Linebackers are "Further Along" than Gundy Thought
STILLWATER -- We entered the 2019-20 season not knowing how the depth at linebacker was going to hold up. It was announced that senior linebacker Calvin Bundage would be out for an extended period of time with a back injury and it was unknown when he'd be back. That was followed by Kevin Henry missing the first game of the season and Devin Harper missing the first three games of the season.
Even though the Pokes are still without Bundage, moving safety Malcolm Rodriguez down has been a huge boost, as has having Harper back for the past two games.
"I've been pleased; we're further along that I thought we would be," said Gundy. "I've been a little bit careful to look in the sack and say how good it is. We're getting good play from [Amen Ogbongbemiga] and dropping [Malcolm Rodriguez] down has been beneficial because [Tre Sterling's] playing good. So, we've been very fortunate. Depth has been an issue for a month and we're starting to overcome that a little bit now. [Kevin Henry's] getting back in there some, [Devin Harper's] not into playing shape yet, but he's getting closer. I feel much better now than I did a month ago."
As Gundy mentioned, the stepped-up play from Tre Sterling is what's allowed the linebacker play to work. He said during his weekly Monday press conference that they would've had to shift Rodriguez back up to safety should Sterling not have panned out.
As it is, Rodriguez and Ogbongbemiga have led the linebackers in tackles and helped keep them afloat until backup arrived.
"Malcolm Rodriguez is a ball player and Amen Ogbongbemiga is a natural too," said linebacker Devin Harper. "We have a lot of people who can play. It help a lot when you have depth."
Through the first five games of the season, Ogbongbemiga and Rodriguez have combined for 84 total tackles, which each bagging 42 apiece. This past game against Kansas State was huge for Harper as it was his coming out game. He was tied for third on the team with five total tackles, two of which were solo stops, 1.0 tackle for loss and one quarterback hurry.
Kevin Henry also had a solid game against the Wildcats as he recorded four total tackles.
As Harper and Henry get better with each passing week, you'll see the linebacker corps getting better as well as it will help alleviate the pressure on Rodriguez and Ogbongbemiga.
The upcoming game against Texas Tech should be a rather interesting one as the Red Raiders will be starting quarterback Jett Duffey instead of Alan Bowman. While he isn't a linebacker, I asked Tre Sterling how the defense is preparing for Duffey and the answer, I feel, benefits the linebackers.
"It's just like if we were preparing for Spencer Sanders," said Sterling. "We've seen it all winter, all spring and all fall camp. We're just focusing on not getting out-leveraged by anybody. That's really the main key to stopping the quarterback from getting past us."
The linebackers had great success against the Kansas State running attack, and the few times they tried to go down the field. With a Texas Tech offense that's not as powerful as they have been, the Poke linebackers should be set to have a solid performance.
