Bonitto shows growth in slowing down Martinez
NORMAN – What OU quarterback Spencer Rattler had to say after Saturday’s 23-16 win over Nebraska would’ve been unthinkable a year ago.
It had nothing to do with Rattler or the offense, but rather Sooners’ rush linebacker Nik Bonitto.
“He’s the best D-line, D-end in the country, in my opinion,” Rattler said. “I get to go against him every day in practice and he’s in the backfield all the time.”
Bonitto didn’t make the play that will be talked about for years in the win over the Cornhuskers.
That’d be cornerback D.J. Graham, whose spectacular one-handed interception late in the game provided the ‘Wow’ moment.
He wasn’t the Sooners defender who made Pro Football Focus’ team of the week.
That’d be defensive tackle Jalen Redmond, who had perhaps his best game as a Sooners with five tackles, 1.5 sacks, an assist on another tackle for loss, and a quarterback hurry.
But Bonitto was the most important player on the field for OU in the win.
Adrian Martinez, Nebraska’s quarterback, was the Huskers’ best chance at pulling off the upset, specifically with his feet.
The plan was to limit Martinez’s abil
ity to make plays in the run game — both on designed plays and when things broke down — and force the Huskers to try to use the passing game to beat the Sooners.
Martinez nearly did it, throwing for 289 yards and a touchdown.
But OU made it difficult for Martinez to do anything else.
They sacked Martinez five times and limited him to 34 yards on the ground, with no runs longer than 10 yards.
Bonitto had two of those sacks himself, spending much of the game as a spy on Martinez.
“We knew coming in that he wanted to run the ball,” Graham said. “That’s what he is successful at. You put a player like Nik spying Adrian Martinez, and it’s a different story, and he’s not going to be able to run around like that.”
Martinez’s 2.0 yards per carry was his fewest yards per carry since the 2019 season opener and the fourth-lowest of his 32 games with the Cornhuskers.
And Bonitto is the biggest reason why the Sooners kept Martinez in check.
“Nik Bonitto is one of the best football players on the entire team, matter of fact the entire country,” Graham said. “He’s top two in the country, and that’s for a reason. He pretty much shut Adrian Martinez down.”
That was Sooners’ defensive coordinator Alex Grinch’s main focus in putting together the game-plan, and it started with Bonitto.
“It was a major commitment to not turn him loose,” Grinch said. “When he rushed for 100 yards, they win football games. I’m sure I could’ve done a much better job in some respects and some situations.”
Bonitto is an ankle-breaker, Rattler said.
“He was a basketball guy in high school. He kind of plays basketball out there, crossing a guy up, crossing a tackle up and getting into the backfield,” Rattler said. “He has great instincts, great speed and a nose for the ball.”
While Bonitto has developed a reputation as a pass rusher, his development as an overall player has elevated him even further from where he was last year.
“He’s an active guy,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s really improved so much against the run, which has made him a very, very difficult player to play against.”