Good read on the McCullough Bros.

[47Straight]

While waiting on the bad (?) news to come at 3:00

OU camp notes: McCullough Bros. feeling at home in first fall with the Sooners

NORMAN — If Indiana transfer Dasan McCullough spent spring camp comprehending Oklahoma’s defensive scheme and the little details of the Sooners’ cheetah position, this summer has been reserved for learning how to actually play in the hybrid linebacker/safety role.

“Really just working on my footwork (in coverage),” McCullough told reporters. “Indiana to here, the biggest jump was the coverage aspect of things and how much more coverage I’m doing…I’m getting a lot more comfortable in my play and playing out in space and covering.”

It’s a critical spot in the middle of Brent Venables’ defense that McCullough appears poised to step into in his debut season at OU. After tallying four sacks and earning freshman All-America honors in his debut season at Indiana last fall, McCullough enters onto a bigger stage and into a bigger position in 2023.

McCullough calls his early months with the Sooners a “learning process.”

Arriving on campus in January, he forged a quick and close connection with Venables in the spring. And from offseason workouts and through OU’s spring camp sessions, he began to understand the intricacies of the defense and the specific duties of the do-it-all job he’s expected to fill.

“Being here at (fall) camp, Day 4, I’m way more confident now than Day 4 in spring ball,” McCullough said.

With the length of a defensive end at 6-foot-5, the weight of a linebacker at 227 pounds and blessed with defensive back’s speed, McCullough projects ideally into the role the Sooners will ask to play this fall.

Yet, as McCullough pointed out, learning to play the hybrid role is a process. As he settles in, McCullough has leaned on veteran defensive back Justin Harrington, the man who shared cheetah duties with DaShaun White for OU a year ago.

“He’s an impressive dude,” McCullough said of Harrington. “Someone I take a lot of notes from myself coverage-wise. Me and him are going to make a great combination.”

“Especially with him being a Cheetah with the footwork and the why,” he continued. “Why we do everything? Why we line up like this and things of that nature. He’s been the biggest older guy to help me out.”

Plenty of growing pains still lie ahead for McCullough in fall camp. A few more likely wait for him in the early weeks of the regular season, too.

But for a player who will be critical to the Sooners’ defensive success in 2023, McCullough’s sense of comfort and belief is growing rapidly.

“I feel very confident in playing it,” he said. “I feel like if we had a game today I could play it and make it work. That’s words from Coach V and Coach (Ted) Roof. Without those guys’ help this whole summer it wouldn’t be possible.”

Daeh McCullogh at home in Norman

Daeh McCullough, Dasan’s brother and one of OU’s talented freshman safeties, left no room for debate.

Who, between Daeh and Dasan, committed to the Sooners first?

“Me,” Daeh said. “I committed in front of BV I think like maybe like two minutes before he did.”

“I didn’t know he was gonna commit that day,” he continued. “He just did it after I did it, randomly.”

Daeh, the four-star newcomer who flipped from Cincinnati to OU last December, says he’s settling well into the family environment in Norman he first identified during his recruiting process.

“The coaches, the players, just everybody making us feel welcome here,” he said. “(Venables) was a big part of it. A huge part of it. The SOUL Mission was a huge part of us. Just preparing us for life after football really was like the biggest part of it all.”

And spending a year apart while Daeh finished out high school and Dasan spent his freshman season at Indiana, the brothers are back together and competing for spots on the Sooners’ depth chart.

“It’s great just having him here because obviously there’s days that everybody isn’t gonna be at their best and you’re just gonna feel down,” Daeh said of his older brother. “So just having your family there to talk to in person and not just over the phone is great.”

Pettaway’s strong start

The rave reviews for freshman wide receiver Jaquaize Pettaway have come early and often in fall camp. The latest arrived this week from fifth-year quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

“I would just say him being so young and his ability to do what he does,” Gabriel said of the four-star newcomer. “I think that’s something…he’s just gifted.

“Not a lot of people can do that and also translate it from the meeting room and to be able to verbalize it. I think that just speaks to him. He’s talented and gifted but he’s also just really smart.”

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Pettaway was the No. 10 overall wide receiver in the 2023 class, per 247Sports. As things stand, he is the lone remaining wide receiver in the Sooners 2023 signing class.

Ford hype

The promise of what transfer defensive end Trace Ford can give the Sooners in 2023 lies in the 8.5 sacks he tallied and the general backfield havoc he caused in his three seasons on the field at Oklahoma State.

The question marks surrounding Ford, of course, hinge on the 19 games he’s missed due to injury over the span of his college career.

In Norman, there’s at least one fellow defensive end who stands bullish on the player OU has in Ford this fall.

“Got Trace back full (strength) which is a big deal because Trace is a dog,” said transfer pass rusher Rondell Bothroyd.

“He’s probably the fastest D-lineman I’ve seen in my life,” he continued.

Wagoner’s early impression

Like Pettaway on the offensive side of the ball, freshman cornerback Jasiah Wagoner has been a standout among the first-year Sooners in the early days of fall camp.

“I think Jasiah’s a pit bull. Like, whenever the ball comes his way, he’s going to get it,” said veteran cornerback Woodi Washington. “He’s violent at the point of attack. He’s just a dog. He’s a pit bull.

“You can see it. Not only in practice but in the film room. He’s competing to make sure that when coach is asking questions he’s answering it first and just doing things like that.”

Wagoner signed with the Sooners as the No. 3 overall prospect out of the state of Washington in the class of 2023, per 247Sports.

[OU Guy]

Great read!! Thanks for posting it. I can’t wait for this season to start

[RussC]

Who wrote all that? Good stuff