Riley aims to change the narrative with defensive linemen signing
NORMAN — Between College Football Playoff appearances and big wins against SEC and Big Ten programs, coach Lincoln Riley is doing all he can to kill the narrative that the Big 12 is a defensively inferior conference.
Four-star defensive tackle Michael Thompson certainly helped Riley’s case Wednesday afternoon when he picked Oklahoma over Missouri on National Signing Day.
“I think that myth is starting to fade away a little bit,” coach Lincoln Riley said at a Wednesday press conference. “It feels good to get the guys we have. The success that we’ve had, three straight Big 12s, being in the College Football Playoff two of the last three years, they see that they can come here and accomplish anything that they want.
“This is one of the premier programs in the country without a doubt. There’s unmatched stability here. There’s unmatched consistent success. That is very appealing to a lot of these guys.”
Thompson was one of three to sign with the Sooners on Wednesday, joining linebacker DaShaun White and tight end Brayden Willis to round out the 22-man class.
With the departure of defensive lineman Matt Romar, Du’Vonta Lampkin and D.J. Ward, Riley’s biggest priority for signing day was beefing up his front line — especially considering only a handful of the 13 returning linemen played any meaningful minutes last season.
By adding Thompson, along with four defensive linemen during the early signing period, the head coach managed to build depth on his line en route to signing Rivals’ No. 8 recruiting class.
“You can recruit great d-linemen in this league,” Riley said. “You can do it at Oklahoma. It’s been done here a lot before and we think we’re on our way to doing it again. This class was a big step in that direction.”
Initially, the Sooners courted Thompson as an offensive lineman, but the more they watched him play, the more they knew the 6-foot-5, 330-pound player would fill a big need on the other side of the ball.
“He brings us something that we don’t have that much of right now,” Riley said. “We’ve got some good defensive linemen, but I don’t know if we have anybody with just that overall size, that can be that guy that can just totally plug things up. It’s important to have one of those. We love his versatility, love the combination of size and athleticism and love that he fits a need that is important to us.”
To land Thompson and the other four defensive linemen, Riley leaned heavily on defensive ends coach Calvin Thibodeaux and tackles coach Ruffin McNeill.
Thibodeaux visited Thompson in St. Louis a couple of times in the weeks leading up to Signing Day and helped seal the deal.
“He did a tremendous job on our staff of building those relationships and going in there and getting some of these great players,” Riley said of Thibodeaux. “A lot of people on our staff had a big hand in it. He was especially key.”
With both Thibodeaux and McNeill expected to be on Riley’s staff for the foreseeable future, Riley anticipates that a signing class of strong defensive lineman will become the norm.
“For us it’s just getting back to making sure we’re signing elite front seven guys,” Riley said. “There’s always the most competition for them because they’re the toughest to get. We’ve built everything around our recruiting model and that’s around signing great defensive linemen. This year was a great step in that direction.”