Tag: 2021 Team Captains

Oklahoma Sooners add Defensive End Isaiah Thomas to group of captains

The Oklahoma Sooners announced that they’ve added Isaiah Thomas to their Royo of captains for the 2021 college football season.

One week into the 2021 college football season and the Oklahoma Sooners have made an addition to their leadership group. After Spencer Rattler, Jeremiah Hall, Caleb Kelly, and Pat Fields were named captains ahead of their week one matchup with Tulane, the Sooners added Isaiah Thomas to their group of captains for the 2021 season.

Since bursting into the scene with a breakout 2020 season, Isaiah Thomas has been one of the Oklahoma Sooners best players. His ability to play on the edge and inside provided Alex Grinch the opportunity to get his three best defensive players on the field at the same time last season in Thomas, and fellow edge rushers, Nik Bonitto and Ronnie Perkins.

After logging just 148 snaps and one sack over his first two seasons, Thomas played 451 snaps, led the Sooners in tackles for loss and was second on the team with 7.5 sacks.

Thomas has shown leadership during the last couple of years with the team. This week when asked how Spencer Rattler has grown into his role as a leader, Thomas said, “Spencer just needs to be Spencer.”

Thomas gave a fantastic and thoughtful answer about the expectations that come with being the Sooners quarterback.

Thomas is already one of the leaders on the defense. As one of the veterans, and one of the best players on the defense, he carries a lot of weight with that unit. Now in an official capacity, Thomas has the clout to lead this team on Saturdays.

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Oklahoma Sooners name captains for 2021 college football season

Ahead of the Sooners week one matchup with the Tulane Green Wave, OU released their team captains for the 2021 season.

As the Oklahoma Sooners get set to take on the Tulane Green Wave in week one of the 2021 college football season, several items on the agenda must be taken care of. Soon Oklahoma will release its first official depth chart of the season, but tonight they let us know the players representing the 2021 squad as captains.

Two offensive and two defensive players were selected as the Sooners’ captains for the 2021 season — Spencer Rattler and Jeremiah Hall from the offense and Caleb Kelly and Pat Fields from the defense.

While Spencer Rattler represents the most important player on the roster because of his position, he’s arguably the best player as well. The Heisman Trophy frontrunner is coming off a redshirt freshman season where he threw for 3,031 yards, 28 touchdowns, and seven interceptions. He averaged 9.7 yards per attempt and recorded a passer rating (NFL version) of 118.4. As important as the stats, the way Spencer Rattler rebounded from his benching during the Texas game spoke volumes. He learned from his mistakes and went on to play really good football down the stretch.

Jeremiah Hall is one of the key cogs in Lincoln Riley’s offense. He won’t get the touches that Marvin Mims or Kennedy Brooks will get, but Hall will be an impact player in the passing game nonetheless. In 2020, Hall had five touchdowns on just 21 targets. Not only has he been an impact player on offense, but he also provides veteran leadership on special teams.

Senior Caleb Kelly is making his return to the lineup after sitting out the 2020 season. Kelly is the elder statesman of the Sooners defense. He’s played in 35 games for Oklahoma and will be a key piece of Brian Odom’s linebacker rotation.

Like Kelly, Senior Pat Fields has played in a lot of games for the Oklahoma Sooners. He had a fantastic 2019 season with two sacks and six tackles for loss. In 2020, he recorded one interception. He’s been a steady hand in the secondary, helping oversee the Sooners’ defensive transformation under Alex Grinch.

As the Sooners embark on what many analysts believe could be a national championship season, the 2021 team captains will play significant roles in Oklahoma’s success.

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