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FRISCO, Texas – Two seasons ago Oklahoma State and head coach Mike Gundy tried to put in the very popular three-man front defense. Bryan Nardo was hired to be the defensive coordinator. It last several games and the Cowboys were scrambling to go back to mainly a four-man front. The major personnel necessity to got three-man is a dominat nose tackle. Oklahoma State wasn’t dominant enough there. This season they might be with the addition of former Tulsa Union All-Stater and Vanderbilt two-gap nose in De’Marion Thomas. They also have a more mature Iman Oates.
Those special guys inside at the line of scrimmage are stars. Eight of the six teams on the first day of the 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days brought a nose tackle headed by Texas Tech transfer from UCF Lee Hunter, Iowa State’s Domoniqu Orange, BYU transfer from Utah Keanu Tanuvasa, and the “Godfather” from Cincinnati Dontay Corleone, all 6-1, 330 pounds of inside dominance.
“First off just being an anchor,” Corleone said of his role. “There is nothing more rewarding than seeing all of your teammates at their best. At the end of the day we all want to get to the NFL and I want to use my skill set to get to the NFL. If I am able to take two or three people on then I know my linebackers like Simeon Coleman, All-American freshman, guys like Jake Golday are going to make plays and I’m excited about this defense.”
Corleone was supposed to be an All-American last season, maybe a top NFL Draft pick. Instead a serious bout with blood clots caused problems and he didn’t play full speed until a few games into the season. He still had 26 tackles and 3.5 tackles-for-loss.
“Last year at this time we didn’t even know if he was going to play,” Satterfield said. “For Dontay this year it was all about wanting to come back for his senior season.”
“I would say it has made me a better man and not to take anything for granted,” Corleone said of the adversity of the blood clots issue last summer and not even knowing if he was going to play. “It makes me appreciate the little things, even being here at Media Days. At the time, I was thinking football was over with.”
Yes, Corleone, a native of Cincinnati has had plenty of offers to go elsewhere, but not his thing. He is a throwback to old days when players stayed at one school primarily through their college career.
“It’s a small, small city and it’s not like in Texas,” Corleone said. “Loyal and gritty.”
Domonique Orange is similar. He plays that all important nose for the Godfather of the three-man front in Iowa State defensive coordinator Jon Heacock.
“In the stat sheet it is not going to show the stuff I do,” Orange said. “I’m a team guy. Whatever I have to do to make sure my team wins, I’m going to do it for sure. At times, it sucks, but at the end of the day as long as we win then I’m tripping.”
At BYU, Keanu Tanuvasa is an impressive 6-4, 300 pounds, according to Tanuvasa maybe a few pounds more since he transferred from Utah, that’s right he went from rival Utah in the “Holy War” to BYU.
“It is definiitely something that has taken a lot of getting used to,” Tanuvasa said of going from Utah to rival BYU. “It come from a higher purpose than myself.”
He has a new brother in the cause in former Oklahoma State defensive tackle Justin Kirkland (6-4, now a more sveldt 335 pounds). Tanuvasa said the two transfers have really hit it off.
Tanuvasa does look good in blue.
“I appreciate that, I need that,” Tanuvaasa added. “I’ve gained some weight, so I needed to hear that. I want to look good. I think I carry myself with a lot of gratitude and pride of being able to play upfront and seeing a cause bigger than myself.”
A cause bigger than themselves, bigger than their indivual numbers, that is what these big guys are. They do the dirty work in the defense, so their teammates can finish the job and grab the glory.
