Oklahoma Sooners Defensive Players to Watch in Week 6 vs Texas

The Sooners have just three returning starters in 2022, along with a new defensive coordinator and defensive-minded head coach

The Texas Longhorns will face the Oklahoma Sooners in their renewal of the Red River Rivalry Game at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas on Oct. 8.

The Sooners enter this season under a new head coach and a new offensive coordinator. Lincoln Riley left the Sooners in November to take over at USC, and the Sooners hired Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables to take over. Venables was a former defensive coordinator at OU under Bob Stoops.

Venables lured Ted Roof to take over the defense. Roof was a former head coach at Duke but has a wealth of defensive experience as a coordinator at several Division I schools. He was last at Clemson as a defensive analyst, so he has experience with Venables’ system, though he’s never run it.

The Sooners don’t have much in terms of returning starters, so Venables and Roof can give the unit a fresh look. Maybe that’s not the worst thing. The Sooners were No. 60 in scoring defense and No. 109 in passing defense. Yet, the Sooners won 11 games, mostly on the back of its offense. Venables and Roof wouldn’t mind emulating the Sooners’ turnover margin from last season, which was plus-11 and No. 7 in FBS.

With that in mind, here are a few defensive players to watch for the Sooners when they face the Longhorns in Week 6.

Be sure to stick with Longhornscountry.com as we preview every aspect of the matchup with the Sooners throughout the week

LB DaShaun White

If there is any returning player that can help accelerate the installation of Venables’ defense its White, who had 66 tackles in 2021, which was third-best for OU. He’s going to be the player that a group of young or new linebackers look to this season, which includes Roof’s son, T.D., a senior from Appalachian State who is behind White on the depth chart.

CB D.J. Graham

A holdover from last season, Graham’s 2021 included a spot on SportsCenter for his highlight-reel interception against Nebraska and 31 tackles. But the former four-star recruit had better be ready to take the next step in the new defensive scheme, which is expected to be complex and aggressive. He could have good mentorship in transfer safety Trey Morrison, who made 41 starts at North Carolina.

DT Jalen Redmond

Redmond has been with OU for four seasons, including a redshirt season during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. But he has just 48 career tackles and 10 careers sacks. At 284 pounds, it will be interested to see how OU uses him in the new scheme. He’s inside on the depth chart, next to Tulane transfer Jeffrey Johnson, who is expected to be more of a run-stuffer. Might Johnson’s presence open up space for Redmond, a former five-star recruit, to operate and improve his numbers?

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