Mike Balogun walked into the Red Room Monday night with a huge three-ring binder under his right arm. It didn’t make him any different from any other student at Oklahoma. Finals are less than three weeks away and most are starting to cram.

But the test the junior middle linebacker’s preparing for will be taken in front of 80,000 fans at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., and the Big 12 championship and a shot at the national championship could very well depend on how well he handles it.

“We’ll be riding him,” OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables said Monday night.

The Sooners don’t have any other choice.

The knee injury Austin Box suffered early in the fourth quarter of the 61-41 victory over Oklahoma State has forced OU to go into the Big 12 championship game with what amounts to its third-string middle linebacker. Ryan Reynolds, who was the starter the first half of the season, was lost to a knee injury against Texas.

But you have to play the hand that’s been dealt and the Sooners aren’t bluffing.

Balogun’s only played about 20 snaps this season, but 10 of them were at Bedlam. He came up with three stops to help OU pull away with the victory that kept its Big 12 and BCS title hopes afloat.

Most teams have a story of a player being thrown on the field in an adverse situation and thriving. But few could mirror Balogun’s.

It’s doubtful any other team playing for a conference title Saturday has a 25-year-old middle linebacker that was playing at Lackawanna (Md.) College last season, who didn’t play high school football his junior or senior seasons, was a full-time construction worker three years ago and was contemplating going to junior college to be a full-time student or going to trade school to become a carpenter.

OU does and has no qualms.

Venables found Balogun in a manic recruiting frenzy that followed Curtis Lofton’s decision to enter the NFL draft after his junior season. Mike Reed was supposed to be Lofton’s heir, but he dropped out of school. The Sooners needed depth and some Internet recruiting services touted Balogun.

He was already entertaining an offer from Arkansas when Venables made contact.

“I ran down the coach and got the process started. He sent us some tape and I liked what I saw,” Venables said.

“Who would turn down an opportunity to play at Oklahoma? It was a dream come true, really,” Balogun added.

Truth is, Balogun was very close to making his debut much earlier in the season. He spent much of August as the first-team weakside linebacker after Box suffered a knee injury.

“Right at the end he kind of tapered off and got a little overwhelmed and Travis Lewis stepped up,” Venables said. “The rest is well documented.”

Lewis’ emergence has been one of the best stories in the Big 12 this season. Balogun’s pretty much went on hold.

Once the season begins everything becomes focused on the starters. Practice snaps dwindle for those further down the depth chart. Balogun’s did.

“It took some time for me to learn the ins and outs of the defense,” he said. “As the weeks went on, I’ve been really investing time at getting into the playbook and starting from square one as the season progressed.”

OU needs the progression to continue.

One of the biggest reasons the Sooners dominated Missouri in both the regular season and Big 12 championship last season was Lofton’s play at middle linebacker. He had 27 tackles, returned a fumble he forced for a touchdown and intercepted a pass.

“It’s the nature of the system,” Venables said. “For you to defend Missouri well, that position needs to play well. It’ll be a long, long night if that position and the other outside position that’s in the core a lot, the (weakside) linebacker, if those people don’t play well. It’ll be a very miserable night.”

No one is asking Balogun to play at Lofton’s level. In fact, the Sooners are also exploring options similar to the Kansas game when it moved strong safety Nic Harris to linebacker. But there will be much put on Balogun’s shoulders.

He played well against Oklahoma State. If Venables is concerned, he’s hiding it well.

“You can formulate the game plan around what he can do,” Venables said. “He’s got pop, he’s got explosion, he can cover, he’s a good blitzer. He works really hard and has been willing to commit time on his own to get himself right. I’m excited for him.”

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com