The Oklahoma Sooners depth chart has improved every year under Brent Venables. Despite questions along the offensive line, this might be the Sooners best roster under Venables. How much success OU has with this collection of players remains to be seen, but they have the talent to make some noise in year one in the SEC.
The Oklahoman’s Ryan Aber and Colton Sulley ranked the Sooners position groups heading into 2024, and linebacker topped the list.
Overall, the best position group currently on OU’s roster is the one with arguably its best player. Stutsman was selected to the preseason All-SEC first team and is coming off a season in which he totaled 104 tackles. – Sulley, The Oklahoman
The duo over at The Oklahoman project [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag], [autotag]Kip Lewis[/autotag], and [autotag]Kendel Dolby[/autotag] (cheetah) to be the Sooners starters at linebacker when they open this season at the end of August.
Linebacker is certainly one of the Sooners’ deepest positions and Stutsman is the biggest piece to the defensive puzzle. The first-team All-SEC selection is also garnering preseason All-American love from around the country. He’s set to have what could be his best season yet with a bolstered defensive interior and improved linebacker play around him.
Lewis came on strong in the Texas game and over the second half of the season to usurp a starting spot away from [autotag]Jaren Kanak[/autotag]. Kanak, [autotag]Kobie McKinzie[/autotag], [autotag]Lewis Carter[/autotag], [autotag]Phil Picciotti[/autotag], [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag], [autotag]Samuel Omosigho[/autotag], and [autotag]James Nesta[/autotag] provide incredible talent and depth to the linebacker spot. Every guy on the depth chart will provide meaningful snaps to the Sooners’ defense and special teams units in 2024 and beyond.
A strong argument could be made for wide receiver with starters [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] and [autotag]Nic Anderson[/autotag] returning for 2024 and the addition of [autotag]Deion Burks[/autotag] giving them a big-time playmaker. Additionally, [autotag]Andrel Anthony[/autotag] will be back at some point this season, and [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag] looks like a player primed for a breakout season.
It’s been a while since a defensive position group could boast as Oklahoma’s best unit but the linebacker recruiting under Brent Venables, in particular the 2022 and 2023 classes, has stacked the depth chart with talent for the next several years.
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