The Oklahoma Sooners will play their annual spring game this Saturday, April 23, and if you’re wondering how you can watch the action live, you’ve come to the right place.
It’s a dawn of a new era for the Oklahoma Sooners. Though [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and his coaching staff have been in town for four months now, the Sooners’ spring game marks a seminal moment to kick off the Venables era. It’s the coaches’ and fans’ first opportunity to see the team play in a game-like situation.
“We’re going to split the squad up. I’m going to have a Red and White team. Dillon (Gabriel) will play a little bit of quarterback for both sides, but otherwise, we’re going to split it evenly,” Venables shared with the media on Tuesday. “Coaches as well. We’ll name the head coaches here another day, as well. We’ll let the players know by Thursday who’s on what team, and then we’ll have it all juiced up on different sidelines.”
With 12 players declared for next week’s NFL draft and quite a few who departed via the transfer portal, the Sooners have quite a few snaps up for grabs as they close out the spring. Saturday’s game will prove to be a big-time opportunity for someone to assert themselves in their position battles ahead of the 2022 college football season.
Here’s when you should tune in to see the game:
- Date: April 23
- Time: 3 p.m. CT
- Live Stream: SoonerSports.com (Subscription Required)
- Listen: Streaming on The Varsity Network App
- Ticket Info can be found at SoonerSports.com
- Replay of the event will be shown on Bally Sports Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. CT and on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. CT.
Oklahoma injury report:
No injuries have been disclosed.
Players to watch:
At quarterback [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] is expected to play for both the red and the white teams during the spring game. Sooners fans will get their first opportunity to see highly-regarded freshman [autotag]Nick Evers[/autotag]. Evers is the favorite to win the quarterback job.
In the passing game, Oklahoma’s looking to replace four of their top five pass-catchers from 2021, but the return of [autotag]Theo Wease[/autotag], who sat out nearly all of 2021 bodes huge for this team.
Running back has a lot of talent led by [autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag]. [autotag]Marcus Major[/autotag] is bouncing back from a 2021 season marred by academic ineligibility. [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] has been turning heads in camp for his progression during his first semester with the Sooners.
The offensive line returns three of their five starters and picked up a huge addition via the portal in [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag]. How this unit improves from last season and gels together for 2022 are huge storylines to follow in the spring game and this summer.
On defense, how they replace the production from the defensive linemen who departed for the NFL draft is the biggest question Oklahoma’s facing. [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag], [autotag]Reggie Grimes[/autotag], [autotag]Marcus Stripling[/autotag], and Jonah La’ulu figure to make up the defensive end rotation while newcomer [autotag]Jeffery Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Jalen Redmond[/autotag] appear to be the starters along the interior defensive line.
Linebacker appears to be the deepest position group on the roster led by [autotag]DaShaun White[/autotag] and [autotag]David Ugwoegbu[/autotag]. [autotag]Shane Whitter[/autotag] and [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] will play significant roles and newcomers [autotag]Kobie McKinzie,[/autotag] Jaren Kanak, and [autotag]Kip Lewis[/autotag] could factor into the rotation in 2022.
In the secondary, the Sooners have to replace [autotag]Delarrin Turner-Yell[/autotag] and [autotag]Pat Fields[/autotag], two players with a ton of experience. They’ve got potential answers in [autotag]Key Lawrence[/autotag], [autotag]Justin Broiles[/autotag], and [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], but who starts for the Sooners at safety remains to be seen.
[listicle id=58797]
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.