R Mason Thomas, Brent Venables have re-ignited Oklahoma Sooners pass rush just in time for the SEC

Oklahoma's defense has been the butt of many jokes over the last decade or so. However, it's been their defense that has carried the team over the course of the 2024 season, and credit is due to Sooners' head coach Brent Venables and new defensive coordinator Zac Alley for their plan on sparking the Oklahoma pass rush.

Led by defensive end R Mason Thomas, Oklahoma's 2024 defense is on pace to break Sooners' records.

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Thomas is on pace to finish the season with 13 sacks. That tally would give him the most of any Sooners' defender since Jeremy Beal hit 11 in 2009. The all-time Sooners' record is 14 sacks, according to SoonerStats .

As a unit, the Sooners already have 18 sacks on the season. That number has them second in the country. In 2023, the team totaled 24 sacks and had 28 in 2022.

They are averaging close to four sacks per game . The Sooners would hit 48 sacks as a team at their current pace. Last season, Penn State's aggressive pass rush led the country with 49. That's how productive the Sooners' pass rush has been. Oklahoma hasn't hit a mark that high since their 2020 unit hit 42 led by Nik Bonitto, Ronnie Perkins, and Isaiah Thomas.

Oklahoma is being creative with their pass rush as well. 10 different Sooners have a sack this season and 19 different Sooners have recorded a pressure as well. 16 different Oklahoma defenders have a pass rush win rate over 10% as well.

What Brent Venables and Zac Alley have done to boost the Oklahoma pass rush deserves some serious praise. The development of R Mason Thomas, as well as players like Trace Ford, Ethan Downs, and Gracen Halton, are a testament to Venables and his coaching staff's ability to develop and coach players.

As Oklahoma improves in the secondary over time and their highly-ranked recruits keep pouring in, I'd be excited to see just how good their pass rush can be moving forward.