Redmond expected to play expanded role vs. Tigers
ATLANTA — A year ago, Oklahoma defensive lineman Jalen Redmond felt detached from the team, although he was with teammates in Miami as they prepared for the Orange Bowl.
“I really wasn't mentally locked in like everybody else because I knew I wasn't going to be able to play,” Redmond said Thursday at Peach Bowl Media Day two days before the Sooners meet LSU. “I really wasn't there with my head.”
Redmond missed most of last season due to recurring blood clot issues.
This week, Redmond is not only mentally prepared but is expected to play an expanded role against the Tigers after starting defensive end Ronnie Perkins was suspended for the game.
Redmond was careful when talking about Perkins or the possibility his role could change for the game.
The two are close and played the same position last season before Redmond moved inside to defensive tackle this season, where he's shared time with LaRon Stokes.
“I don't want to speak on anybody else that's not playing, but I feel like this game is an opportunity not only for me but the whole team to show the world what we can really do,” Redmond said.
Even though he's split time with Stokes, Redmond is second on the team — behind Perkins — with 5.5 sacks and third on the team in tackles for loss.
In the Big 12 Championship Game win over Baylor, Redmond he had 1.5 sacks and another tackle for loss. He teamed with Nik Bonitto for a sack on the Bears' final drive of overtime and then it was his quarterback hurry on fourth down that forced Jacob Zeno to release the ball early, falling incomplete to end the game.
“I've definitely seen a lot of growth,” nose guard Neville Gallimore said. “I've seen a guy who has made a lot out of his opportunities.
“He's a guy who played big when we needed him the most. I'm happy to see him develop as a player and also as a person. I'm excited to see the opportunities that he has in front of him start to present themselves. It's a good thing to see.”
Redmond didn't expect to have the kind of year he had.
“I sat out (almost) a whole year and I was already new to the game coming into college, so I'm really behind now,” Redmond remembers thinking.
Sooners defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has talked at length about the importance of building depth.
That's been shown with the way Bonitto has filled in for Jon- Michael Terry since Terry's season-ending injury, the secondary players who filled in for Tre Norwood all season after Norwood was hurt in preseason camp, and the way the Sooners have overcome the loss of Kenneth Mann and Caleb Kelly at various points.
Now, the Sooners will have to prove they have depth to overcome the loss of Perkins.
“I think what you find is, the more and more guys — 11 guys on the field, 22 (ready),” Grinch said. The more guys that play that way, all of the sudden, that's the model.
“When you use the term `culture,' that's part of it.”
Redmond's mom, Sandra Luckett, had some reservations about him returning to play last season after his first bout with clots.
But Luckett has been completely behind her son's return to football this season.
“She loves it,” Redmond said. “We're really not a big football family, but she's been to most of our games. It probably sounds soft or whatever, but I really enjoy her being there.”
Redmond credits his mother, the rest of his family and his teammates for keeping his spirits up even when he was struggling mentally last year as he worked to return to football.
“They didn't give up on me,” Redmond said. “They waited on me. That was a big eye-opener.”