2010 Oklahoma Sooners Football: What's Missing on Defense?

Now that we’ve looked over the offense and determined what we think we need and what we lack, let’s look at the defense.

If 2008 was our ideal offense, 2009 was our ideal defense. I’ll list what I think are the needs of a great Venables D. (Archetypes of each will be in parenthesis…and stop laughing when I say “great Venables D”. Stop it. Now. I mean it.)

Defensive Line
1) Anchor DT who demands double teams on every play and can rush the passer from the interior. (Gerald McCoy, Tommie Harris, Dusty Dvoracek to a lesser extent) Dance skills and singing ability optional, but preferred. Sober, if possible.
2) DE with at least two effective pass rush moves also able to hold up against the offtackle play. (Jeremy Beal, Dan Cody, CJ Ah You)

Linebackers
1) Fast, athletic WLB who can cover the flat as well as he blitzes. (Travis Lewis, Rocky Calmus, Teddy Lehman)
2) Heady MLB who is extremely assignment sound and able to crash the interior (Curtis Lofton, Lance Mitchell, Torrance Marshall).

Secondary
1) Field CB able to run with any WR but also aware of their position in the zone coverage at all times and good in run support (Derrick Strait, Antonio Perkins, Reggie Smith)
2) Ball-hawking safety with mid-4.5 speed (NFL combine, not HS time) who enjoys weed, leveling WRs on middle crossing routes (Brodney Pool, Brandon Everage)

What do we have?
Well, Jeremy Beal and Travis Lewis cover the DE and WLB requirements, respectively. Quinton Carter may fill the safety requirement, but I hope Jonathon Nelson stays at safety since I think he’s more suited to the coverage necessity. But that leaves….

DT: From all accounts, Adrian Taylor will be 100% by fall camp and ready to start against Utah State. But I think JaMarkus McFarland is the real hope here. He showed flashes of real potential last year, especially when called upon in the Sun Bowl.

MLB: Hmmmm. We’ve got the name Sailor Ripley and Scipio Tex can’t stop thinking of (Austin Box), though not because of his play. Then we’ve got Tom Wort, who was absolutely impressive as a true frosh last year before he blew out his ACL. Tom Wort has the goods, but Austin Box is a veteran.

CB: Demontre Hurst was a special teams demon last year, and he acquitted himself well when he saw the field. But…he’s 5’9″, 165. This is not the frame of a traditional Stoops FCB adept at run support, so expect some problems here. Especially when you consider that UT is going to try to go back to power running.

At a macro level, you can sum up that our depth at the DT position is decent, but not ideal. DE is an absolute strength that I’d put up against any other team in the conference. We have all sorts of talent at LB, but Travis Lewis is the only guy who isn’t going to give up a big play now and then. The safeties will be good, but the CBs are a bit of a question mark. I think Hurst will be good in coverage, but who’s going to start on the other side?

Thoughts?

From the FanTake blog: Boomer And Sooner

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