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Oklahoma Football: Can anyone dethrone the Sooners in 2020?

By Richard Kimball

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Lincoln Riley of the Oklahoma Sooners watches from the sidelines during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Memorial Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Lincoln Riley of the Oklahoma Sooners watches from the sidelines during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at Memorial Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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DaShaun White, Oklahoma football (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /

DaShaun White to have expanded role in 2020

Despite losing their leader and best player of their 2019 defense, linebacker Kenneth Murray, the Oklahoma Sooners still have nine starters returning for the 2020 season.

With the exit of Murray, junior linebacker, DaShaun White, looks to step up and make his presence and leadership known on the Sooner defense. White was the team’s fourth-leading tackler in 2019 and has a knack of being able to meet the ball carrier in the trenches.

The other two levels of the defense, the defensive line and the secondary, also look to replace a top performer but should have no issues in doing so. Pat Fields, a safety for the Sooners, had 64 tackles and five pass deflections last season and looks to carry those numbers over to 2020.

On the defensive line, the Sooners return their top two sack leaders from a season ago, Ronnie Perkins and Jalen Redmond, who combined for 12.5 sacks in 2019, so applying pressure to quarterback and getting into the backfield should be no issue for the Sooners in 2020.

The Big 12 is one of the highest-scoring offenses in college football but the Sooners are used to that and should not have too many issues on defense to prevent them from winning their sixth straight conference title.

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