Sorting through Oklahoma linebackers gets coach Brian Odom 'excited about 'em, man'

Probably the Sooner defense's most experienced room, the linebackers' experience, depth and playmaking ability in 2021 jumps off the screen

Oklahoma assistant coach Brian Odom was asked recently how much talent his linebackers have as they transition through spring football practice.

Almost three minutes later, he had to stop himself.

“I’m rattling those guys off,” Odom said. “I’m excited about ‘em, man.”

Odom has good reason to be excited. He brings back both starters at the middle and weakside spots in DaShaun White and Brian Asamoah. He brings back top backup David Ugwoegbu, who has shown he can stand out at either position and might soon be in line to start. He brings back a steady sixth-year senior in Bryan Mead. He brings back another sixth-year senior in Caleb Kelly who’s shown ridiculous playmaking ability when healthy. And he’s trying to find a spot for so many talented other young players.

DaShaun White / OU Athletics

When Odom arrived at OU in 2019, that wasn’t the case.

“It's amazing the difference in this room that I have today,” Odom said. “At the moment, we have nine guys in the room. Every one of those nine guys have played and played meaningful minutes, whether it be on special teams or or actual defensive reps.”

Odom hails from Ada, OK, where he was the state player of the year as a running back, and and played for the Sooners from 2000-02, mostly on special teams. He’s worked at Missouri, Arizona, Houston and Washington State, and he became a full-time linebackers coach at Mizzou in 2017.

Now he’s in charge of one of college football’s most experienced and most athletic linebacker groups.

Brian Asamoah / OU Athletics

“We've got experience,” he said, “we've got guys with a little bit of savvy, guys that can anticipate some things that's coming, and … they've had enough reps, they've seen enough, they've been in the fire enough where they can recognize (and) react pretty fast. Really excited about the unit.”

It’s not hard to see from where that excitement stems. Just start with the Sooners’ most experienced linebacker during Odom’s short time in Norman, 6-0, 228-pound DaShaun White, who’s already a two-year starter with 90 tackles in 2019 and 2020.

“DaShaun White, through seven practices, has played the best seven practices I've ever seen DaShaun White play,” Odom said. “The guy’s flying around, he's playing, it's a different DaShaun White, in my mind, the things that I see — I see a lot more flash from him and added with the consistent play that he's always brought.”

The 6-1, 230-pound Asamoah became a starter last season and immediately showed his athletic ability. He made impactful tackles on the first two defensive plays of the season and finished with a team-high 66 stops.

“Brian Asamoah has elite athleticism,” Odom said, “he's got elite speed, he's got elite punch with his hands, he has great footwork. He needs to become more of a consistent tackler, which I've got great confidence that he's going to do.”

Some say the best of the bunch is the 6-4, 250-pound Ugwoegbu, who backed up both positions, made one start at mike, two at will and finished the season with 34 stops.

“He brings such a different mentality,” Odom said. “As far as, he's mature. He's so physical. He's a tough guy. And the other thing that I really really like about him is he loves football, you know? And obviously, you can't get over the length.”

David Ugwoegbu / OU Athletics

That size and length allows Ugwoegbu to be a good tackler, Odom said, because he takes up so much space and has such high “surface area” that ballcarriers just have a hard time getting past him.

Those are the the Sooners’ frontline ‘backers, but they’re hardly the only ones Odom is excited about.

“I’m excited about Shane Witter,” Odom said, “and the things that he's bringing the table and how he can incrementally get better at the things that they're asking him to do. He’s gonna be a great player to University of Oklahoma. I'm so excited about his future.

Shane Whitter / OU Athletics

“Jamal Morris has done a really, really great job of playing both mike and will. He's a very smart kid, he ran around and he’a playing very much at a high level.

“Caleb Kelly has done a lot of great things in his career. His charge right now is giving himself a chance to go play this fall, doing the things that, to get better every day to go play this fall.

“Bryan Mead is Mr. Consistency. He knows the defense in and out. He’s a dependable guy. He’s a good tackler and get guys lined up. And also, you also see whenever Bryan Mead’s in the game, the other guy doesn’t make as much mental errors because Bryan Mead’s out there. It's a great trademark for him to have.

“Jake McCoy, a guy that was in there a year ago, I'm excited about Jake McCoy's future. He’s a local product they played him on special teams throughout the year. I'm really excited about him.

“And the new addition was Joseph Wete that we moved over (from rush linebacker) in the spring. I'm excited about his athleticism. He's kind of approached it the right way. … He’s excited about learning the position and getting better and I think this is kind of a two- to three-year decision that he made by coming into this room.”

The Sooners have starters back at nine defensive positions in 2021, with loads of experienced talent backing them up. The secondary should be as good as it’s been in more than a decade. The front also looks deeper than ever.

But it’s the linebacker position that ties them together. For only two spots, OU’s linebacker room is the heart and soul of Alex Grinch’s unit that is widely expected to take that next step to being an elite defense.

“We've got starting experience,” Odom said. “We've got great athletes. We got good kids. We got good citizens here, you know? And then the thing, like, I'm so excited about is the fact that not only do we have good kids, we got good student athletes (and) we got really good football players.

“There was a lot of fresh faces in that in that room, a year ago. You should see a jump in production and jump in efficient play, you know, just being efficient as ‘backers with our footwork and and how we fit within this defense.”