Last season, Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables introduced a unique position on the defense side of the ball, the cheetah position. In his defense, the cheetah is a hybrid spot that can cover but also help in the box where necessary, almost like having a third safety on the field.

Finding a player who can fill the role required for the position is essential for Venables and the Sooner defense. During fall camp, there have been several players who have worked out at the cheetah. Still, only a few have caught the Sooners headman’s attention, as he recently revealed.

“There’s a group of them,” said Venables. “And we’re trying to develop some both depth and versatility so that you can always keep your best player on the field; players on the field. So we’re really working a lot of different combinations on both sides of the ball. (I) challenged the coaches.

“We got a lot of guys that have versatility. You don’t want to water down anybody because they’ve got too much on the plate, but the right ones that we feel like are the right ones that can do multiple things, let’s give them the opportunity here early in camp see what they have in knack for, what their acumen is. But there’s a group of them from Justin and Dasan to Peyton and Reggie; those are the main group of guys. There’s some other guys that are there but haven’t really gotten the reps.”

Several players from different spots throughout the defense have lined up at the position. As Venables mentioned above, both Dasan McCullough, who’s listed as the starting sam linebacker, and Reggie Pearson, starting strong safety, have tried their hand at the position during the Sooners’ fall camp. It’s unclear as to who will get the nod to start at cheetah, but whoever does is going to start at the position.

Venables on being hard on the defense at fall camp

Following Friday’s practice, the Sooners’ headman also explained why he’s been so critical of their defense at fall camp.

“I’m kind of hard on the defense, and they deserve that. We haven’t been very good in a while, but guys are making improvement,” said Venables. “So it’s incredibly important. Not only are you gonna be in the right spot a lot if your process is correct. I challenge the guys; if you don’t like the quality of the results that you have, then look at the quality of the process that you have. Make sure that that process is where it needs to be.”

The Sooners’ struggles on defense didn’t appear with Venable last season. Under the previous coaching regime, Oklahoma struggled on defense consistently. They just so happened to have an offense that could outrace the majority of their opponents. Still, 2022 was a particularly rough year for the Sooners’ defense, as they allowed 35 or more points in seven of the 13 games.