What does Derek Mason like about his Oklahoma State defense? 'Our game is blue-collar'

STILLWATER — Through a little more than seven months on the job, Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Derek Mason has been encouraged by his new players’ commitment to improving the Cowboy defense — regardless of the time of day.

“I’m getting texts late at night, ‘Hey coach, I’m looking at clip 143. Is that a Bang call or a Boom call?’” Mason said Tuesday in his first meeting with the media during preseason camp.

“I’m not getting much sleep right now, just due to the fact that these guys want the information, so that’s good.”

The schematic design of the OSU defense is basically the same as what former defensive coordinator Jim Knowles and his assistants developed over the past four seasons, culminating in last year’s extraordinary performance when the Cowboys fielded one of the two or three best defenses in the country.

Since arriving in January, Mason has adapted to what was being run, rather than installing his own defense.

He has learned the players’ terminology, instead of teaching them a new language.

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The Cowboy defense, which is based in a 4-2-5 scheme but alternates between a three-man and four-man front, isn’t too different from some of the defenses Mason has run while coaching at Stanford, Vanderbilt and, most recently, as the coordinator at Auburn last year.

“Mason and Knowles kind of come from the same coaching tree,” super-senior defensive end Brock Martin said. “It's all a lot of similar stuff. We'll watch the stuff that he did at Auburn and it looks really similar to what we did at Oklahoma State last year. So, the words are probably different, some coverages might be different in some certain situations, but there's really no major changes. It's made for an easy transition.”

While Mason wants the players to develop their knowledge of the defense, he understands — having been a head coach at Vanderbilt from 2014-20 — that the first two weeks of preseason camp are about immersing in the fundamentals.

“The scheme is there, but the fundamentals are essential,” Mason said. “I’m worried about the things that take no talent. It takes no talent to communicate. It takes no talent to line up. It takes no talent to get to the football.

“If you can do those three things, along with playing within the scheme, we got something.”

So, with the help of his assistants, Mason is drilling home the basics through the early part of camp, not yet bothering the players with the strategy or schematic wrinkles that are sure to come.

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“You keep it about the fundamentals as much as you can, because when you get to the season, it’s gotta be rote memory,” he said. “You don’t get a chance to go back and say, ‘Oh, man, we’re tackling poor, so now we need to emphasize tackling.’

“Every day, it’s gotta be about the fundamental things, especially for the first two weeks, that are needed and necessary to carry you through the season.”

Mason has fallen into a unique situation with the players he inherits. OSU led the nation with 55 sacks last season, and most of the players responsible for those sacks return on the defensive line — including four of the top five sack producers in Collin Oliver (11.5), Martin (9.0), Tyler Lacy (3.5) and Brendon Evers (3.0).

But OSU must replace both linebackers and four of five starters in the secondary, giving Mason some immediate work in not only deciding who those other starters will be, but preparing them for those roles in time for the season.

The linebacker position is the biggest concern, with last year’s starters, Malcolm Rodriguez and Devin Harper each having combined for more than 1,600 snaps played and 225 tackles.

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But Mason isn’t buying into the approach of needing a singular player to replicate everything Rodriguez or Harper did.

Instead, Mason views the challenge through the lens of Oakland A’s executive Billy Beane’s well-known Moneyball theory — the one that spawned a book, and later, a movie starring Brad Pitt — of reproducing a star’s production collectively with a group of players.

“It’s not replacing Rodriguez and Harper, it’s the idea of replacing the production and you do it with numbers,” Mason said. “We’re gonna… let those inside backers feel their way through playing the game. I’m not gonna ask them to be something that they’re not. I need them to be the best version of themselves, and that’s where we’re at right now.

“The defense is where it should be this early in camp.”

Mason is reminded of his team’s attitude every day when he walks through the parking lot outside Boone Pickens Stadium’s west end zone to enter the team facility.

“I don’t see Lamborghinis, I don’t see Porches,” Mason said. “I see Ford F-150s, I see a Charger or two sitting out there, I’ll see a Chevy.

“It’s blue-collar. That’s what our game is. Our game is blue-collar. To see a blue-collar place, a blue-collar mentality, a blue-collar environment, it’s pretty cool.”

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State football: Derek Mason encouraged by Cowboys' passion