Transfer Tales: Why LB Dasan McCullough Says Oklahoma Walks Around 'Like a 13-0 Team'

The transfer from Indiana brings plenty of accolades from 2022, but said he wants to earn the respect of his new coaches and teammates as he settles into the cheetah role.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This series explores each of Oklahoma's 2023 newcomers who arrived via the transfer portal.

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NORMAN — Dasan McCullough brings a fresh perspective to Oklahoma’s defense, but he’s been impressed with how his new teammates have responded to the disappointment of winning just six games last season.

“They kind of threw last season out the window,” McCullough said last week. “These guys, they don't walk around like a 6-6 team at all. They walk around like a 13-0 team. They walk around like, I feel like, they want a national championship.”

McCullough earned freshman All-America accolades at Indiana last year, but decided to transfer to OU. At 6-foot-5 and almost 230 pounds, he’s slated to play Brent Venables’ hybrid cheetah position under Ted Roof, but also revealed he’s been working with cornerbacks/nickels coach Jay Valai and defensive ends coach Miguel Chavis.

“It's perfect for me,” McCullough said, “because that's always what I wanted to do. Because it's the type of player I've always been. I've never just played one position on defense. So I mean, it's nothing new for me moving around meeting rooms and things like that. I mean, I love it. And I love the challenge for sure.

“I think it fits perfectly with my size and my versatility and my ability to cover. I feel like I'll be able to put everything on display at cheetah for sure.”

McCullough comes from a football family. His father Deland coaches running backs at Notre Dame, and he also coached Kansas City Chiefs running backs during their previous Super Bowl run. McCullough’s grandfather is former Seahawks running back and long-time coach Sherman Smith. His brother, Daeh, will be a Sooner freshman when he joins the team in June.

Dasan McCullough :: Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times

As the son of a coach, Dasan’s high football acumen is apparent when he steps on a field. He’s been close to Venables since he was a high school recruit in Bloomington, IN.

“Oh, it’s been huge growing up around college football my whole life,” McCullough said. “Just being around those players, seeing the way they work every day, seeing like, how early they come in (for) treatment, film, things like that. It's huge. So that played a gigantic role. And especially having some of those guys, mentors who really talked to me about the game, it was huge for me.“

When McCullough eventually gave a verbal commitment to play at Ohio State and not Clemson or a number of other schools, he proudly says Clemson and Venables was the only school he called to inform them he would not be coming.

“That's the amount of respect that I have for Coach Venables,” he said.

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For More Transfer Tales

• Switching Bedlam Allegiances Created Doubts for Oklahoma DL Trace Ford: 'It Was Tough'

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He decommitted from Ohio State and flipped to Indiana on April 25, 2021, as his dad was with the Hoosiers at the time. In February 2022, however, Deland was hired at Notre Dame. So he played a year in Bloomington and now sees Oklahoma as a way to improve his station.

“I had familiarity with the family,” Venables said. “It’s an amazing story. Most of the people know the story about their dad, Sherman Smith (Deland was given up for adoption as a baby, and after becoming lifelong friends with Smith, he learned at age 45 that Smith was his biological father). It’s pretty unique. But Google it. … Wonderful family. Incredible family. It’s really cool.

“We’d been looking for safeties. We happened to come across Daeh’s videotape and loved it. We realized quickly that ’That’s McCullough.’ We connected the dots. We hadn’t spoken to the family since we’d been recruiting (Dasan) a couple of years ago.

“We loved Daeh. We set up the visits. Next thing I know – I don’t know how it went down – I’m on the phone with Dasan when he got into the transfer portal. We were like two sorority girls catching up. It was quick. It was easy in regards to conversations and getting back to the football side of it.”

Dasan McCullough  / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

“Right when I entered the portal,” McCullough said, “he was the first one to call my phone.”

The Sooners need to replace DaShaun White at cheetah and David Ugwoegbu inside. McCullough is the cheetah — for now — but he really could fill either spot.

“He’s a football junkie,” Venables said. “He understands schemes and development and opportunity. … He saw it as a real opportunity for himself, first and foremost, and then an opportunity to play alongside his brother was a great bonus.”

McCullough said his motivation for leaving Indiana was just to become a better player — “just due to me being a little too comfortable and wanting a new challenge in my life,” he said. And, of course, the opportunity to finally play for Venables — “the best defensive coach ever, in my eyes” and “the best linebackers coach of all time, in my eyes.”

That’s obviously saying a mouthful, but it’s how McCullough feels about Venables and how the coach has developed players like Isaiah Simmons into bonafide NFL stars.

“He's coached linebackers just like me,” McCullough said, “which is really the most intriguing part about Coach Venables, that he's coached these linebackers and from all different types of sizes. So just the versatility aspect that he's used to coaching, it’s huge for me having a coach that’s used to players like that. That’s gonna be huge for my development.”

“He’s a long guy,” Venables said. “He’s coming from Indiana, where they used him really well and used his skillset really well. He had an impactful freshman year. We’ll use him in some of the same ways and some ways that are different.”

McCullough realizes he comes into Norman with big expectations. A freshman All-America at Indiana could be a Butkus candidate at Oklahoma, right?

But that’s not how he’s approaching this at all.

“I want to earn everybody’s respect,” he said. “I don’t want them to look at what I did at Indiana and think that’s it, because I’m trying to be better than that, too. So I’m definitely trying to earn the guys’ respect and just grow.”

While McCullough said he’s glad to be “in a football town” now, he also understands that he’s stepping into an Oklahoma defense that is in a prolonged state of disrepair.

Dasan McCullough / Screenshot

“I think it’s getting very close,” he said. “I think with the guys we’ve brought in, the guys that are here, especially the way they work, the way these coaches have us working this offseason, I mean, we’re all bought in. We’re all bought in to being great. I feel like that’s the most important part, is buy-in, having everyone believe, having everyone work. So I definitely think there will be a change.”

McCullough reiterates how his own position group, with players like Danny Stutsman, Jaren Kanak and others stepping up, are working to change the narrative — and improve the product they put on the field in 2022.

“I mean, they hit the ground running this winter, so they're not playing at all,” he said. “Dudes are being held accountable. I mean, there's like a complete reset. They're not even thinking about 6-6, they’re thinking about 12-0. Our mindset is we're just gonna work as hard as we can and have the best season we can.“

That’s down the road, of course. Right now, it’s all about strength and fitness and the positional drills they call “coaching stations.” Improvements must be incremental, and just one month into the offseason, McCullough seems to have already stepped into a leadership role.

“He’s long and athletic,” Venables said. “His transitional movement is pretty good right now. He’s improving daily. He’s really a smart, tough, another hungry, humble guy.”

“I’m ready for spring ball,” McCullough said. “I’m ready to get them pads on and get working.”