Watch the Sooners train for the fall season in this highlight reel of practice footage from August 10, 2021.
Filmed by Collin McDaniel and Justin Jayne
Edited by Collin McDaniel
Fresh off a breakout season, Nik Bonitto remains hungry for national accolades.
The redshirt junior received a second-team AP All-American selection last fall, but didn’t garner much additional recognition. Bonitto was left off the All-Big 12 team entirely, despite boasting a 25.7 percent pressure rate — the highest mark in FBS Division I — according to Pro Football Focus.
The script has flipped recently, however, as Bonitto was named to the USA Today Preseason All-America team on Wednesday, and the Bednarik, Butkus and Nagurski Trophy watch lists in July. The 6-foot-3 outside linebacker said he would embrace being the presumed best player on OU’s defense, but knows he still hasn't performed to his potential.
“I feel like, even though I had a good year last year, it wasn’t to my standard of what I think I can do,” Bonitto said Wednesday. “Because I still have a lot to grow in my game. But it’s definitely honoring for sure.”
OU coach Lincoln Riley was once unsure if Bonitto would ever survive, much less excel in Norman.
“He was on thin ice at times early in his career here,” Riley said at Big 12 Media Days on July 14. “There were some times where you looked at him like, ‘Man is he going to make it or not?’ … He had to really turn it around and I give the kid a lot of credit. He’s, in every part of his life, taken a dramatic shift.”
Bonitto finished last season with the Sooners’ second-most tackles for loss and sacks on the team, with 10.5 and eight, respectively. He evolved from the struggling underclassman Riley would’ve never expected to bring to Big 12 Media Days, to a likely first round NFL Draft pick after this season and a leader among his defensive teammates.
Bonitto’s growth contributed to the improvement of defensive coordinator Alex Grinch’s unit, which has risen to new heights since he took the job in 2019.
Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh even noticed the difference in the defensive line since Grinch’s arrival, agreeing the players look bigger and stronger. Bedenbaugh noted the rapid growth has even helped the offensive line improve just by the competition between the units in practice.
“There’s no doubt in my time here. … It’s as deep as I’ve seen and as talented and as big and as athletic,” Bedenbaugh said of the defense. ”(It’s) as challenging as I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”
The development of additional pass rushers alongside Bonitto is also important for Oklahoma. Defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux said interior linemen find better results when edge rushers create pressure.
“If our guys can stay square and just push the pocket, man you’ll run into some easy sacks,” Thibodeaux said. “When you have a guy that can bend the way (Bonitto) does, and as explosive as he is, if you’re just collapsing the pocket you’ll run into some cheap sacks.”
Bonitto spearheads a defensive line with preseason All-Big 12 selections Perrion Winfrey and Isaiah Thomas, and redshirt sophomore Jalen Redmond, who led the Sooners in sacks in 2019 before opting-out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Grinch also said he expects six pass rushers and eight interior defensive linemen to rotate this season.
“We know it, now we got to help the younger guys know it,” Bonitto said of learning Grinch’s system. “Specifically in my group, like Clayton Smith, or Brynden Walker or Marcus Stripling. … It’s really just as older guys, we got to take it upon ourselves to bring the young guys along and make sure they know the defense as well as we do.”
