Stutsman, rushing defense key to OU defensive turnaround

ARLINGTON, Texas — OU coach Brent Venables is taking a comprehensive approach to fixing his defense.

“You do that lots of different ways, whether it’s scheme, it’s players, it’s development, it’s teaching, it’s practicing,” Venables said. “Again, it can’t ever happen fast enough.”

But while many different things go into turning around Oklahoma’s defense that gave up 461 yards per game (121st in the nation), Venables said improvement starts with shoring up OU’s rushing defense.

Venables is expecting just that.

“That’s where it starts, keeping people out of the end zone, becoming a better red zone defense, stopping people,” Venables said. “We were really poor stopping people in the run game (last season).”

Venables said he thought his team gave up 4.4 years per rush last season, and this year he wants his team to cut that nearly in half to 2.4 yards per rush. And while he said he knows that is a lot, Venables thinks the Sooners have the experience to turn a weakness into a strength.

“I believe we’ll be better because of the returning experience,” Venables said. “We’ll be better fundamentally, we’ll be better aggressiveness, we’ll be better with our timing and our precision and our physicality as a result of some returning experience, guys like Danny Stutsman or Billy Bowman, Key Lawrence, Woodi Washington, Jonah [Laulu], Ethan Downs.”

Stutsman, a junior linebacker who led the Big 12 with 125 tackles last season, will play an important role in reinforcing OU’s rushing defense. Venables said Stutsman’s offseason growth has been especially noticeable.

“Seventeen months ago, (Stutsman) wasn’t capable of leading,” Venables said. “Now, he’s in a much different place. The whole team follows Danny now.”

Despite leading OU in tackles, Stutsman said film study of 2023 has led to some tough self-evaluation.

“Being able to watch those games last year and look back and reflect on it, some moments I’m like, ‘Man, I look clueless out there.’ Obviously as a player you need to see that growth. I’ve been blessed to have great people that have been able to teach me…and pour so much knowledge into my game where I can grow.”

Stutsman said now he feels able to pass knowledge and tips to newcomers, which bodes well for OU’s roster that is laden with new players. Venables said he feels good about his team’s defensive depth.

“I believe we’ll be better up the middle of our defense, and I look at where we were at really at every single position, and we didn’t have the competitive depth a year ago,” Venables said.