in 2024.

Linebacker Danny Stutsman reversed course, and he’ll be joined by safety Billy Bowman and defensive linemen Ethan Downs, Da’Jon Terry and Jacob Lacey for OU’s first year in the SEC.

Venables yearns to keep players in his program for the long haul, building a team that can rely on seniors and fifth-year players, and now he’ll have a host of those guys forming the spine of his defense in 2024.

“My experience has been, you know, the older you are, the more you’ve played, the better you play,” Venables said on Friday. “And guys that are playing that fourth or that fifth or that sixth year, they just play more consistently. Their focus is a little different. They don’t get as distracted.

“These are guys that are coming back and they’re focused on mission, you know, the mission of this program and certainly on the team and then themselves.”

Between Stutsman, Bowman, Downs, Lacey and Terry, OU will return 2,512 snaps of experience from 2023’s regular season, per Pro Football Focus.

And while those returning reps in Venables’ defense will be essential, Oklahoma is just as excited about the impact those veterans will have off the field.

“That’s a great group of guys that are incredibly committed,” Venables said. “They love the locker room. They love each other. They love to compete and they like to work. And that’s a great recipe.

“So transitioning-wise (to the SEC), we have some good — all three levels have a good deal of experience coming back. And then getting a group of guys that are the right leadership and right focus.”

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The Sooners will need strong leadership to get their younger pieces up to speed in the SEC as soon as possible.

This spring, defensive end Adepoju Adebawore will start his second year on campus, and he’ll be joined by a host of talented defensive lineman in OU’s 2024 recruiting class.

David Stone, rated as the top defensive tackle in the country, will join other highly-touted prospects in Nigel Smith II, Danny Okoye, Jayden Jackson and Wyatt Gilmore.

Venables knows his team needs to be strong in the trenches on both sides of the ball to compete in 2024 and beyond. Getting those guys online as fast as possible will be helped along the way by veteran leadership, which Oklahoma will have plenty of defensively.

“You want great competitive depth,” Venables said. “You want to be strong and physical. That’s the name of the game. So it’s not — the SEC are those things. There’s great skill, great depth. The lines of scrimmage are a real thing.

“If you’ve been coaching football, offense or defense, you’re gonna try to build your team or your program or your locker room on the lines of scrimmage and dominating there first.”

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