We all know what the goal is for every college football team when they take the field in early September. Each team is looking to become title contenders for the 2021-22 college football season. For some teams, those dreams and aspirations are a lot more achievable. For instance, the Oklahoma Sooners are closer than their two rivals in the Oklahoma State Cowboys and Texas Longhorns. Well on paper anyway, nothing is known until the teams actually strap on the helmets and go to war on Saturdays.
Oklahoma returns a vast majority of their offensive explosions with Spencer Rattler at quarterback, wide receivers Marvin Mims, Theo Wease, Jadon Haselwood, tight ends Austin Stogner, and Jeremiah Hall. In the backfield, Kennedy Brooks returns to take back his role as the starting running back. The only real question surrounding the offensive line after losing Creed Humphrey and Adrian Ealy to the NFL draft. Impact transfer Wanya Morris will help lock down the edge of the offensive line. Andrew Raym might just be the guy to replace Humphrey.
The Sooners lost Ronnie Perkins and a trio of cornerbacks that will add some pressure to that unit. However, Isaiah Thomas and Nik Bonitto were impact players at the position. Adding back in Jalen Redmond, Marcus Stripling should help that unit. In the secondary, D.J. Graham and Woodi Washington look to man the outside cornerback spots. The nickel cornerback might just be freshman Billy Bowman. They are a unit to keep an eye on.
ESPN recently came up with three “if’s” (link requires subscription) that could mean the Sooners are contenders in 2021.
First up the running back situation