The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] are set to kick off their 2023 season at [autotag]Gaylord Memorial Stadium[/autotag] at 11:00 a.m. CT in Norman, Oklahoma. The Sooners will take on an [autotag]Arkansas State Red Wolves[/autotag] team that went 3-9 a season ago.
But with the transfer portal and Head Coach Butch Jones signing back-to-back No. 1 classes in the Sun Belt Conference, the Red Wolves feel like they could be better than a season ago. Matt Stolz, who does radio play-by-play for the Red Wolves, went on my podcast, Eat. Sleep. Bedlam, and he said while the team is improving, they are still a very young team.
“(They have) the third-fewest amount of seniors in the entire country this year,” Stolz said. “Just 11 seniors on this roster.”
Still, the team looks to be much improved, and that starts with the players that added up front offensively. “They brought in some transfers, particularly on the offensive line,” Stolz said. “Three starters that are transfers on that offensive front. One thing that they’ve done is they’ve brought in a lot of size on the offensive line. They average over 320 pounds among those five starters.”
That kind of size is why it was important Oklahoma beefed up its defensive line heading into this season. They also added transfers like [autotag]Colorado Buffaloes[/autotag] transfer quarterback [autotag]J.T. Shrout[/autotag], [autotag]Syracuse Orange[/autotag] transfer wide receiver [autotag]Courtney Jackson[/autotag], [autotag]U.T. Martin Skyhawks[/autotag] transfer running back [autotag]Zak Wallace[/autotag], [autotag]Ja’Quez Cross[/autotag] who played for the [autotag]Purdue Boilermakers[/autotag] two years ago but spent last season at Arkansas State and [autotag]Brian Snead[/autotag] who was a five-star out of high school who originally played for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
They are all expected to play a big role for the Red Wolves this season, including this weekend.
Stolz believes the defense, especially in the secondary, is the strength of the Red Wolves. “Defensively, there’s a little bit more experience than that offensive side of the ball,” Stolz said. “Particularly in the back end of the defense. So, hopefully, that’s an area of strength for the Red Wolves this season.”
A secondary with a lot of experience going up against an Oklahoma receiving corps with not a lot of experience could cause problems, especially early for Oklahoma. This will be a game you don’t want to keep them hanging around. They are still a young team.
Oklahoma has a chance to assert its dominance early and often. If they do that, the Sooners should win fairly comfortably.
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