We are still a few months from the start of the college football season. The Sooners went 6-7 last year and addressed a number of issues this offseason so far, but what questions still remain?
There are three questions that I believe could be the difference between OU having another disappointing season or getting back to the Big 12 championship.
There’s no secret last year, the Sooners didn’t have the players they needed to play the way Brent Venables wanted them to play. They also didn’t have the all-time great quarterback to save them as they had in the Lincoln Riley era.
The defensive line, wide receiver room and Venables’ game management are three areas in which the Sooners still have unanswered questions.
We will not know an answer to those questions until probably the Texas game.
The defensive line is still a question mark, especially inside. The staff did a great job adding players to address the defensive tackle spot, but how many of those guys are actual game-changers?
That’s not a knock on the staff, game-changing defensive linemen don’t go into the portal too often. I think Rondell Bothroyd and Da’Jon Terry are solid starters, but will those guys be the game-wreckers the Sooners need up front?
Both need to be better than what we saw last year. If they can just hold up in the run and take that away, I think Venables can figure out ways to generate pressure with blitzes. Last year’s issue was they couldn’t stop the run, and they couldn’t rush the passer. Not a good combo.
This will be an issue we will not know an answer to until about midseason. Because of the way the Sooners started last year, you would have thought OU had a great D-line and then they fell off.
The next question is who will be the wide receiver that steps up for the Sooners? Marvin Mims is no longer coming through that door. Jalil Farooq has potential, but he struggled with drops and didn’t reach 500 yards last year as a second option.
Is Andrel Anthony the answer? He struggled with drops at Michigan and rarely played. We keep hearing great things about Nic Anderson and Jayden Gibson, but Anderson struggles with injuries and Gibson struggles with drops (see the game-winning pass in the spring game).
Maybe it’s one of the freshmen? That’s a possibility but we have to wait to see on that. I know he’s not a wide receiver, but I like Austin Stogner as much as anyone. However, he also has never had 500 yards receiving and had only 210 yards last season for South Carolina. Can he replace Brayden Willis’ numbers? I don’t know.
Lastly, Venables has to be better at time management. There were times last year he admitted to talking to the defense and then looking out on the field and seeing OU punting and wondering what happened. He has to be more hands-off with the defense during the games and let the coaches coach them while he focuses on helping Jeff Lebby know when to go fast and when to slow down.
I think that’s one reason James Skalski was brought on board. Now, we have to give Venables a little bit of a pass because it was his first year coaching, but he better make improvements there or the Sooners can’t go where they want to go this season.
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