There’s no denying the amount of talent the Oklahoma Sooners lost from their 2021 squad. It’s significant even when you takeaway the transfer portal defenctions to USC. The Sooners have 12 players alone declared for the 2022 NFL draft. And while they’ve tried to mitigate those losses through the transfer portal, the reality is it will take in-house options to replace a guy like Nik Bonitto.
The Sooners are hoping Marcus Stripling, Clayton Smith, Reggie Grimes, or Ethan Downs are able to take a step forward to lead the Sooners pass rush off the edge. But as we sit here in February, it’s still a question mark.
There isn’t a question mark at quarterback, however, as Dillon Gabriel’s been named the starter. No more faux-quarterback competitions.
The Sooners have a solid tandem in Eric Gray and Marcus Major and talented incoming freshman Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk to replace Kennedy Brooks.
Even though they lost Mario Williams and Jadon Haselwood, the Sooners have Marvin Mims, Theo Wease returned and they have talented players like Jalil Farooq and Cody Jackson ready to burst onto the scene.
Despite the losses, they still have a talented roster with guys like Jeffrey Johnson, Jonah Laulu, Trey Morrison, and McKade Mettauer adding veteran depth through the transfer portal.
Taking a look at the Big 12 rosters for 2022, Kevin McGuire of Athlon Sports used 247Sports Composite Team Rankings over the last five seasons to determine which team has the most talented roster heading into 2022.
The Texas Longhorns come up number one according to McGuire and the Oklahoma Sooners come in second.
The Sooners are about to undergo its biggest transition in quite some time. With Lincoln Riley leaving for USC and the transfer portal leading quarterback Caleb Williams to the Trojans with him, new head coach Brent Venables is in a tough spot in year one. Of course, he still has a solid roster, all things considered, against his new Big 12 peers, but there will be a bunch of work to do right away in 2022 and moving forward into the SEC. – McGuire, Athlon Sports
McGuire admits “as last year demonstrated, it takes more than talent to win the Big 12 crown.” The Longhorns have finished No. 1 in the Big 12 in 247Sports team composite rankings nine times since 2010. Unfortunately for the Horns, that recruiting success hasn’t led to any championships. Their last Big 12 title came in 2009.
Recruiting rankings matter, but what matters most is what a player does once they get on campus. A guy like Orlando Brown can be a three-star recruit and end up in the NFL playing for one of the best offenses in the league. While Texas has done a good job at recruiting the lack of development and coaching hasn’t allowed that talent to reveal itself on the field.
Oklahoma’s assistants did a fantastic job developing Oklahoma’s recruiting class. It’s more evident today as 11 players were invited to the NFL Draft combine. Only one of those players, Michael Woods, was a transfer player. The rest were high school recruits that Oklahoma targeted, signed, and developed. Texas, on the other hand, has just two players attending the combine.
McGuire admits that his rankings don’t account for roster attrition. And at the same time, every team deals with roster turnover to some extent. The Sooners have done an excellent job retooling for 2022 via the transfer portal and with their recruiting class in just two months on the job.
The Oklahoma Sooners are in a good spot to take their title back in 2022 after the Baylor Bears turned around a 2-win team from 202 into a Big 12 champion in just Dave Aranda’s second season.
Led by Dillon Gabriel, Marvin Mims, and a mostly new and reinvigorated coaching, the Sooners have more than enough talent to be big winners in 2022.
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