John Hoover: Jeremiah Hall
Jalen Pitre is Baylor's best defensive player. As the Bears' All-Big 12 nickelback, Pitre is involved in every aspect of the Baylor defense, from pass coverage to stuffing the run game to chasing quarterbacks. He's a disruptor, and instinctive player who finds himself among the conference leaders in just about every defensive category. It's Pitre who makes Jeremiah Hall so important as the Sooners try to attack the Bears. Whether it's run blocking at the point of attack or giving Caleb Williams a pass blocker in the backfield or sneaking out and catching passes of his own, Hall will need to win more battles than not when he matches up with Pitre.
Ryan Chapman: Mario Williams
Mario Williams had his best game in a Sooner uniform against Texas Tech before the bye week, and he could be primed to have a repeat performance in Waco. The Baylor defense is ranked No. 81 nationally in opponent's yards per completion, as teams have had success attacking the Bears' secondary down the field. With so much attention paid to Marvin Mims, Williams could be the big beneficiary of that on Saturday. If Caleb Williams can continue to do an excellent job of extending plays with his legs, he could find Mario Williams downfield for a game-changing play.
Josh Callaway: Danny Stutsman
Caleb Williams grabs the headlines for obvious reasons, but the other truly stud freshman on this team is linebacker Danny Stutsman. Removing the portion of the season he missed due to injury, he has been one of the most active players on the Oklahoma defense all year and will be needed on Saturday against Baylor. While Stutsman has been very good in his first season in Norman, he hasn’t had that one big awe-inspiring play, that moment where you really feel like he changed the game completely. This could be that day. Stutsman looks like a guy made for the big moment. Well, this is a big moment. Watch for him to make one or two key plays to help the Sooners escape Waco with a win.
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