OU defensive end Jeremy Beal says his secret is preparation

NORMAN — To understand how Jeremy Beal has become one of the nation’s most dominating and disruptive defensive ends, you have to know about his teeth.

They’re fake.

Those perfect, pearly whites? Not real.

That’s because the Oklahoma junior had his own front teeth knocked out when he was a kid, the result of brotherly rough-housing gone bad. He thought his older brother was just playing around like always.

He wasn’t.

The false teeth were the worst of Beal’s childhood maladies, but there were others. He ran into a pipe while playing under the bleachers at his brother’s basketball game. It left a gash on his forehead that required an emergency room visit for stitches. He got smacked with a baseball bat. No hospital trip required.

"I was a tough little kid,” Beal said.

Playing college football?

"It’s nothing,” he said, laughing.

As the youngest of four children, Beal learned how to survive. He figured out a way to compensate for his shortcomings. He was younger, so he’d have to be tougher. He was smaller, so he’d have to be smarter.

He did what had to be done.

That is still the case today.

Beal admits his limitations as a defensive end — "I’m not the most athletic. I’m not the fastest. I’m not the strongest” — but he has refused to let that keep him from becoming one of the best defensive ends not only in the country but also in school history.

Through five games this season, he already has 6.5 sacks. Stay at that pace, and Beal will finish with 17 sacks and shatter OU’s single-season record.

Beal is already making an assault on the school’s career sacks record. Even though he’s played only two-plus seasons, he moved into fifth place Saturday against Baylor when he pushed his career total to 22.

Now with the Red River Rivalry dead ahead, the Sooners need Beal more than ever. He will be vital against the Longhorns and Colt McCoy. He will need to do his thing — harassing and harnessing the quarterback

"Over the last two years, he’s easily been our most consistent defensive lineman ... in making plays and playing with incredible effort,” Sooner defensive coordinator Brent Venables said after the 33-7 victory over Baylor. "He gets it. It’s easy for him.

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