Oklahoma LB Sammy Omosigho Not Satisfied with Strong Week 1 Performance

Sammy Omosigho showed the same skills at his new position in OU’s 2025 season opener.

Omosigho, a junior, primarily played at the cheetah position, a hybrid between defensive back and linebacker, last year. In the Sooners’ 35-3 win over Illinois State in Week 1, Omosigho played middle linebacker.

Omosigho finished as the Sooners’ leading tackler against the Redbirds with eight, three of which were solo tackles.

“All the fall camp work, all the offseason work is finally paying off, and it’s good to finally have a real (game),” Omosigho said.

As a sophomore in 2024, Omosigho played in all 13 games and started three times at cheetah. He ended the year with 39 tackles and five tackles for loss but never got into the sack column. He played in 10 games as a true freshman but similarly never logged a sack that season.

That changed in his first game of 2025.

Omosigho had OU’s first sack of the season in the third quarter against Illinois State.

“It’s amazing to finally have one on the board,” Omosigho said.

Omosigho came to OU with a background as a linebacker. But after playing cheetah for the majority of his first two seasons, Omosigho gained comfortability at the position.

Those around him have helped him fit back into his natural spot almost seamlessly.

“I have an amazing staff around me from Coach (Brent Venables) to the people he brought in, Coach (Nate) Dreiling and Coach (Wes) Goodwin. I have great brothers around me. Owen Heinecke, Kobie McKinzie, all the older guys… we all just come together and work on all the stuff we’ve got to focus on.”

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With Omosigho now back at his natural position, defensive end Taylor Wein expects more big games from the linebacker.

“Athletically, he’s a freak, so it doesn't surprise me,” Wein said. “Sammy, the best is yet to come, so he's gonna do really good. I know he's a really level headed guy, so he's gonna do his job, not letting this game affect him mentally.”

OU’s linebacker corps showed its depth against Illinois State.

Kip Lewis, the Sooners’ starting weakside linebacker, had four tackles and a pass deflection. Heinecke, a former walk-on also playing on the weak side, had four solo tackles, surpassing his 2024 total in only one game. And McKinzie, a fellow inside linebacker, didn’t record any solo tackles but was regularly in Illinois State’s backfield during his snaps.

“We have other players that we need and our defense is good,” Omosigho said. “Our defense has potential to be great. We just have to make sure that we’re all doing our 1/11 and not beating ourselves.”

The games only get harder for OU’s defense, though.

Oklahoma hosts No. 14 Michigan on Saturday for a ranked-on-ranked matchup. The Wolverines beat New Mexico 34-17 in their season opener, the first game of true freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood’s college career.

As memorable as Omosigho’s first game of 2025 was, he has already turned the page.

“We need to communicate better, just talk from the back end to the front end,” Omosigho said. “Just be more sound in our fits because Michigan’s more of a running team, and they’re very good at what they do. So we’ve got to bring our ‘A’ game, and we have to make sure we’re ready for the opponent.”