RAW TALENT
Gallimore attempting to put it all together for Sooners
NORMAN — Calvin Thibodeaux marvels at the raw talent of Neville Gallimore.
“You talk about some skill sets — one of the best I possibly have ever seen,” Oklahoma’s defensive ends coach said.
And Thibodeaux has seen some talent, considering just the group of defensive linemen he played with as a player with the Sooners — guys like Dusty Dvoracek, C.J. Ah You and Dan Cody.
“But he has to put it together,” Thibodeaux continued on Gallimore.. “We’ve got to quit talking about upside and he’s got to do it. He definitely took a lot of steps this spring but now it’s about doing it in a game. He’s one of those guys that really worked out well, a 4.7 guy, can bench the world. It’s time for him to show up in a game. Once he does that, the rest is history.”
The redshirt junior from Ottawa, Ontario arrived in Norman before the 2015 season as a raw defensive line talent that needed plenty of polish.
He showed flashes of what he could be in 2016 when he broke into the starting lineup late in the season and finished with 40 tackles, including four for loss.
But last season, Gallimore seemed to regress, starting the first five games of the season before dropping out of the starting lineup in favor of Marquise Overton.
He finished with just 28 tackles, and just one for a loss.
Thibodeaux is counting on Gallimore to be a big piece in a defensive line that the Sooners hope
makes much more of an impact this season after struggling to find consistent playmakers there in recent years, especially on the interior.
“We need (more playmaking) and better control of the line of scrimmage,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said. “We feel like those guys have made tremendous improvement.”
Just having Thibodeaux back will help.
After shuffling from Jerry Montgomery to Diron Reynolds to Thibodeaux in succession, Thibodeaux enters his third season and has added stability to the group.
“That’s going to create some instability,” Stoops said.
It’s not just Gallimore who will be key, although he’s a big part of it.
The Sooners expect big things from Kenneth Mann after he had five sacks a year ago playing behind now-departed D.J. Ward at defensive end. Same for Amani Bledsoe, who has missed a season’s worth of time the last two years while serving a suspension.
But Thibodeaux likes what he’s seen early on, not just from those players but even those lower on the depth chart.
“Guys are being physical and guys are playing hard,” Thibodeaux said. “When you have those two things, you have a chance. There’s still things you have to fine tune and we're not there yet, but when you have those two components, you have a chance.”
For Gallimore, what he’s doing now is great but he needs to be able to translate those talents in front of full stands during the fall instead of just in the relative anonymity in the heat of the summer.
“You can see him taking steps,” Thibodeaux said. “He’s gifted, man. It’s just a matter of him putting it all together on Saturdays because that skill set is elite. It’s just time for him to put it all together.”