John Shinn
Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables was like a proud father last Saturday night. It wasn’t just because his unit had just dominated Texas Tech in a 65-21 victory. He’s also the linebackers coach and he’d just seen OU’s Keenan Clayton, Austin Box and Travis Lewis hold a coming out party at Owen Field.
It was the game where the three — all first-year starters — really played as one.
“You had to feel really good about it,” Venables said.
If you’re a Sooner fan you had to feel down-right ecstatic about it because it looked like about five weeks earlier the inexperience at linebacker would be the Sooners’ Achilles’ heel.
Everything was fine until middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds suffered a season-ending knee injury against Texas. OU couldn’t recover from it in a 45-35 loss to the Longhorns. There were lingering issues in back-to-back victories over Kansas and Kansas State.
Strongside linebacker Keenan Clayton and weakside linebacker Travis Lewis had shown great play-making ability, but without Reynolds there was no glue.
Even Venables was lamenting the loss of Reynolds as the perfect storm to hit OU. It was already staggered in the linebacker room by Curtis Lofton leaving early for the NFL and Mike Reed leaving the team.
Experience was featherweight light and the shoes that needed to be filled were vast.
What was left were young guys that hadn’t been well-seasoned in games or in practice. They were playing on instinct more than perception.
Slowly but surely that changed.
“I’ve taken leaps and bounds and still have a long way to go,” Lewis said. “Sometime I go back and watch that Chattanooga game and then watch one of our more recent game and its like night and day, the way I fit things, the way I pass drop, making calls and things. It’s like night and day.”
What helped their progression is, athletically, they’re probably the three best linebackers OU’s ever put out on the field. All three are converts to their positions.
Clayton started at safety two years ago. Box was a high school quarterback/safety and Lewis was a running back.
Their ability to cover wide spaces has made them perfectly suited for the spread offense, like the one No. 11 Oklahoma State will employ at 7 Saturday night, that have sprung up throughout the Big 12 Conference.
Lewis in particular is enjoying a breakout year. With 118 tackles this season, he’s only 15 away from tying the OU freshman record set by Brian Bosworth.
With each game, Box became more comfortable and confident. Against the Red Raiders he collected nine tackles with three for losses. Clayton delievered another steady performance that included a 53-yard fumble return.
The unit as a whole is making the Sooners’ defense better, moving away from the ugly stretch in which the Sooners gave up 28 points or more in five straight games for the first time in school history.
By limiting Texas Tech’s high-scoring offense to less than 30 points for the first time in more than a year, the Sooners showed the potential to return to the stingy tradition that had been the norm under coach Bob Stoops.
“I’m focused on the future, excited for the future and know what our team can do this year,” Box said.
The Sooners, with a little help from poll voters and computers, can wrap up a berth in the Big 12 title game and extend hopes for playing for a national championship. A victory over the Cowboys would likely be enough to do both.
If it doesn’t, OU will at least know it won’t have any more questions at linebacker. It took a while, but they’ve removed all doubts.
“I’m not saying I told you so, but you’re happy that it’s happening like you thought it would,” Venables said. “A year from now, starting at the beginning of the preseason, people will look at the position as a position of strength. They’re really starting to play well as a group.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
