Winfrey’s pressure is ‘unfair’ to foes
NORMAN — OU nose guard Perrion Winfrey was in Nebraska’s backyard.
Winfrey went to junior college at Iowa Western Community College, just across the Missouri River from Omaha and a little more than an hour from Lincoln.
When the Sooners face the Cornhuskers at 11 a.m. Saturday, Winfrey hopes to be a regular in Nebraska’s backfield, wreaking havoc on Adrian Martinez and Co.
If the Sooners’ first two games are any indication, Winfrey figures to give the Cornhuskers fits.
According to Pro Football Focus, Winfrey leads the Big 12 in quarterback pressures with 11 through two games — just ahead of teammate Nik Bonitto.
But while Bonitto’s pressure comes from the edge, Winfrey’s comes straight up the gut.
Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said having pressure come from the middle “changes everything.”
“Obviously you’d love to get rush on the edges and all that but if you really wide up the edges, you can open up big holes, whereas that interior pass rush, sometimes it’s hard to get away from,” Riley said.
“You’ve got to be really disciplined when you rush the passer against this guy and obviously Perrion and all of our inside guys, any inside push and pressure we can get is going to make things tougher on any quarterback, especially one as athletic as Adrian.”
Winfrey is also turning that pressure into production.
In 11 games last season, he had six tackles for loss and just one assisted sack.
“He really turned himself from a good player to a pro. He takes everything very serious. This is his craft. Everything in his life revolves around football and you can tell now.” DaShaun White OU linebacker, on teammate Perrion Winfrey
Through two games this year, Winfrey already has two total sacks — one solo and combining with teammates on two others — and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Sooners defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has repeatedly talked about Winfrey’s need to turn disruption into making plays. So far, he’s done that.
“Specifically on the interior, if you’re not careful you can get into a mosh pit — the mash at the line of scrimmage — and by OK with simply being blocked,” Grinch said.
“Seeing an unwillingness to allow those snaps to happen. We say at minimum we want to be three yards in the backfield. Is that coach speak? It’s easier said than done. There’s a guy lining up across from him with a similar mindset. But you can’t be OK with just being stagnant. If that’s the case, then we need to start recruiting 350pound linemen and be holding gaps.”
But that isn’t Grinch’s defense, and at 6-foot-4, 292 pounds, Winfrey isn’t that type of player.
“It all starts with us hunting, hunting, hunting every play, going and attacking every play, giving our all knowing that if we dominate the line of scrimmage that there’s nobody in the country that can compete with us on a physicality level,” Winfrey said.
When he arrived in Norman before last season, Winfrey developed a reputation as one of the team jokesters.
But while he still has that big personality, his teammates have noticed a shift.
“He really turned himself from a good player to a pro,” linebacker DaShaun White said. “He takes everything very serious. This is his craft. Everything in his life revolves around football and you can tell now.”
That focus is making not only Winfrey better but helping the defenders behind him.
“Just having players like Perrion, really, a lot of our guys inside, having a D-line like ours … it’s a little unfair, but I’ll take it,” White said.
Winfrey has also refined his passrush approach.
“Some of the issues last fall, in terms of the ability to get a guy on the ground, was simply that — being too high as you approach ball-carriers in the backfield,” Riley said.
“Those things happen so fast. Oftentimes for those interior guys — once you’re in the backfield, you know, if you’re three yards deep in the backfield, ideally, well guess what? That back’s right up on you and you’ve got to be able to fire the gun, go low and secure the tackle very quickly. Same thing goes for a quarterback.”
Martinez has rushed for 256 yards in three games so far this season, averaging just more than 7.5 yards per carry. So it’ll be critical for the Sooners to contain Martinez, both on designed running plays and when he scrambles.
Winfrey could’ve been teammates with Martinez — he had the Cornhuskers in his final eight before ultimately choosing the Sooners out of a group that also includes Alabama, Texas, LSU and Penn State among others.
“I was never going to Nebraska,” Winfrey said. “It’s a great organization for sure, but honestly that’s just — great players, great coaches — but it just wasn’t the fit for me, honestly. They made a strong push until I told them to stop pushing.”
Saturday, Winfrey is looking to be the one doing the pushing.