The Oklahoma Sooners have had a hard time holding onto coordinators during Brent Venables’ tenure. For the second consecutive offseason, the Sooners will replace both offensive and defensive coordinators.
Last year, Seth Littrell took over for Jeff Lebby, who took the coaching job at Mississippi State. Zac Alley, who is reportedly heading for West Virginia, took the reins of the defense from Ted Roof.
After a disastrous season on offense during which injuries, inexperience and innovation held the Sooners back, Oklahoma landed one of the hottest offensive coordinators in the country, Ben Arbuckle.
Now, Venables has another decision to make.
But with his track record on defense and his connections across the game, finding a defensive coordinator that’s a fit for the Sooners coach shouldn’t be an issue.
Oklahoma boasts a strong defensive corps despite the departures of Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman to the NFL. There are several players up in the air, like R Mason Thomas, but OU will still have an intriguing group of talented players to work with on defense.
Despite what 2024 was for the Sooners and the hot-seat nature of Venables’ status in 2025, Oklahoma is still an attractive job.
The Sooners will have several strong candidates to choose from, both in-house and across the country. Whoever they bring in will have a great deal of talent to work with in 2025.
The safety room is still loaded with Peyton Bowen, Reggie Powers, Michael Boganowski and Jaydan Hardy. If Robert Spears-Jennings returns for another season, it’ll bolster that group further.
At linebacker, Kobie McKinzie, Kip Lewis, Lewis Carter, Samuel Omosigho and Jaren Kanak represent a blue-chip linebacker corps that has the speed and athleticism to continue to produce at a high level for the Sooners.
Cornerback showed it has some intriguing up and coming talents in Eli Bowen and Jacobe Johnson. If they can get Gentry Williams healthy and on the field for a full season, cornerback will continue to emerge as a reliable part of the Sooners defense.
The defensive line may have the biggest questions. But that all depends on the NFL draft decisions of R Mason Thomas, Damonic Williams and Gracen Halton. If all three return, the Sooners’ defensive line will be really good again in 2025. That trio, along with Jayden Jackson, were key to Oklahoma’s success up front. Additionally, the development of David Stone, Danny Okoye, Adepoju Adebawore, Danny Okoye, Nigel Smith and Wyatt Gilmore provide the Sooners defensive front with blue-chip talent to deploy.
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