Keenan Clayton’s been in this position before. He’s in the middle of a position battle that could entrench him as a starter next season. In that sense, the pressure of spring practice is nothing new.

But Clayton is hoping one thing changes.

Two springs ago, he emerged as Oklahoma’s strong safety of the future. A 6-foot-1, 210-pound ball of fury, who could run like a rabbit. But two games into the 2006 season, he was out of job.

There’s a reason they call the two guys line up in the back safeties. When they miss tackles, there isn’t much else to prevent a touchdown. Clayton missed too many.

“I didn’t play very well in open space,” Clayton admitted.

But OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables wasn’t ready to write Clayton off. Speed is a highly-sought commodity in college football. Clayton had more than any of the Sooner linebackers. Why not give him a shot there?

“He needed it,” Venables said. “You can’t have a guy being a floater and expect him to do well. It’s kind of all or nothing.”

The move took place last August. Clayton spent his sophomore season as understudy, trying to learn a position he’d never played before.

There were reps in practice, but he was deep on the depth chart. Just about all the game time he received was on special teams. Seven months later, everybody’s happy.

Clayton is fighting for the starting job at strongside linebacker and has emerged as a solid replacement for departed senior Lewis Baker.

At least Venables is hoping that’s the way things turn out. Once he starts talking about Clayton’s potential, it’s hard to get him to stop. He mentions the matchup problems he can give tight ends. He likes the fact he can play man and zone defenses.

Most of all, Venables likes the attitude.

“I love it when he hangs his head when he does something wrong. His body language is like, ‘that was me.’ As opposed to me having to point it out,” the defensive coordinator said. “When they know it’s them, you’re making progress. I love yelling at him. I don’t sugarcoat things. He needs to understand that he’s capable of being a quality player here. He’s starting to believe that.”

Fans can get their first indication of how Clayton’s progressed when the Sooners conduct their first scrimmage of the spring at 11 a.m. today at Owen Field. It’s the first of three open scrimmages they will conduct over the next three weeks.

He’s locked in a battle with sophomore Brandon Crow for the spot. When August rolls around, junior college recruit J.R. Bryant will enter the mix.