How Oklahoma DE Taylor Wein Plans to 'Build on' Impressive Week 1 Outing

Originally posted on Oklahoma Sooners on SI
By Carson Field | Last updated Sep 1, 2025 4:00 PM ET

Taylor Wein showed that he deserves playing time in a crowded defensive end room on Saturday.

Wein, a redshirt sophomore defensive end, made two tackles in the Sooners’ 35-3 season-opening win against Illinois State. He also recorded his first-career sack, one of only two sacks that OU recorded in the win, and a quarterback hurry.

Wein’s production was minimal during his first two seasons.

In 2023, he appeared in only OU’s season opener against Arkansas State and used his redshirt for the season. Wein appeared in 10 games a year ago, making two assisted tackles.

Throughout the offseason, Wein’s teammates and coaches raved about his improvement and noted him as someone that could break out in 2025.

Saturday’s game showed why.

“It was awesome,” Wein said. “It felt good (to get a sack). I have a lot to build on it.”

Wein was listed as the co-starter at left defensive end for the opener, along with Florida State transfer Marvin Jones Jr. Jones didn’t record any statistics against Illinois State.

The defensive end room is particularly deep. In addition to Wein and Jones, the Sooners have returning star R Mason Thomas on the right side. Danny Okoye and former 5-star recruit Adepoju Adebawore are other reserves at defensive end, and redshirt freshman Wyatt Gilmore even appeared against the Redbirds.

The potential of OU’s defense — particularly the defensive end group — showed in the 32-point win, as the Sooners allowed only 151 total yards.

“We have a really, really good defensive group,” Wein said. Good personnel. Showed a lot, really physical, fast.

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“We gotta improve. Like I said, we have areas to improve, so we're excited to go into next week, stay level headed, flush the game down the toilet today and tomorrow and attack next week.”

As good as OU’s defense was against the Redbirds, the Sooners showed brief lapses while stopping the run.

Illinois State rushed for 117 yards, averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Running back Wenkers Wright and quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse logged rushes for 24 and 23 yards, respectively.

In comparison, OU ran for just 103 yards and averaged 3.2 yards per carry.

The level of difficulty will be much higher in Game 2 than it was against Illinois State: OU hosts No. 12 Michigan this week.

The Wolverines beat New Mexico 34-17 in their season opener and are headlined by dual-threat true freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood , who was the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2025. Junior running back Justice Haynes rushed for 159 yards and three touchdowns on 16 attempts against the Lobos, and Michigan combined for 201 yards on the ground.

Against a team as quality as Michigan, “good” won’t cut it. But Wein is confident that he — and his teammates — will make adjustments to be similarly effective against the Wolverines.

“I have a lot of improvement I need to make going into next week,” Wein said. “We have a good opponent coming, so I just have to get better.”

This article first appeared on Oklahoma Sooners on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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