Oklahoma Sooners College Football Pregame Quote, 12/22/2020

Rhamondre [Stevenson] said when you both were suspended last year for the bowl game, it really hurt him and his family. He had to rely on them to get through that week. I was curious, how much did you lean on yours that week?

I leaned on my family in a heavy way, just emotional support, just not being able to support my team. They still came to the game and supported me while I was going through that hard time. So I definitely leaned on my family and my teammates a lot.

To follow up on that, several of your teammates have talked about being excited to go home for Christmas. What memories and experiences made that holiday special for you?

Just the excitement the night before. Like, I feel like Christmas Eve like, when I was a kid, Christmas Eve was probably, like, the longest day ever. I couldn’t wait for Christmas Eve to be over. Just staying up all night anticipating the gifts I’m going to get the next day. It was just like a special night. And I know a lot of kids feel that way going into this week.

I’m curious, for you, what was the hardest part about the last year? Was it not was it simply not playing? Was it how public everything became, the uncertainty? What, for you, was the most difficult part of last year?

Just not playing not being able to help my team in a big game like that. That was probably just the hardest part, yeah.

I’m asking guys about Nik Bonitto and his evolution as a pass rusher this year. What goes into that, when you kind of get as good as he’s become over the course of a season? Your technique with your hands, the footwork, coaching, all that stuff, what goes into that?

It’s probably just like a lot of stuff with Nik is athleticism, man. He was a former basketball player, so he’s a real athletic dude just as a defensive end.

It also takes a lot of hard work. Working with Coach [Jamar] Cain this off season, working with him through fall camp, listening to coaching points. To take those steps in his game, he definitely elevated himself to a top player and a top rusher in college.

I was just curious, I’m doing a story on Isaiah Thomas. Just was wondering, he didn’t get many repetitions in his first two years at OU. What’s been your favorite part of watching his game develop and just what he’s like away from the football field.

I’ll tell you probably the funniest dude on the D line. If you spend a five minute conversation with him, it will probably be the funniest five minutes of your day, really. He’s a hilarious dude if you get to know him off the field.

Just watching him, like my first two years here and watching him now, just like I said about Nik [Bonitto], he elevated. He worked. He went through a few tough things early in his career here, but he fought through them. He worked through them, kept working with Coach Thibs (Calvin Thibodeaux), just trusting him really. And he elevated himself to one of the best defensive linemen in college football, just like I said about Nik.

We definitely like a lot of guys on the D line, a lot of guys on the defense, they just developed. Listening to Coach [Alex] Grinch. Keeping faith. Coach Grinch, he helped us develop a new mindset. You see guys going out there attacking the game different, attacking practice different. A lot of guys who didn’t play in the early years, they kind of developed in later years and that’s why you see them playing so good now. Just like, we are developing real good here.

A few weeks ago, I know you mentioned the want to play as many games as possible when the West Virginia game was still on the table. Curious from the answer that you gave, how much do you think about kind of your future as far as NFL and trying to build that portfolio to show NFL teams what you can do as far as the kind of time that you lost at the beginning of the season?

It’s not something I’m trying to have on my mind, really. I’m just focusing on playing a good game every week, just going out and executing a game plan and helping my team win. I’m not trying to have that stuff on my mind right now. I’m trying to have a clear mind and focus on what we’ve got going here.

Sort of along the lines of what you were asked about Isaiah [Thomas], I wanted to ask you about Perrion Winfrey. What kind of growth have you seen from him, especially recently? How big of an upside does he have? And what kind of guy is he like away from the field?

Just like Isaiah, Perrion is hilarious. If you spend five minutes with him, it would probably be one of the funniest five minutes of your day. Perrion is a funny dude. He’s got a big personality.‚ÄÉ

Just watching him from when he got here in the fall camp, he struggled, as any player would. I struggled when I first got here, as any player coming to a school like this. He struggled a little bit. But you could tell he was going to develop. He just didn’t know how to quit, but he definitely knew he was going to develop into being one of the best deep tackles in the Big 12 this year.

Perrion, he’s got, like, a big upside. He’s got so much potential, it’s crazy. I think he’s got probably the biggest upside on the D line. It’s probably going to take another year in the weight room, getting used to college football. I definitely think going into next year he’ll be one of the probably the best deep tackles in college football, if everything goes accordingly.

Ever since meeting you back in high school at a rivals camp in St. Louis, you struck me as an easy going guy. You always had a smile on your face. I’m curious, what you’ve gone through this year and what you’ve seen the other guys go through, has that soured your feelings about college football at all? And does it have an impact on making a decision whether to stay or to go?

No, it didn’t sour my feelings at all about college football. At the end of the day, it’s something I dreamt of doing as a little kid, ever since I was in sixth grade not sixth grade, a 6 year old. I played football my whole life. It’s something I dreamt of doing, so I could never have sour feelings towards this thing.

I don’t think that stuff, like, it definitely had no type of weight on whatever decision I make. But as I said, I’m not focused on that right now; I’m just focused on the Cotton Bowl and playing.

Just with the steps that Nik [Bonitto] has made this year, do you feel like that’s freed you up in a way, so to speak, and that defenses can’t offensive lines can’t focus everything towards you because they’ve got him coming off the other edge as well?

Yeah, it definitely helped. We definitely help each other. It’s, like, a little tag team. But in a way, it’s like a front of all four of us. It’s hard to block all four of us one on one. So it’s just hard to lock in on that one guy when you have four monsters up front who can easily win one on ones, who can easily penetrate the backfield. I feel a front is a game plan for all of us and a fun way to block all of us every play.

Obviously, we heard all the talk about the All Big 12 teams and this and that. Do you feel as if Oklahoma is starting to nationally get a different perspective on defense? It seems like, whether it’s David Pollack on or you’re watching the college football rankings show or this or that, the defense is what everybody is talking about right now. Do you feel that switch for you guys?

Yeah, I definitely feel that switch. We’ve been playing great football throughout these last few months. After suffering those two losses early in the season, the defense definitely turned it up. I definitely feel that switch. We’ve got great players all over the field. A lot of guys who have kind of been in it, took a lot of reps in this defense over the last two years.

So we’re a confident group. We play hard, play fast. I think people are really starting to take notice of how we play. D line playing in the backfield. The DBs, they’re playing great football. We’re getting a lot of interceptions. Linebackers playing downhill. I think people are definitely taking notice, not just with, like, watching the games but also checking the stats, seeing the analytics of it.

I wanted to ask you about Spencer Rattler. He kind of comes off to me like a guy who maybe has a little bit of a defensive mentality, very aggressive guy.

Yeah.

Do you, as a defensive guy, see that in him? And how does that come out? And do you kind of appreciate that your quarterback has kind of that edge to him that way?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I definitely love that about him. I mess with him a lot in practice. We talk smack to each other a lot. I just love how he likes to get after it. He definitely takes an aggressive approach.

When you play as a defensive guy, you can’t do nothing but respect that, especially from our quarterback, especially from a quarterback. We love it. He plays great football. He leads the team great. Shoot, I mean, that’s pretty much all I can say about it.

Do most quarterbacks respond that way? You talk a lot during games, too. We see that. Do most quarterbacks respond the way Spencer [Rattler] responds when you yack at him?

No. Usually, I say nice stuff to Spencer. Usually, I talk it’s real friendly when me and Spencer go at it.

I was just curious, you guys as a defensive unit have 13 interceptions this season. Seven last year and six two years ago. You’ve equaled that. Just talk about the pride in getting so many takeaways and how this defensive secondary continues to evolve in that aspect.

We take a lot of pride in that, just knowing that that was a point as a defense as a whole that we needed to improve on. And it’s a part of our bottom line, which we pride ourselves on playing to each and every snap. We always say takeaways equals victory.

So especially on the back end, we make sure we’ve been working hard in practice and priding ourselves of taking advantage of those opportunities that present themselves in the game. Just making sure we capitalize on those to help out our team, help out our defense.