All Sooners

Oklahoma-Cincinnati: One Big Thing

It's a major test of strength against weakness as the Bearcats' defensive line will try to control the line of scrimmage against the Sooners' offensive line.

John E. Hoover

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Cincinnati may be in its first year of play in the Big 12 Conference, but the Bearcats are already loaded with Power 5 talent.

Remember, Luke Fickell had this team in the College Football Playoff just two years ago. There are currently 19 former Bearcats on active NFL rosters, including some first-round picks.

The next big name to do that from Cincinnati may be defensive tackle Dontay Corleone — nicknamed “The Godfather.”

The 6-foot-2, 318-pound Corleone was tabbed first-team All-American by Sporting News and Phil Steele, as well as the Associated Press and the Walter Camp Foundation.

Dontay Corleone (58)
Dontay Corleone (58) :: Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer-USA TODAY NETWORK

He’s on the watch lists for the Bednarik Award and the Nagurski Trophy as the defensive player of the year, the Outland Trophy as the interior lineman of the year, and the Walter Camp Award as the national player of the year.

And he made Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List.

In other words, he — and talented teammates like defensive end Jowon Briggs (also on Feldman’s Freaks List and a member of the Pro Football Focus National Team from Week 1) and defensive end Malik Vann (on the Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List) — is exactly what an Oklahoma offensive line in flux doesn’t need to see.

Savion Byrd started the first three games at left guard, but he was pulled from the SMU game and was injured against Tulsa. 

True freshman tackle Cayden Green, who hasn’t played guard since All-America Bowl practice in Orlando back in January, got most of the go-to snaps there last week.

Appalachian State transfer Troy Everett has subbed there for Byrd and could be the long-term fix, but Everett is undersized — listed at 294 pounds, but probably closer to 280.

And consider that after four weeks of training camp and three weeks of games and the position still isn’t settled, Bill Bedenbaugh and his crew will have their hands full against The Godfather.

“We've got to continue to get better, obviously, as we move forward,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said. “The unit that we're facing this week is going to be the best unit we've played up to this point.” 

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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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