LOOK: Perrion Winfrey, Isaiah Coe take shot at former Oklahoma DC Alex Grinch
Former Oklahoma defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey did not hold back on his feelings toward former Sooners defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. Winfrey took to Twitter on Saturday evening to call out Grinch for his coaching in Norman in using a pretty humorous reference.
“Idk which is worse the grinch that stole Christmas or the other one,” he wrote.
That prompted current Sooners defensive lineman Isaiah Coe to join in on the conversation. The two kept it going with a back-and-forth that upped the ante each time and shined a light on how the Oklahoma defenders felt about their coach this past season.
“The career stealer,” Winfrey replied after Coe responded to his original tweet.
“The one that stole our season,” Coe wrote back.
That tweet wasn’t the only one that came out from Winfrey’s account regarding Grinch on Saturday. A few hours prior, the defensive tackle sent out another message that seemed to take a shot at his former coach.
“A defensive coordinator that knows what he talking about …. I love it here,” he wrote.
A former JUCO transfer, Perrion Winfrey played two seasons under Alex Grinch in Norman. He had his best year in 2021 as he finished with 23 tackles (11 for loss), 5.5 sacks and a forced fumble. Despite this, he had little buzz surrounding his name at the end of the year.
That all changed following his performance at the NFL Combine, after which he began to shoot up draft boards. One expert that noted Winfrey’s potential was ESPN’s Todd McShay, who said the system at Oklahoma didn’t give Winfrey the best opportunity to show off his skills.
“The third player that really jumped out to me in terms of moving up my rankings, Perrion Winfrey from Oklahoma,” McShay said after the combine. “Where you been my man? And I know part of it was the scheme. They do a lot of slanting at Oklahoma. It didn’t really feature his strengths.”
It’s possible Winfrey feels the same way or came to feel the same way after speaking with NFL scouts. Either way, he was selected 108th overall by the Cleveland Browns, and appears to be happy with his coaches there. Hopefully he can put the beef with Grinch behind him and focus on building a successful NFL career.
As for Grinch, he followed former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley to become the defensive coordinator at USC. Likewise, he’ll look to put his time at OU in the past and focus on helping rebuild the Trojans program. However, it’s clear he won’t have any Sooners fans — including Winfrey — rooting for him.