OU football: Danny Stutsman hopes to be at the forefront of Sooners' defensive improvement

ARLINGTON, Texas — Danny Stutsman watches a series from last year’s loss to Texas Tech and cringes a bit.

“We’re in a call where I’m the flat player,” the OU linebacker said Thursday at Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium. “The run comes to me and I’m late to lever the ball, so it gets outside of me. Those are mistakes that someone who’s a leader — that can’t happen. They got the first down and it gave them momentum.”

Stutsman finished that game with 18 tackles — the most by a Big 12 player in a game last season — and wound up leading the league in tackles with 126.

But Stutsman wants much more from himself and the Sooners’ defense in 2023.

“At some moments, I’m like, ‘Man, I look clueless out there,’” Stutsman said. “Obviously as a player, you need to see that growth.”

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Growth for himself and growth for the defense as a whole.

“Our players are more efficient at doing player-run practices right now than they were a year ago because they don’t know what they didn’t know,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said.

“A year ago, Danny Stutsman couldn’t articulate defensively what he’s able to do now. Their ability to communicate as a defense is much different that where they were a year ago. I can’t play the game. They’re the ones that got to play the game. So if you don’t say it, you can’t play it.”

Stutsman admits that learning Venables’ defense was tough.

“At times, it’s challenging, especially with Coach Venables’ defense that has so many different play calls where we’re learning basically a whole new playbook before every game,” Stutsman said. “At times, it’s challenging with just having the coaches to teach that. But now that we have older guys with experience that when the coaches aren’t available to coach us, the older guys are teaching the younger guys that don’t know the system.

“I think there’s so much more exponential growth that happens when you have older guys that are able to lead the younger guys. Obviously we had leaders last year, but they didn’t have the knowledge to be able to do that.”

With DaShaun White having moved on to the NFL and David Ugwoegbu having transferred to Houston, Stutsman is the Sooners’ lone returning starter among the linebacker group.

That’s a big reason why Brent Venables brought in redshirt senior Konnor Near, who had been a starter at Ferris State, which has won two straight Division II national championships.

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“My fear at linebacker is that we’ve got one linebacker that’s ever started a college football game,” Venables said. “Really wanted to bring the right person, the right individual, the right player that fit our culture, our playing style. You know, that brought experience. I wasn’t just going to bring in an experienced guy. I wanted a guy that can line up and play winning football for us.

“Konnor is a guy that’s going to bring instincts, toughness, physicality. He’s gonna be able to lead a defense. He’s going to be able to communicate. He’s going to be able to perform under pressure. He knows right from wrong. He understands standards. He understands a locker room. He understands leadership. He understands tough coaching.”

But it’s not just replacing White and Ugwoegbu.

Both Venables and Stutsman say it’s important to develop a larger group of linebackers who can contribute regularly, instead of relying on the starters to play the overwhelming majority of snaps.

“We had no depth a year ago,” Venables said. “None. Zero. You learn from it all. Probably should’ve played some of our younger guy more, even if they’re making, quote-unquote, mistakes — at least it gives those other guys a chance to play maybe a little better in the fourth quarter when they had to go back in, but that’s some of the give and take that you go through when you’re building a roster and starting over in many ways.”

In addition to Near and Indiana transfer Dasan McCullough, who have a good chance to be the other two starting linebackers, Venables expects players like Jaren Kanak, Kip Lewis and Kobie McKenzie to contribute more in their second seasons in the program and for redshirt junior Shane Whitter — who played in just four games last year before suffering a season-ending injury — to be in the rotation as well.

But it’ll be Stutsman who is looked upon to deliver stability to a group that was in dire need of it last season.

“He’s put the team and the expectations on his back,” Venables said. “We’re in a different place (and) he certainly is at this point to where he was a year ago.

“Really excited to see Danny and where he’s at this year.”

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football: Linebacker Danny Stutsman ready for even bigger role