James Skalski
Anyone who watched games when Skalski was the starting middle linebacker for the Clemson Tigers and also watched the games that Skalski missed because of injury or suspension knows how important he was to the defense. He was essentially Brent Venables on the field of play.
It isn’t a surprise that Skalski elected to enter coaching after his brief NFL career. It also wasn’t surprising that he joined his mentor Brent Venables at Oklahoma as a graduate assistant.
Like Venables before him, Wes Goodwin has assumed the dual role of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. I really can’t think of a better way to give Goodwin even more time to work his evil wizard magic on the defense than to bring in a guy like Skalski to coach the linebackers.
There is no better way to bring some of that Venables fire back to Clemson than to bring Skalski home. I also recognize that he might not be ready for that yet. Clearly, he has a great relationship with BV. It's also realistic that one year under Venables isn’t enough to learn everything.
Oklahoma can also expand its staff too, so there’s that. Swinney should still give it a shot.
NEXT: Chansi Stuckey