Tag: Brendan Zurbrugg

No. 16 Oklahoma Sooners vs. Temple Owls: Sooners Wire Staff Predictions

Sooners Wire Staff predicts Oklahoma vs. Temple Owls.

The Oklahoma Sooners kick off the 2024 college football season on Friday night when they welcome the Temple Owls to Norman. The Sooners come into the contest No. 16 in the nation in both the US LBM Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25.

The Sooners are No. 13 in the final SP+ rankings prior to their opener, while Temple ranks No. 132 out of 134 teams in the FBS.

On paper, it’s a mismatch and the Oklahoma Sooners should be able to do whatever they want on the gridiron. This game won’t tell us everything we need to know about Oklahoma, but if they put on a performance similar to their 2023 outing against Arkansas State, then odds are this team will be pretty good in 2024.

Oklahoma is a heavy favorite. Fan Duel has OU as 42.5-point favorites heading into Friday’s opener.

As we will each week of the season, here are the predictions from our staff here at Sooners Wire.

More: SEC week 1 predictions

Sooners Wire Staff Predictions

Oklahoma starts fast in week one, showing off their supreme talent on both sides of the ball against Temple.

[autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]’s debut as OU’s full-time starter at quarterback goes well as he begins the process of getting more comfortable in Seth Littrell’s offense at game speed.

The starters on defense pitch a shutout before the backups give up a fourth-quarter field goal.

As with any first game, there will be things to clean up, but Brent Venables is happy with his team on Saturday morning.

Sooners 59, Owls 3

Contact/Follow Aaron Gelvin

Up Next: More Sooners Wire Staff Predictions

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Casey Thompson’s long journey highlighted in Washington Post article

Casey Thompson is battling for Oklahoma’s backup quarterback job.

The quarterback room has changed a lot for the Oklahoma Sooners entering 2024. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag], [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] and [autotag]Steele Wasel[/autotag] make up the unit this season. They’ll be coached by [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag], who will serve as co-offensive coordinator along with [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag].

As OU enters Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era, the head coach has been hyper-focused on building up every part of the roster. He found what could be a key walk-on transfer in a veteran journeyman who has been all over the college football map.

Ideally, a backup quarterback isn’t something that is ever a big part of your season. Arnold is the starting quarterback for the Sooners in 2024 and will stay in that role as long as he is healthy enough to do so. If the worst does happen and Arnold falls with injury, Thompson and Hawkins Jr. would be the first options to replace him, with Zurbrugg and Wasel behind them.

While Thompson’s fellow backup quarterbacks are all youngsters (as is the guy playing in front of him) he’s the outlier. Thompson is entering his seventh year of college football and playing for his fourth different school.

It’s part of the reality of the new world of college football. The transfer portal, COVID-years of eligibility, and injury waivers provide the opportunity for players to play six or seven seasons at this level. The Sooners may benefit from Thompson’s final year of eligibility.

The Washington Post’s Kent Babb featured Thompson in a detailed article that dove deeper into the quarterback’s journey.

His father, Charles, was a star QB for the Sooners from 1986-1988, the final three seasons of the [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag] era. His older brother Kendal was a backup QB at OU from 2011-2013, before transferring to Utah for the next two seasons. However, Casey chose a different path out of high school, committing to play for the rival Texas Longhorns and head coach Tom Herman.

He spent three seasons as Sam Ehlinger’s backup before replacing him in the 2020 Alamo Bowl. He played under new head coach Steve Sarkisian in 2021, facing off against the Sooners in the fabled [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag] game that season and diced up Alex Grinch’s defense. He helped the Longhorns jump out to a huge first half lead.

But after battling all season with Hudson Card for the starting gig in a 5-7 year, and with Quinn Ewers on the way to Austin in 2022, Thompson transferred to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He again met rival Oklahoma in a blowout loss in Lincoln, and his time as a Husker didn’t go as planned.

“Once Casey started the 2022 season as the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback, the offers poured in,” Babb said “He endorsed a protein doughnut brand, an apparel company, a barbershop. He spent $1,800 on a pair of off-white Air Force 1s, and when a group of high school buddies wanted to go to Austin on a weekend trip, the group stayed in a 10-bedroom mansion. Life was good, but Charles kept issuing warnings. Casey and his two brothers had grown up hearing them almost constantly, the echoes of their father’s trauma reverberating through every stage … In the Huskers’ first game of 2022, Coach Scott Frost opted to try a surprise onside kick against Northwestern. It failed, the first domino that ended in a blown double-digit lead. Two weeks later, Frost got fired, and players were left to flail. Casey got sacked 19 times and says now that he was hit 137 times in six weeks, at various points suffering injuries to a shoulder, a calf, his hip, his left wrist, an AC joint, even his jaw. Thumb surgery had weakened his grip on the ball, and yet another collision damaged nerves in his elbow.”

But that wasn’t the end of the rough season, according to Babb.

“In a game against Illinois, a defender crashed into Casey as he threw a pass, leaving him without feeling in his fingers. He had torn his labrum but, after missing two weeks, returned to the lineup and again played through it. Even running a makeshift attack, behind one of the nation’s worst offensive lines, Casey was among the nation’s most effective passers. Then, more dominoes. Nebraska hired Matt Rhule, the former Baylor and Carolina Panthers coach. A fourth playbook in two years and a fifth offensive coordinator. The winter transfer portal opened, and by the time it closed, 6-foot-4 quarterback Jeff Sims had departed Georgia Tech and was signing with the Cornhuskers. With his shoulder still healing, Casey couldn’t practice all spring. He and Rhule agreed that the new system, based more on power rushing than prolific passing, wasn’t a perfect fit. Though the portal had closed to football players, its gray areas include an exception for players with a new head coach. In April 2023, Casey’s future was again draped in uncertainty. Rhule hadn’t named a starter, but after their conversation, Casey knew the score. The only thing he could be sure of was that, 72 hours after the spring game, the portal would close.”

Thompson’s journey continued, ending up at Florida Atlantic for the 2023 season.

“During his third game, Casey fell to the turf while evading a Clemson defender. The pop in his right knee was the shredding of his ACL, his season finished in the blink of an eye,” Babb said.

After things didn’t go as planned at FAU, he had a decision to make about his future.

“When the NCAA approved his request for a medical exemption, granting him a chance to be a seventh-year college senior, he decided to continue only if one program welcomed him,” Babb said. “It’s the same one that recruited, excommunicated, and eventually forgave his dad. Casey had gone on a winding journey only to wind up back where he started. It had taken him traversing the country and multiple injuries for him to realize that, deep down, it was neither profit nor glory he had been chasing. It was stability. He yearned to belong, as his father does, and remember how it feels to be home.”

Thompson transferred and walked on at OU to batlle true freshman Hawkins Jr. for the back up job behind Arnold and has been rehabbing his injury, missing spring football. However, if his number is called upon in 2024, he could be ending his college football career, helping out his fourth-different team in seven seasons.

This time, it would be one close to home.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Who will be Oklahoma’s backup quarterback in 2024?

Oklahoma has options on the quarterback depth chart behind starter Jackson Arnold.

Backup quarterback is a position few fans or coaches ever want to think about. However, it’s an important role to have decided before going into any season.

The Oklahoma Sooners have zero doubt who their starting quarterback will be in Year 3 of the [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] era. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] was tabbed long ago as the player who would be the face of the Sooners as they left the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] for the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

The quarterback room as a whole has seen a major reshuffle around the former five-star prospect. Former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] is the head coach at Mississippi State. Former offensive analyst [autotag]Matt Wells[/autotag], who worked with the QBs, is the co-offensive coordinator at Kansas State. Former assistant quarterbacks coach [autotag]Matt Holocek[/autotag] followed Lebby to Starkville.

[autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag] were promoted to co-offensive coordinators to replace Lebby, with Littrell coaching quarterbacks and likely serving as the primary play-caller. Finley will continue to coach tight ends. [autotag]Kevin Johns[/autotag], who was the OC and QBs coach at Duke for the last two seasons, was hired by Venables as an offensive analyst this offseason to replace Wells. Johns has worked under Littrell before and received his coaching start working for former Oklahoma OC and current Tulsa head coach [autotag]Kevin Wilson[/autotag]. [autotag]Jack Lowary[/autotag] and [autotag]Ty Hatcher[/autotag] were hired in December as offensive support staff, and both have worked with QBs.

[autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], [autotag]Davis Beville[/autotag], [autotag]General Booty[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Switzer[/autotag] left the program via the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag] this offseason, leaving Arnold as the only player in the QB room who was here a season ago.

Behind Arnold, Oklahoma has four other quarterbacks on the roster heading into the 2024 season. Veteran transfer [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], true freshmen [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag], and late transfer enrollee [autotag]Steele Wasel[/autotag] make up the rest of the quarterback unit.

Which of these players has the best chance to be called upon if something happens to Arnold? After all, we saw the situation play out last season when Arnold’s redshirt year was burned because he had to replace Gabriel in the second half of a must-win game against BYU.

Casey Thompson has the experience you look for in a college football backup quarterback. The seventh-year “senior” has made stops at Texas, Nebraska and Florida Atlantic over the past few years. He’s Oklahoma royalty, having seen his father [autotag]Charles Thompson[/autotag] and his older brother [autotag]Kendal Thompson[/autotag] play for the Sooners before him. He joined the program as a walk-on transfer this offseason, and has been recovering from injury, meaning he was unable to participate in spring football.

Michael Hawkins Jr., another Oklahoma legacy, provides the young and uber-talented backup option. The true freshman hails from Frisco Emerson High School in Texas, and he could be the future of the position if he develops over the next two seasons behind Arnold. He’s a dual-threat quarterback, flashing his talent in the [autotag]2024 spring game[/autotag].

Brendan Zurbrugg was the second quarterback the Sooners took in the [autotag]2024 recruiting class[/autotag], and his road to playing time is longer than his fellow true freshman’s. Zurbrugg is from Alliance, Ohio, and will be a depth player this season. He was taken by Oklahoma this year for a reason. He’ll have a chance to show what he has in practice.

Steele Wasel is the newest member of the group, transferring in from Akron in early June. He’ll be the fifth quarterback on the roster this season, and the in-state product will provide depth and a practice arm as a walk-on, getting the opportunity to practice against [autotag]Power Four[/autotag] players in Norman.

Thompson and Hawkins Jr. are the front-runners to serve as Arnold’s backup, but they’re on opposite ends of the experience spectrum. It may depend on the nature or severity of an Arnold injury to see which of them plays. Zurbrugg and Wasel are farther back in the competition, but college football has a way of making the unexpected the reality sometimes.

For instance, if Arnold is injured for part of a game and Littrell needs someone to finish the job, he might go with the steady hand of Thompson to help the Sooners win a close game, especially if it comes in a tough environment. If Arnold’s absence stretches multiple games, the talent and upside of Hawkins Jr. might be the way to go, considering the microscopic margin of error in the SEC. If either of those backups go down, Zurbrugg or Wasel could see an expanded role.

The competition will likely extend throughout fall camp, but Venables, Littrell and Finley need to have an answer at backup QB.

They’ll need to prepare either the experienced Thompson or the young Hawkins Jr. to hold the weight of Sooner Nation on their shoulders if the worst-case scenario happens. While they’re at it, it doesn’t hurt to get Zurbrugg or even Wasel ready to go just in case chaos reigns in 2024.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Priority 2026 QB target Jaden O’Neal names top 10, commitment expected in July

Oklahoma Sooners Priority QB target Jaden O’Neal names top ten.

Over the last few months, Oklahoma has entrenched itself in building the foundation for its [autotag]2026 recruiting class[/autotag]. They are right in the thick of finishing their [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag], but by December, things should be signed, sealed, and delivered in that respect.

This summer, along with their efforts for 2025, Oklahoma has offered 2026 players left and right and has hosted many of them during Brent Venables Football Camp.

The Sooners are set at QB for the next few years, we’d venture to say. The Sooners expect [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] for at least the next two years, and they have [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] behind him. In the 2025 class, four-star field general [autotag]Kevin Sperry[/autotag] is already committed. With that depth already, the Sooners can focus even further, bringing us to 2026.

On the radar for 2026, one name stands out above the crop for the Sooners: [autotag]Jaden O’Neal[/autotag]. The Sooners have an overwhelming amount of love from the recruiting industry to land the talented passer out of California, and right now, it’s hard to see the recruitment not ultimately ending up in the Sooners’ favor.

Predictions from On3, 247Sports, and Rivals all favor the Sooners, with the most recent coming from Sooners Illustrated and 247Sports’ Collin Kennedy and James Jackson.

On Wednesday, O’Neal updated the world on his recruitment by announcing his top ten schools.

Colorado, Auburn, Washington, FSU, Ohio State, Miami, Penn State, Arizona State, and Oregon join the Sooners in fighting for O’Neal’s commitment.

O’Neal has visited and camped with the Sooners this summer, as well as many of the other schools in his top ten. He competed at their camps as well. He has a competitive drive that should be admired.

His recruitment could be coming to a close before the end of the summer as he told Marshall Levenson of Rivals that he was eyeing a “late July, early August” commitment date.

Oklahoma is in a prime spot in every possible way, but closing is the key. [autotag]Seth Litrell[/autotag] has been around the recruiting block a few times, and this would be his first quarterback recruit since becoming Oklahoma’s play-caller and co-offensive coordinator. If he could close the deal, Littrell would start his tenure off with a massive win.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on X @thatmanbryant.

Sooners add Akron transfer QB Steele Wasel

OU’s quarterback room grew by one with the addition of Steele Wasel in the transfer portal.

The Oklahoma Sooners football team made another addition via the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag] on Saturday, this time at the quarterback position.

OU added [autotag]Steele Wasel[/autotag], who was previously at Akron and was a three-star prospect in the class of 2023, according to Rivals. Wasel is an in-state product, hailing from Choctaw, Oklahoma.

Wasel posted a picture of Sooner legends [autotag]Baker Mayfield[/autotag] and [autotag]Kyler Murray[/autotag] on social media with no caption. But multiple sources have confirmed that the former Zip will be returning to his home state.

Wasel entered the portal on May 1 and will have four years of eligibility remaining. He’ll be a preferred walk-on in Norman for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag], making him the fifth member of a QB room that has changed in a big way this offseason.

Wasel will compete for any reps he can get behind starter [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], and will add to the depth behind the sophomore at the position. [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] are all either more experienced walk-ons or scholarship quarterbacks that figure to slot in ahead of Wasel on the depth chart.

Wasel was a standout at Choctaw High School, throwing for over 3,000 yards and 38 touchdowns as a senior. He led the Yellowjackets to an 11-2 record in 2022.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Akron transfer quarterback Steele Wasel crystal balled to Sooners

Oklahoma is the favorite to land Akron transfer Steele Wasel after a Crystal Ball prediction from Sooners Illustrated’s Collin Kennedy.

Oklahoma looks to still be in the process of bolstering its quarterback room. While Jackson Arnold is QB1 as Oklahoma heads into the 2024 season, Oklahoma continues to ensure the depth behind him is sufficient.

The last recruiting cycle saw the Sooners bring in not one but two quarterbacks. [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag], a four-star quarterback and an Oklahoma legacy, is fighting for the backup quarterback role. [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] also joined the Sooners after he shined as the field general for his high school team in Ohio.

To complete the transformation, the Sooners finally saw [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], son of former Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson, join the program as a veteran presence.

Most recently, [autotag]General Booty[/autotag] hit the transfer portal earlier this spring and eventually transferred to the Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks.

That brings us to the latest development in Oklahoma’s quarterback room as the Sooners were projected to land Akron transfer QB Steele Wasel just from Collin Kennedy of Sooners Illustrated and 247Sports.

Wasel is an Oklahoma native from Choctaw. He has a powerful arm and has excellent size for the position, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing over 200 pounds. As a senior at Choctaw High School, he threw for 3,325 yards and 38 touchdowns.

He redshirted this past year at Akron and will still have four years of eligibility remaining.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on X @thatmanbryant.

Sooners transfer QB General Booty commits to Louisiana-Monroe

Former Oklahoma QB General Booty is headed to Monroe, Louisiana to play for the ULM Warhawks.

[autotag]General Booty[/autotag] will be heading home to continue his college football career. After the former Oklahoma Sooners football quarterback entered the transfer portal on May 3rd, he has found a landing spot at Louisiana-Monroe.

Booty has ties to nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, and Booty is the latest in a long line of football players in his family from the area. His father Abram Booty and uncle Josh Booty both played at LSU, while John David Booty was a quarterback at USC.

Booty announced the move on social media, and he’s found a new home in Monroe after spending two seasons at Oklahoma.

Booty arrived in Norman in the summer of 2022, transferring in from Tyler Junior College, where he passed for 3,410 yards and threw 27 touchdowns. He appeared in just two games as a Sooner, against TCU in 2022 and against Arkansas State in 2023. He had a long touchdown run in the [autotag]2024 Spring Game[/autotag] that may have boosted his stock right before entering the portal.

The General has been a popular figure in college football for the last two years because of his unique name. He parlayed that into a NIL deal with Rock ‘Em Socks and his own personal line of boxers, briefs, and socks.

The departures of Booty and [autotag]Jacob Switzer[/autotag] at the quarterback position this spring have reshuffled the depth chart for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and [autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag]. Sophomore [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] will be the starter with [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag], [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] behind him.

Booty’s commitment to ULM means he’s the latest former Sooner to find a landing spot in the portal. Still looking for a home are Switzer at quarterback, linebackers [autotag]Shane Whitter[/autotag] and Konnor Near, tight end Hayden Bray, kicker Gavin Marshall and punter Redi Mustafaraj.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Oklahoma Sooners quarterback room will look completely different in 2024

The Sooners have almost completely restacked the quarterback room going into their first season in the SEC.

In early December, Oklahoma’s starting quarterback for the last two seasons, [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], announced he was entering the transfer portal.

Gabriel saw the writing on the wall that it was former five-star [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag]’s time to take the reins under center for the Sooners. Gabriel transferred to Oregon to play the final year of his college career.

While Gabriel was certainly OU’s most notable loss in the portal at the QB spot, his was just the first of many departures that have completely reshuffled Oklahoma’s quarterback depth chart.

But let’s start at the beginning. Last season’s quarterback room in Norman consisted of Dillon Gabriel, Jackson Arnold, [autotag]Davis Beville[/autotag], [autotag]General Booty[/autotag] and [autotag]Jacob Switzer[/autotag].

Gabriel’s departure wasn’t even the first domino to fall. Former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] was hired to be the head coach at Mississippi State in late November. So, regardless of the portal or recruiting, a different voice was going to call the shots on offense.

[autotag]Seth Littrell[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Jon Finley[/autotag] were promoted to co-offensive coordinators. Finley is still serving as the tight ends coach, and Littrell is expected to be the play-caller and quarterbacks coach. Additionally, offensive analyst [autotag]Matt Wells[/autotag], who has experience coaching quarterbacks and as an offensive coordinator, was hired away by Chris Klieman to coach QBs for Kansas State in January.

Arnold stuck with the Sooners after Lebby’s departure. By doing so, ehe stablished himself as the starter until he decides to leave Norman. Seemingly, this was the plan all along.

But the QB room has changed around Arnold. From the coach in charge to the players behind the highly-touted sophomore.

After Lebby took the job in Starkville and Gabriel moved to Eugene, the next exit came courtesy of Beville. The former backup transferred to South Carolina after two seasons at OU.

Switzer, the fifth-string quarterback and grandson of [autotag]Barry Switzer[/autotag], entered the portal in April, having spent only 2023 as a Sooner.

And, finally, first-ballot all-name team Hall of Famer and name, image and likeness legend General Booty, entered the transfer portal on May 5. That leaves Arnold as the only player left from the 2023 quarterback room still on the roster.

Though the departures have changed things, the argument could be made that the Sooners have more talent overall under center than they did in November when the regular season ended.

First, the Sooners added two quarterbacks as part of the 2024 recruiting class: [autotag]Michael Hawkins Jr.[/autotag] out of Texas and [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] out of Ohio.

Hawkins is the more highly touted of the two, and has a chance to be the future of the program after Arnold’s time is up. However, Zurbrugg was a very good prospect. He’ll compete for snaps when given the opportunity. Though both are young, they offer potential and talent for the future of the position.

But Littrell needed a veteran backup behind Arnold to offer stability in case of injury, so the Sooners went and picked up [autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag] in the transfer portal by way of FAU.

Thompson is OU royalty by way of (most notably) his father [autotag]Charles Thompson[/autotag] and his older brother [autotag]Kendal Thompson[/autotag]. Casey made stops at Texas and Nebraska before his time at Florida Atlantic. He brings six seasons of college football experience to Oklahoma. He carved up the OU defense in the fabled 2021 Red River Rivalry game, holding his own on a field with two five-star quarterbacks in crimson and cream.

In addition, the Sooners have an extremely strong commitment from [autotag]Kevin Sperry[/autotag] in the 2025 class. He will likely compete with Hawkins Jr. (and possibly Zurbrugg) for the starting spot going into the 2026 season if all goes as [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and the coaching staff think it will.

To recap, we’re just over five months removed from the regular-season finale against TCU, and the quarterback room looks vastly different. As it stands, the Sooners will take Jackson Arnold, Casey Thompson, Michael Hawkins Jr. and Brendan Zurbrugg into the 2024 season.

But this is Jackson Arnold’s time to be the face of Oklahoma Sooners football, an opportunity he’s relished and prepared for for years. He is now the most tenured player in the QB room. It’s one more way that the OU faithful will be counting on him to lead the way in 2024 and beyond.

Fortunately, the reshuffling at the position looks to have been a success from a talent acquisition standpoint and quarterback is a strong point for the Sooners heading into Year 3 of the Venables era and Year 1 in the SEC.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X @AaronGelvin.

Quarterback General Booty opts for the transfer portal

Quarterback General Booty set to enter transfer portal.

Oklahoma is still seeing a few players opt for the transfer portal now that spring practice has ended. Earlier this week, wide receiver Gavin Freeman opted for the portal. On Thursday, the Sooners received word that backup quarterback General Booty has entered his name into the NCAA [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag].

Booty signed with Oklahoma in May 2022 after he dominated the competition as a quarterback for Tyler Junior College. He threw for 3,115 yards and 25 touchdowns, ranking second in the NJCAA.

He joined the Sooners  as a depth option, and while his career at Oklahoma didn’t result in him becoming a starter or a notable contributor to games, he provided depth.

The Sooners worked tirelessly to rebuild their quarterback room after the departure of Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler. Booty was a part of that rebuild. Now the Sooners have rebuilt their room with four talented quarterbacks, led by starter and former five-star Jackson Arnold. [autotag]Michael Hawkins[/autotag] and[autotag]Casey Thompson[/autotag] are still duking it out for the backup spot. [autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag], another freshman, gives Oklahoma another developmental player on the depth chart.

Oklahoma will enter the season with these four quarterbacks. Next year, they’ll add four-star quarterback Kevin Sperry to the mix.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on X @thatmanbryant.

Brent Venables says Sooners quarterback room in best position since his arrival to Norman

“We’re in the best position that we’ve been in since we’ve been here.” Brent Venables likes what he sees from the Oklahoma Sooners quarterback group.

The last two years have been the [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] show under center at the University of Oklahoma. But now we are heading into a new era, the [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] era.

The last time we saw Arnold in action, he had one month to prepare against a really good team with a new playcaller. He made some plays that made you say, “Wow” but he also made some plays that left you scratching your head. It was a very typical first start for a true freshman.

While most want to focus on the three interceptions, he also threw for 361 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 65 yards on five carries if you take out the sacks.

Now Arnold has an entire offseason to prepare to be the Sooners starter on their way into the SEC.

But it’s not just him that’s impressed the coaches this offseason. Brent Venables shared with the media what he’s seen from his group of gunslingers.

“The whole position is doing really good,” Venables said. “[autotag]Brendan Zurbrugg[/autotag] has gotten lots of reps, too. But between Jackson, Mike (Hawkins), Brendan, and (General) Booty, Casey’s (Thompson) taking every mental rep. He’s right there next to me when we’ve got the team settings. I feel great. We’re in the best position that we’ve been in since we’ve been here.”

That has coincided with a lot of what we’ve heard about how impressive Hawkins has been this spring. A lot of people were worried about the depth there because Arnold only has started one game and Thompson has the only real experience but is coming off an ACL injury.

Venables’ words say a lot about the quarterback situation. There’s a lot of talent there, and in just a few months, Arnold and the rest of the quarterbacks will have a chance to prove it.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.