NORMAN, Okla. — It was an early exit for DaShaun White in Lincoln last weekend. In the first half, the Sooners' cheetah was called for targeting on Nebraska quarterback Casey Thompson and ejected from the contest.

However, he's been productive in his time out there and is one of the many beneficiaries of this new defense under Brent Venables, Ted Roof and co. White so far has compiled 16 tackles, including a sack, to go along with a couple quarterback hurries and a pass breakup.

And this week, he stopped by with the media to talk about the early transition in 2022. OUInsider.com brings all of that discussion to you right here.

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What it’s like seeing the defense come to fruition like they have the first three weeks: “Oh yeah, I mean, it's just what he said it was. It's aggressive. It’s fast. It’s physical. It's all of those things. And so just we follow the leader.”

How the style compares to last year: “I don't really like to compare either, but I would definitely say I think we're a little bit more aggressive, which is [evident]. You can tell that if you've never watched football before and you’d just seen two games from each.”

How much fun the last weekend was: “Oh, it was a lot of fun for me. I got to do a lot of things that I feel like I do pretty well. So, just to be able to kind of get back into what I feel like is gonna be something that we do a lot just kind of felt good, because we've been so versatile in these first few games. Like, we’ve done three totally, completely different things in these first three games.”

How much fun it was transitioning to a three-man front look: “It was nice. It really was. It allows us to bring pressure from 1,000 different spots. Like, you never know who's coming. I think that's what makes it so fun. It's just we might show eight or seven or eight guys upon the line of scrimmage and we might bring nobody; we might not show you anybody, and we might bring seven or eight guys. So, you just have to prepare for anything.”

How good he feels in the new cheetah position: "I do. I feel really good. I feel really good. Like I said, I think that the position is really a lot of things that I feel like I've always done well that I've kind of had to be pushed to the side and just be like a real middle backer. But I think that just being in this position allows me to do a lot of things that I feel like I do at a high level.”

If it’s freed up his game in some ways: “I would definitely say that. Just being out there in space, I can still be physical in the screen game and stuff like that. I get in the run game a lot, too. So, it's just the best of both worlds. It’s gonna keep a smile on my face.”

If he realized it was targeting as soon as it happened last week: “No, so originally when they called it, I thought it was just gonna be roughing. But as soon as they said targeting, I kind of had a thought like, ‘Did I or did I not?’ And as soon as I didn't know if I did or didn’t, I kind of knew that I probably did. And so I’ve got to keep my head up. It’s funny. Last week in practice Coach kept emphasizing to me specifically pad level, pad level, pad level. And even before the game, he said it once to me. And it came and got me. So, it's an easy fix.”

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What he thought about Jaren Kanak's game when he came in: “Come on. I told Jaren he needs to win like the Butkus [Award] before he leaves this place. No, he just gets in there, and I think Coach V. hit it on the nose. Like, he's made that many plays and he still doesn’t really understand what he's doing yet. Like, the sky's the limit for him. He's gonna be a great player. And I just hope that I do my part in showing him right from wrong and kind of being a big brother for him.”

If as an older guy he can recognize a younger guy that’s ready for that moment: “Definitely, yeah. I think we have a lot of young guys that are ready for that moment. And that doesn't mean that they're gonna get in there and be perfect and do their job at a high level, but at least they're gonna get in there and give it maximum effort. They're gonna play physical. They’re going to play disciplined. And so that's really what we pride ourselves in on defense.”

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