The Oklahoma Sooners released their first official depth chart of the 2024 season on Sunday evening, letting fans know the players who will start Week 1 against Temple.
One underrated position battle for head coach [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] heading into Year 3 is at the kicker position. OU needs to be better on special teams this season, beginning with their success rate on field goals. Venables knows this will be doubly important with the Sooners entering the [autotag]SEC[/autotag], where the margin between failure and success is even smaller than what Oklahoma is used to.
In addition, OU is breaking in a new special teams analyst. [autotag]Jay Nunez[/autotag] is out and [autotag]Doug Deakin[/autotag] takes over after coming over from San Diego State. Venables and Deakin held a kicker competition this offseason, but with the release of the initial depth chart, it seems the spot still hasn’t been decided yet.
A pair of redshirt seniors, [autotag]Tyler Keltner[/autotag] and [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag], are battling for the right to be named Oklahoma’s starter. Keltner is the newcomer in the race after joining the Sooners via the portal this offseason. Schmit is the incumbent and is one of the longest-tenured players on the roster. He’s been the starter for each of the last two seasons.
At the other specialist positions, redshirt senior [autotag]Luke Elzinga[/autotag] will retain the starting punter job that he earned midway through last season. Redshirt sophomore [autotag]Ben Anderson[/autotag] will serve as the long-snapper, redshirt senior [autotag]Josh Plaster[/autotag] will be the holder and Schmit will retain his role as Oklahoma’s kickoff specialist.
Sophomore safety [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] gets the nod as OU’s punt returner, a move fans will be happy to see, as he was electric returning punts in high school. A pair of seniors, safety [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] and wide receiver [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag], will be the kickoff returners to begin the season. Oklahoma needs to be better in the kick return game this year than they were in 2023, as a couple of costly mistakes hurt the Sooners in their two regular season losses.
OU will begin their foray into the SEC on Friday night in Norman, as they’ll look to start strong against Temple. Kickoff will be at 6 p.m.
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