NORMAN — Jake Kreul was in no celebratory mood after Oklahoma’s 21-13 loss to Kentucky.
“It’s a little infuriating,” the Sooners’ freshman defensive end said when asked about his game. “It sucks to lose as a competitor. … It’s really aggravating. I don’t want to be like a sob story but it sucks losing. You hate to lose.”
While Kreul might not’ve been in any mood to bask in the glory of his performance, plenty of other people were.
On a night where plenty went wrong for Oklahoma, Kreul was an unquestioned bright spot.
He finished with 2.5 sacks, the most in program history for a true freshman and the most by any freshman since Brian Bosworth had three sacks against Iowa State as a redshirt freshman back in 1984.
When you’re doing things that have never been done in program history at a place like Oklahoma, and doing things that haven’t been done since The Boz, it’s eye-opening.
“He’s been practicing well,” Sooners coach Brent Venables said of Kreul. “He’s incredibly eager and focused, puts a lot of work in, and tonight he just had his opportunity. He made some fantastic plays and really impacted things. … Jake’s going to be a really good player.”
Forget “going to be,” Kreul is a really good player right now.
At the end of the first quarter, Kreul teamed up with Kip Lewis to bring down Kenny Darby for a short loss. The next play, he teamed up with Lewis again, this time for a sack of Kenny Minchey.
Late in the third quarter, he had his first solo sack as a Sooner, bringing down Minchey on third-and-10 to force a Wildcats punt.
Then with just more than six minutes remaining and Oklahoma trailing by a point, Kreul came up huge again, sacking Minchey on fourth-and-3 from the OU 5 to give the Sooners a chance to pull off the victory.
“He’s special,” fellow defensive end Taylor Wein said. “Once again, I’m not surprised. That’s just who he is and it’s only getting started for Jake Kreul. His investment, his coachability, and the way he attacks every day and the way he continues to learn about football, man, I’ve never seen it before. And you guys saw a small glimpse of who he is as a man and a player.
“It’s only going to go up from here for Jake.”
Kreul hadn’t played more than 15 plays in any game this season before Saturday.
He played 33 snaps against Kentucky, as many as starter Adepoju Adebawore and top backup Danny Okoye combined.
“His most special characteristic is his mindset and his brain,” Wein said of Kreul. “Super smart, super intelligent, and has a killer mindset. … He understands when he goes wrong and where he goes wrong and he adjusts. It’s not about the mistake, it’s about the adjustment and how do you correct that. So that’s what makes him special.”
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