Kip Lewis

Kip Lewis led Oklahoma in tackles, calls the defense, and wears the captain's stripe. He's back for a final season to anchor a Sooners defense built to make noise in the SEC.

LB · Oklahoma · Cl 3 · #10

CFB Zeitgeist 91

Kip Lewis led Oklahoma in tackles, calls the defense, and wears the captain's stripe. He's back for a final season to anchor a Sooners defense built to make noise in the SEC.

Lewis was the heartbeat of Oklahoma's defense in 2025 -- a team-leading 76 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and five pass breakups, the every-down signal-caller and captain who's started since the middle of 2024. He returns for a final season already on the Bronko Nagurski preseason watch list. The forward stakes ride with the program's: Oklahoma enters its second SEC year with a defense built to contend, and Lewis is the experienced voice in the middle who sets the front and makes the calls. He's not the flashiest name, but he's the kind of veteran anchor good defenses are organized around.

PLAY STYLE

Lewis is a balanced, do-everything middle linebacker -- the on-field quarterback of the defense. The stat line is well-rounded rather than spiky: a team-leading tackle count, 10.5 tackles for loss as a downhill run defender, four sacks on timed pressures, and five pass breakups that show real range in coverage. As a captain and multi-year starter, his value is as much in the pre-snap communication and alignment as in the production. He's a steady, instinctive, every-down linebacker who diagnoses plays quickly and is rarely out of position -- the reliable core a contending defense leans on.

SOURCES

Career Arc

Recruit

★★★★

#253 national

CFB

College

Oklahoma

2022–2025

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted (yet)

Coaching Lineage · 2022–2025

1 coach

2022

Brent Venables

Oklahoma

2023

Brent Venables

Oklahoma

2024

Brent Venables

Oklahoma

2025

Brent Venables

Oklahoma

Played his entire career under Brent Venables.

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2022Oklahoma6-7HC: Brent Venables · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2023Oklahoma10-3HC: Brent Venables · Balanced

2024Oklahoma6-7HC: Brent Venables · Run-leaning

2025Oklahoma10-3HC: Brent Venables · Balanced

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

91Elite

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles for loss (96th). Strength: tackles (93rd).

Tackles for loss#91 / 2975 · 97th pct

10.5defe

Tackles#192 / 2975 · 93rd pct

76defe

Sacks#169 / 2975 · 93rd pct

4.0defe

Solo tackles#271 / 2975 · 90th pct

38defe

QB hurries#288 / 2975 · 88th pct

4defe

Passes defended#340 / 2975 · 86th pct

4defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

Career stats

Defense

Season-by-season defensive box score for disruption and splash plays.

Season	Team	TOT	SOLO	TFL	SACK	PD	INT	FF
2025	OklahomaFinal snapshot	76	38	10.5	4.0	4	--	--
2024	OklahomaFinal snapshot	63	33	4.0	0.0	1	2	--
2023	OklahomaFinal snapshot	57	34	3.5	1.0	--	--	--
2022	OklahomaFinal snapshot	2	1	0.5	0.0	--	--	--
Career	4 loaded seasonsCareer row reflects the stat seasons currently loaded in this database.	198	106	18.5	5.0	5	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 10 · 2025

W 33–27

at Tennessee

10 TOT · 4 SOLO · 0 SACKS

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 6 on the road.

Game log

Game Log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	TKL	SOLO	TFL	SACK	INT	PD	Note
Wk 1	W 35-3vs Illinois State	4	2	0.0	0.0	—	1
Wk 2	W 24-13vs Michigan	6	2	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 3	W 42-3@ Temple	3	2	1.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 4	W 24-17vs Auburn	10	3	1.0	0.5	—	0
Wk 6	W 44-0vs Kent State	2	0	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 7	L 6-23@ Texas	4	3	0.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 8	W 26-7@ South Carolina	2	2	1.0	0.0	—	0
Wk 9	L 26-34vs Ole Miss	12	8	1.5	0.0	—	0	Season-high 12 tackles
Wk 10	W 33-27@ Tennessee	10	4	1.5	0.5	—	1
Wk 12	W 23-21@ Alabama	7	7	2.0	2.0	—	0	2 sacks
Wk 13	W 17-6vs Missouri	8	1	0.5	0.0	—	1
Wk 14	W 17-13vs LSU	4	1	0.0	0.0	—	1
Bowl	L 24-34vs Alabama	4	3	2.0	1.0	—	0
Total		76	38	10.5	4.0	—	4

How he plays

Savant · Box-rate percentiles

Where this profile ranks vs the LB cohort

91Elite

6 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: tackles for loss (96th). Strength: tackles (93rd).

Tackles for loss#91 / 2975 · 97th pct

10.5defe

Tackles#192 / 2975 · 93rd pct

76defe

Sacks#169 / 2975 · 93rd pct

4.0defe

Solo tackles#271 / 2975 · 90th pct

38defe

QB hurries#288 / 2975 · 88th pct

4defe

Passes defended#340 / 2975 · 86th pct

4defe

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score rates.

PLAY STYLE

2026 Outlook

Returning to Oklahoma for 2026

2026 Depth chart

Projected starter

Linebacker · Oklahoma

Returning around him

53% of 2024 offensive production back (Solid continuity)
7 Oklahoma players drafted to NFL
Transfer portal: -13 net (16 in / 29 out)

2026 Award watch

No preseason watch lists yet (most drop June 15 – July 15)

Oklahoma · Last season: 10-3 (AP #8) · Talent rank #14 · 2026 recruiting class #17

Perception vs tape

Kip Lewis led Oklahoma in tackles, calls the defense, and wears the captain's stripe. He's back for a final season to anchor a Sooners defense built to make noise in the SEC.

Lewis was the heartbeat of Oklahoma's defense in 2025 — a team-leading 76 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and five pass breakups, the every-down signal-caller and captain who's started since the middle of 2024. He returns for a final season already on the Bronko Nagurski preseason watch list. The forward stakes ride with the program's: Oklahoma enters its second SEC year with a defense built to contend, and Lewis is the experienced voice in the middle who sets the front and makes the calls. He's not the flashiest name, but he's the kind of veteran anchor good defenses are organized around.

How he plays

Lewis is a balanced, do-everything middle linebacker — the on-field quarterback of the defense. The stat line is well-rounded rather than spiky: a team-leading tackle count, 10.5 tackles for loss as a downhill run defender, four sacks on timed pressures, and five pass breakups that show real range in coverage. As a captain and multi-year starter, his value is as much in the pre-snap communication and alignment as in the production. He's a steady, instinctive, every-down linebacker who diagnoses plays quickly and is rarely out of position — the reliable core a contending defense leans on.

2026 outlook · as of 2026-06-13

src

DNA match

Player DNA

The Coverage 'Backer

Carries tight ends and patrols the middle of the field in coverage.

His 2025 production profile sits closest to Owen Heinecke’s 2025 season.

Owen Heinecke

87%match

Oklahoma · 2025

Darius Muasau

UCLA · 2023

86%

Amari Burney

Florida · 2022

NFL Rd 6

82%

JoJo Domann

Nebraska · 2021

All-Big Ten

81%

Santrell Latham

Southern Miss · 2022

All-Sun Belt

80%

Matches Owen on

Class year

PD rate

Tackle volume

Not enough data yet for this comparison.

As a senior, his production profile tracks closest to Kamari Wilson's senior season at Memphis (2025).

Kamari Wilson

72%match

Memphis · 2025

Trey Lathan

Kansas · 2025

71%

Harold Perkins

LSU · 2025

All-SEC

68%

Jahleel Culbreath

Old Dominion · 2025

65%

Stone Combs

Nevada · 2025

64%

Matches Kamari on

PD rate

Tackle volume

Weight

Differs from Kamari on

Sack rate (higher)

TFL rate (higher)

Peer comparator

Peer Comparator · Fingerprint match

Three closest profiles by box-rate percentile

3 peers · 6 metrics

Kip LewisOklahomaRasheem BilesPittsburgh· 98% simCade UluaveCalifornia· 97% simRolijah HardyIndiana· 95% sim

Tackles for loss

97
Lewis

100
Biles

98
Uluave

99
Hardy

Tackles

93
Lewis

98
Biles

98
Uluave

99
Hardy

Sacks

93
Lewis

95
Biles

89
Uluave

99
Hardy

Solo tackles

90
Lewis

91
Biles

94
Uluave

97
Hardy

QB hurries

88
Lewis

88
Biles

88
Uluave

88
Hardy

Passes defended

86
Lewis

86
Biles

86
Uluave

91
Hardy

Closest peers by overall box-score percentile profile at the same position.