Perrion Winfrey dominant in Sooners 76-0 win over WCU

The breakout has been long anticipated for Oklahoma Sooners defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey. A strong and super athletic player, Winfrey had all the tools to be a dominating force in the middle of Alex Grinch’s defense.

In 2020, he flashed his physical ability to take over a game, but the stat sheet didn’t necessarily reflect it. Though he didn’t record a sack in 2020, he was a force in the middle and was a reason why so many were high on this Oklahoma Sooners defense heading into 2021 despite losing edge rusher Ronnie Perkins.

In just two games in 2021, Winfrey already has two sacks after collecting 0.5 sacks in the win over Tulane and another 1.5 sacks in last night’s 76-0 win over Western Carolina. His two total sacks are tied with Isaiah Thomas for the team’s lead through two games.

Winfrey led the way for the Sooners pass rush, collecting six total pressures of Catamounts quarterbacks who were pressured on 49% of their dropbacks by the Oklahoma pass rush.

Winfrey accounted for six of those pressures on just 19 snaps as the Sooners starting nose tackle played only in the first half. He played 16 of those snaps on pass-rushing downs and recorded a pressure on 37.5% of his pass-rush snaps. That’s a dominant day rushing the passer.

Winfrey ended the day with the fourth-highest defensive grade from Pro Football Focus on the day and second to only Nik Bonitto among Oklahoma Sooners’ starters.

As the competition takes a step up in the coming weeks with Nebraska next week and then West Virginia and Kansas State after that, the Oklahoma Sooners will need Perrion Winfrey to continue to be the dominant force he’s shown to be in the first two games of the season.

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5 takeaways from the Sooners 76-0 win over Western Carolina