OU football: As Brian Odom keeps building depth, DaShaun White, Sooners’ linebackers want to become ‘LBU’

Each time DaShaun White and OU’s linebacker unit breaks its huddle, the confident chant remains the same. “LBU,” the group yells as it takes the field, hoping to prove its words true.

Short for “Linebacker University,” the phrase “LBU,” has long been attributed to Penn State for its success at the position. The Sooners have also produced talented linebackers historically — Dante Jones, Brian Bosworth, Rocky Calmus and Teddy Lehman to name a few.

Oklahoma’s most recent star at linebacker was Kenneth Murray, a first round draft pick of the Los Angeles Chargers following current defensive coordinator Alex Grinch’s first season in Norman. During his time at OU, Murray was around plenty of talent, but the discipline among his position-mates was occasionally lacking.

However, around White’s arrival in 2018 and Murray’s stardom in 2019, the culture among OU’s linebackers has done a “180 flip,” the former said Wednesday. Inside linebackers coach Brian Odom, who also arrived in 2019, has largely contributed to that by developing incoming talent regardless of stars or recruiting hype.

“The highly recruited deal, perfect, awesome,” Odom said. “If you are great, if not, will you fit in our system or not, and I don't care what anybody else thinks. If I'm gonna evaluate the guy and if he's gonna help us I'm all in on it… (recruiting rankings) doesn’t matter to me.”

As the 2021 season nears, Odom’s position group is deeper than in years past, he says, and White and others are bent on making their “LBU” aspirations reality.

“That's something we put our hearts into, and we mean that when we say that… we're gonna do our part, we're gonna put our best foot forward in becoming Linebacker U,” White said. “And so I think that just having that really motivates us every day. I know it motivates me to be the best me because I'm doing it for sort of a bigger purpose to be one of more respected linebacker corps in the nation.”

White, a senior, has played in 39 games — more career appearances than any current Sooners linebacker aside from sixth-year seniors Caleb Kelly and Bryan Mead. Last fall he split time with junior David Ugwoegbu at the Mike spot Murray used to own, and is hoping to build on 38 tackles, five for loss and 2.5 sacks.

“I definitely want to be a much bigger player, a much more impact player,” White said. “That's something that during this offseason I tell myself, that I can make the consistent play behind the line of scrimmage fairly well. But there's got to be those flash plays, those plays where it's a TFL in the backfield, sacks, that sort of thing.”

Besides White, expectations are also high for redshirt junior Brian Asamoah, who led the team with 66 tackles last fall. Redshirt sophomore Jamal Morris and sophomore Shane Whitter are returners who have impressed in fall camp, while freshman Danny Stutsman is the newcomer drawing rave reviews.

And as those linebackers begin the third year of Grinch’s “Speed D” at OU, not just the culture in the room has changed, but also the conversation. As Odom detailed it Tuesday, he’s not explaining basics like understanding coverages and hitting gaps anymore.

“It's no longer a teaching session in the meetings,” Odom said. “We're sitting here talking about how to get better as a linebacker, how to play certain blocks a certain way, how to do this a little bit better, a little bit more efficient.”

White said the improvement showed Monday night, when the Sooners scrimmaged under the lights of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. White wouldn’t name all the linebackers who stood out, but highlighted Morris, Stustman and Whitter and said he felt the group played well overall.

For White, the constant competition is particularly motivating, and perhaps a better opportunity than could be found elsewhere. Perhaps, if OU’s linebackers continue to push each other this fall, future recognition as “LBU” becomes more plausible.

“Just the opportunity to surround yourself with something like that (competition), around the country it's not a lot of places like that where you can say that you get into the three deep and it's still a really, really solid group,” White said. “So I think that's really just a testament to our group and how hard we work."