JD PicKell: Jeff Lebby will stretch out rival defenses at Oklahoma

The Oklahoma Sooners are going through major changes to their coaching staff. That new staff has been given the difficult task of replacing the Lincoln Riley offense with a new one in 2022. In particular, the task falls to new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, who will look to stretch out opposing defenses.

Early in his career, Jeff Lebby spent time on Art Briles’ staff at Baylor as an offensive assistant in numerous roles. Since then, he has taken on a couple of high-profile offensive coordinator roles, including at UCF under Josh Heupel and Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin. Lebby himself signed to play at Oklahoma before an injury ended his career.

All of these influences are going to impact how Jeff Lebby approaches the Oklahoma job. On3’s JD Pickell broke down how Lebby will try and stretch out opposing defenses at Oklahoma.

While Jeff Lebby does run a spread offense, that doesn’t mean he runs a passing offense. The run game is going to be key for the Sooners. Once you force safeties to respect the run game, you attack over the top.

On top of that, wide receivers line up extremely wide. This stretches the defense side to side, as well as vertically. To beat it, you need every player on the defense to win in space. It’s rare that any defense can do that. Combine that spacing with the speed of Jeff Lebby’s no-huddle and defenses are often confused and limited in their defensive packages.

One exciting thing about Jeff Lebby’s offense is that he is pairing up with Dillon Gabriel again. Lebby was Gabriel’s offensive coordinator when he put up massive numbers as a true freshman. Now, with experience, the two should be in sync.

It remains to be seen if Oklahoma is going to be effective on offense in 2022. However, if Jeff Lebby’s history means anything, then you can expect the Sooners to score plenty of points.