Key Lawrence at Corner Could Unlock Oklahoma's Secondary in November

The Oklahoma defense found something at cornerback on Saturday.

Safety Delarrin Turner-Yell returned to the lineup for the first time since the opening drive against Texas, reuniting Oklahoma’s safety combo of Turner-Yell and Pat Fields.

But the emergence of Key Lawrence, who had played his best game of the season one week prior against the Kansas Jayhawks, meant defensive coordinator Alex Grinch would have to play a little musical chairs on the back end of the defense to field the best lineup possible against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. 

The solution? Slide Lawrence over to corner to cover up the hole left by the injured Woodi Washington. And the move paid dividends.

“He made some plays, he did,” OU head coach Lincoln Riley said after the game. “He made some real competitive plays.”

The move wasn’t totally foreign to Lawrence, as he played corner at Tennessee last year before transferring to the Sooners, but that didn’t stop Texas Tech from going at Lawrence on the very first play from scrimmage.

Red Raider quarterback Henry Colombi tested Lawrence vertically, throwing to Erik Ezukanma. The Red Raider wide receiver appeared to have a step on the young OU defensive back was able to close gap and force Ezukanma out of bounds for an incompletion, setting the tone for an impressive outing by Lawrence.

“I expected it, just because of the switch, but it wasn't really nothing unexpected,” Lawrence said about getting targeted on the first play of the game. “I feel like it was a big thing for me because I'm honestly ... confidence is always gonna be there whether he caught it or not. I've practiced too much for this. I've worked too hard for it. I think it was a good play but other than that, just football I guess.”

Lawrence said he was unfazed by the move over to corner because Grinch expects all of the guys in the secondary to be able to move around and slot into any position on the back end.

“Anything can happen at any point in time,” Lawrence said. “Coach Grinch wants us to understand that we have to adapt to any situation, whether it's next man up. This week, I felt like it was a big deal for me to take advantage of my opportunity and capitalize and keep building on the previous days and just keep building on practices.”

Grinch’s faith in Lawrence was rewarded. The young defensive back finished the game with two pass break-ups and he also logged seven tackles.

Lawrence now has three pass break ups on the year to lead the Sooners, and defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas is second on the team this season with his two pass breaks ups that he was credited with against the Red Raiders.

Lawrence made the position switch look seamless on Saturday, but he said it was anything but easy considering just how different playing corner is to playing safety.

“It's very difficult,” said Lawrence, “just because you have to understand you can't be as aggressive as you want to be at safety, but you have to learn a different type of technique and be more patient, gotta have hands. Footwork's totally different. It's a big switch that you have to learn and adapt to.”

Grinch has preached numerous times that his defense is designed to get the best 11 players on the field, and headed into a grueling November slate, Lawrence’s performances over the past few weeks have placed him at the forefront of those discussions for Grinch and his staff.

Now, even if Washington doesn’t return on the other side of the bye week, Oklahoma can head into Waco with some confidence that Lawrence and D.J. Graham can perform at a high level against Baylor’s offense, setting a cornerback room that had been unsettled since Washington went down.

“I think he made some plays today and a couple others that I think he can and will make in the future,” Grinch said after the win on Saturday. “… Looking for playmakers in the secondary and trying to find the best 11 guys and I think he’s kind of established himself as being a starter and it’s our job to find the right spot for him.”

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