Gerald McCoy, DeMarcus Granger, Adrian Taylor and Cory Bennett all played last season, with McCoy and Granger enjoying breakout seasons.

“Everybody that is going to play this year has played in games, and in numerous games,” McCoy said. “So now it is just going to be about bringing it all together and play as a unit, stop the run and improve on our pass rush.”

McCoy was the conference’s freshman of the year and Granger was an all-conference selection. Taylor and Bennett combined for 23 tackles and 11⁄2 sacks and played meaningful downs in every game.

McCoy is the potential star of the group. He moves much faster than anyone weighing 295 pounds should.

“We think that Gerald McCoy has a chance to be really special and hopefully he can beat the one-on-one with consistency and draw the double team and really free up DeMarcus Granger, Adrian Taylor and Cory Bennett and all those guys. We like all those guys. They can play at a high level and they have proven so.”

The Sooners’ defensive line will be critical this season for several reasons, but the biggest is pressure.

The pressure it can put on opposing quarterbacks and running games will likely be unmatched in the conference, if not all of college football.

The pressure the front four can potentially take off a youth-laden back seven could be the biggest key to OU’s season.

“Any defensive coordinator prefers to have four guys that can get after the quarterback and can wreak havoc without having to do too much, and you can play coverage and that gives you a lot of flexibility and a lot of options to play base and get after people,” Venables said.

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com