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Oklahoma LB Danny Stutsman Lands All-America Honor; DB Billy Bowman Snubbed

Stutsman had better numbers last season than any of those who landed first-team accolades, while Bowman's amazing 2023 season continues to be ignored.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma LB Danny Stutsman Lands All-America Honor; DB Billy Bowman Snubbed
Oklahoma LB Danny Stutsman Lands All-America Honor; DB Billy Bowman Snubbed /
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If Monday is any indication, Oklahoma Linebacker Danny Stutsman can probably expect a busy senior year.

Stutsman was named second-team All-American by ESPN on senior writer Chris Low’s “Way-Too-Early” All-America team.

Stutsman, a rising senior from Windemere, FL, will be a three-year starter in 2024 and has compiled 266 career tackles, including 28 tackles for loss, seven sacks and three interceptions as well as five takeaways via fumble.

Alabama’s Deontae Lawson, Clemson’s Barrett Carter and LSU’s Harold Perkins were named first-team linebackers.

Perkins had 75 tackles, 13 tackles for loss and 5.5 quarterback sacks last year, Lawson totaled 67 tackles, 5.5 TFLs and three sacks, and Carter had 62 tackles, 9.5 TFLs and 3.5 sacks.

Stutsman’s numbers in 2023 were better than any of them: 104 tackles, 16 tackles for loss and three sacks, plus an interception he returned for a touchdown, three passes defensed, one fumble recovery and two fumbles forced — despite missing 1 1/2 games with an ankle injury. This, after a sophomore year in which he made 125 tackles to rank 14th nationally and No. 1 in the Big 12.

Stutsman was named National Defensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Foundation after his performance against SMU last season, in which he made 17 tackles, a sack, a QB hurry and a fumble recovery. 

Another legitimate Oklahoma All-America candidate was left off of Monday’s list entirely.

Safety Billy Bowman, a rising senior from Denton, TX, didn’t garner first- or second-team accolades from Low despite a phenomenal junior season in which he ranked tied for third in the nation with six interceptions and returned three of those for touchdowns — most TDs among all college football defenders. He also led the nation with 238 interception return yards and finished with a career-best 63 tackles.

If Bowman and Stutsman can put up those kind of numbers in 2024 as the Sooners launch their first season in the Southeastern Conference, maybe they’ll finally earn the respect of All-America voters.

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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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