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2021 Oklahoma Report Card: Safety

Experience and leadership turned potential into ability as Pat Fields, Delarrin Turner-Yell and Justin Broiles elevated their game in 2021.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma might have absolutely maximized its talent at the safety position in 2021.

Three Sooner seniors took over Alex Grinch’s three secondary spots and played solid to good almost every week.

Pat Fields, Delarrin Turner-Yell and Justin Broiles clearly enjoyed themselves last season, when it was evident that safety was no longer a weakness on the team.

Delarrin Turner-Yell, Pat Fields, Justin Broiles
Delarrin Turner-Yell, Pat Fields, Justin Broiles :: BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

Fields and Turner-Yell concluded their OU careers as three-year starters. Experience was huge for both as they transformed themselves into consistent assets who not only knew the defense (not always the case in recent years from Sooner DBs) but also knew the opposing team’s offense.

Fields — who grad transferred to Stanford — was second on the team this season with 71 tackles. That included 4.5 tackles for loss. He also collected two interceptions, and his 100-yard runback of a blocked extra point against Nebraska will always stand as a career highlight.

Turner-Yell — who’s giving up his super senior season to pursue his NFL dream — showed his true value by actually not playing. When he missed three games in the middle of the season due to a hamstring injury, the OU secondary slipped into occasional disarray. But with Turner-Yell back on the field, the DBs settled down and he ended up fifth on the team with 52 tackles (2.5 TFLs) and a team-leading three interceptions.

2021 OU Report Cards

Broiles showed impressive maturity and growth at the nickel position after spending three years either as an inconsistent starter or as a backup. Coaches said Broiles had the best spring of his career, and he plied that into what coaches described as arguably the most consistent season of any OU defensive back in 2021. Broiles started nine games (including the last seven in a row at nickel) and finished fourth on the team with 55 tackles (3.5 TFLs) and added two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

It was true freshman Billy Bowman who opened the season at nickel, starting five of the first six games there before a midseason shift to cornerback seemed to diminish his confidence. Bowman didn’t start again after the TCU game, but he still finished with 22 tackles (1.5 TFLs), broke up two passes and forced a fumble. He clearly has a bright future.

Billy Bowman
Billy Bowman :: Josh Callaway / SI Sooners

Bowman took over the spot that might have otherwise went to junior Jeremiah Criddell if Criddell hadn’t battled injuries all season. Criddell, who played in 11 games with one start in 2020, got into just three non-conference games in 2021 before shutting it down.

Grinch always talked about getting bigger at the safety position — Fields, Turner-Yell and Broiles are is 5-foot-10, Bowman is 5-9 — and seemed occasionally willing to take a chance with inexperience there to make it happen. 

Key Lawrence, Nebraska Cornhuskers
Key Lawrence :: Kevin Jairaj / USA TODAY Sports

An early push for former juco transfer Justin Harrington — first at corner, then at safety — wasn’t productive, as Harrington left the team early in the season. Key Lawrence, a transfer from Tennessee, was shifted around as well between safety spots before finally settling as a backup corner. Lawrence still might not have a home, but he’s easily one of the Sooners’ best defensive backs, whether it’s corner or safety.

Sophomore Bryson Washington and true freshmen Jordan Mukes and Damond Harmon also got some early run at safety and all three had promising moments, including an impressive interception by Washington. That experience should serve them well moving into 2022.

Grading the Safeties

  • Hoover: B-
  • Chapman: B-
  • Callaway: B

Safeties GPA: 2.778 (B on a 4.0 scale)

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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