Tag: Curtis Lofton

Sooners formally announce Curtis Lofton as GM, partnership with Jake Rosenberg

Oklahoma announces partnership with Jake Rosenberg and Curtis Lofton is promoted to Oklahoma’s first-ever GM position.

The landscape of collegiate athletics is evolving at a pace that would impress even a superhero with superspeed like The Flash. Seemingly, something new is popping up weekly, and universities across the country are forced to adapt on the fly with little to no buffer periods.

Name, image and likeness licensing may be the biggest change to the college landscape. Its impact on the game has been certifiably seismic.

Oklahoma has embraced it head-on as a university and, more specifically, an athletic department. It has increased its name, image and likeness backing and used prominent Oklahoma figures to help endorse and spread the word about its importance to the fan base.

Internally, Oklahoma is also making sure it has leaders who can spearhead the Sooners trek through this brave new world.

To do that, the university announced Curtis Lofton as Oklahoma’s first general manager. It also announced a partnership with Jake Rosenberg, former Philadelphia Eagles vice president of football administration.

In short, Lofton’s announcement also included the formation of a football front office — similar to what you would see in the NFL. The focus is to keep Oklahoma’s football program at the forefront of talent analysis, acquisition and retention in this ever-changing landscape.

“We’re seeing things we’ve never seen before in the recruiting process,” football coach Brent Venables said in a statement released by the university. “To Oklahoma, we know how to adapt, and this new approach to managing our recruiting operations represents our forward thinking and agility. Winning takes all of us, and I am confident in Curtis and the rest of our staff and their commitment to continuing to elevate Oklahoma Football.”

Lofton will play a critical advisory role in identifying high school and transfer portal talent and building the overall roster makeup for Venables.

Rosenberg’s addition is to counsel the Sooners due to his partnership with The Athlete Group – a consulting firm designed to help sports programs solve their biggest challenges – where he is currently leading the agency’s efforts in collegiate sports.

In his 12-plus years with the Eagles, Rosenberg contributed critical oversight on player signings and acquisitions, salary cap management, contract negotiations, compliance with the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, roster building, strategic planning and more.

His wealth of experience and knowledge will be valuable assets to Lofton as he and Venables put their heads together to push Oklahoma in the right direction.

The hire of Lofton comes after he spent two years as the director with Oklahoma’s football’s SOUL mission player development program. SOUL mission works to create first-class, impactful student-athletes and prepare them to be servant leaders and sustain a lifestyle of winning. He also was Oklahoma’s NFL liaison.

“In today’s landscape, we know building teams and recruiting athletes requires more innovative thinking and focused leadership,” said Oklahoma Vice President and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione. “What we have in this new structure and our partnership with Jake is a path forward to position OU Football – and eventually, the rest of our programs – for success in the new world.”

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Curtis Lofton officially promoted to general manager of Oklahoma football

The former star linebacker is now officially the new general manager for the Sooners.

Nothing says 2024 in college football like the term general manager that is popping up at programs across the country. Previously only really seen at the professional ranks in sports, it’s one more thing that is different in the new world of college athletics.

The Oklahoma Sooners football program officially has one of its own in Norman. [autotag]Curtis Lofton[/autotag], who played linebacker for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] in the mid-2000s, was officially promoted to general manager of the Oklahoma football program. Expected for some time, it is an agenda item on the Board of Regents meeting scheduled for Friday.

Lofton is the director of the Sooners’ S.O.U.L. Mission, and is set to earn quite the pay increase, going from $101,500 to $300,000 per year.

George Stoia of SoonerScoop and On3 took to social media to deliver the news.

Lofton was named general manager in February and has been performing GM duties for months. He becomes the first general manager in OU’s history, and the job will evolve as the landscape of college sports takes shape in the future.

But it’s clear that Venables decided he needed a full-time GM to help with roster management and other aspects of the program. It’s a move that, just like everything other Venables move, is being made to help the Sooners compete in the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] and compete for national championships.

Venables was extremely complimentary of his former player in the lead up to spring practice.

“Curtis has been doing what he has been doing in the last couple of years. He’s been fantastic, S.O.U.L. Mission as a whole is fantastic, and remember, S.O.U.L. Mission isn’t just one job. It’s, again, holistic development. And they’re leaders, they’re mentors, they’re recruiters, they’re therapists, they’re competitors. And Curtis brings a lot to the table. The same things he did as a player, now he’s using those transferable skills as a leader in our program. So, he’s been fantastic.”

Lofton was a great player for the Sooners for three seasons from 2005-2007, earning consensus All-American honors in his final year. During his 2007 junior season, the linebacker totaled 157 tackles, with 10 1/2 tackles for loss. He had three interceptions and a fumble recovery, giving him a pair of defensive touchdowns. Lofton was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year that season.

Colton Sulley of The Oklahoman also reported the news on social media, adding the pay bump for Football Operations Administrator [autotag]Woody Glass[/autotag]. His salary will increase from $310,000 annually to $350,000 annually.

Glass’ position is essentially a chief of staff role. He joined the staff in 2022 as special assistant to the head coach before being promoted to his current position last year. Glass replaced [autotag]Thad Turnipseed[/autotag], who resigned from his position in June of 2023.

Clear leadership will be important in the brave new world of the SEC and the shifting sands of college football. Current players and future recruits will want to know who’s running the show. The Oklahoma Sooners have their leaders in place going into all of the changes. Venables, Lofton, Glass, athletic director [autotag]Joe Castiglione[/autotag] and university president [autotag]Joseph Harroz[/autotag] are the faces of a new era of Sooner football.

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Danny Stutsman named to PFF’s College Football Team of the Week

Danny Stutsman is playing at an All-American level and we should start giving him his flowers.

It’s time to have a serious conversation. It might be too early to say this but [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] might be the best linebacker in the nation.

The growth he’s shown in year two in [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]’ defense is incredible. He’s playing the best of any Oklahoma Sooners linebacker since maybe [autotag]Curtis Lofton[/autotag], and that’s saying a lot. [autotag]Kenneth Murray[/autotag] was great. [autotag]Travis Lewis[/autotag] was great, but Stutsman might be outperforming both.

For the second straight time, he was named to a national list. In Week 2, he was named National Defensive Player of the Week, and in Week 3, he was named to PFF’s Week 3 College Football Team of the Week.

The only week he was not named to a list or given a national award was in Week 1 when he played just 23 snaps in the Sooners’ blowout of Arkansas State.

He currently ranks No. 18 nationally in tackles per game, but if you take away Week 1 because of the few snaps, he would rank second in the nation and only 0.3 tackles per fame from first place.

He’s the only Big 12 player in the top 43 in the nation in tackles per game. But we knew Stutsman could tackle. He led the Big 12 in that department a year ago.

The most impressive thing is how much improved his coverage skills are, which were on full display on the pick-six against Tulsa.

The game looks slower to him. He’s not second-guessing himself like he was a year ago. He’s seeing it, reacting to it, and ultimately making the play. We’re at the point with Stutsman that most Sooner fans don’t want to even think about this early in the season.

It’s a real possibility this is the last year we’ll see him in the Crimson and Cream. Better enjoy it.

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Oklahoma football all-time roster: Defensive starters and backups

See which legends of defense made the cut in our all-time Oklahoma Sooners football roster.

The Oklahoma Sooners have put together some of the more vaunted defenses in college football history. In addition to having some of the best units in the nation, the Sooners had some of the more iconic players in the sport run roughshod over their opponents.

From Lee Roy Selmon to Roy Williams, Oklahoma’s been a terror on the gridiron throughout the years.

As it was choosing the Oklahoma Sooners’ all-time offense, narrowing down defensive linemen and linebackers was a challenge as the Sooners have produced some incredibly talented players in the front seven.

For more coverage on the Oklahoma Sooners, check out SoonersWire.com. Many of the historical stats can be found at SoonerSports.com.

Check out our other College Wire all-time defenses: Alabama / Auburn / Clemson / Colorado / Florida / Georgia / Iowa / LSU / Michigan / Michigan State / Nebraska / North Carolina / Ohio State / Oregon / Penn State / Rutgers / Tennessee / Texas / Texas A&M / USC

Bob Stoops’ philosophy on in-state recruiting and how it may reveal part of Oklahoma’s future under Brent Venables

Bob Stoops joined The REF and shared his philosophy on in-state recruiting. A glimpse into the past may provide a look into OU’s future.

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Former Oklahoma head football coach Bob Stoops made his weekly radio appearance on The REF (94.7 FM/1400 AM) in Norman on Tuesday with hosts Teddy Lehman and Tyler McComas on their weekday afternoon show “The Rush” from 3-6 p.m.

McComas asked Stoops what he and his staff’s philosophy was in regards to in-state recruiting during his tenure leading Oklahoma.

“Well, the first philosophy was, as much as we could, I do not want to make a mistake and ever pass up a kid from the state of Oklahoma. And if you have any doubt as a position coach, let me watch them,” Stoops explained.

Stoops then used Dan Cody’s recruitment as an example.

“For instance, we didn’t know where Dan Cody would play, so not one position coach wanted to commit to him. They put him in front of me. It didn’t take me five minutes of watching tape. I said, ‘I don’t care what you guys all think. I get nobody knows where you want to put him. He’s going to play here. I’m offering him a scholarship.’ So, our point was, I always emphasized if we’re going to ever make a mistake, make a mistake on a young man from Oklahoma. Give them a chance. If you’re ever in doubt, again, let me watch them. I did not want to miss on an Oklahoma kid, young man. Did not,” Stoops said.

Of course, Cody developed into a star at Oklahoma. The Ada product was a four-year starter for the Sooners at defensive end where he registered 25 career sacks and earned First-Team All-Big 12 status in 2003 and 2004. Cody was drafted in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Ravens.

There’s plenty of other examples of great OU players under Stoops that were in-state kids. Players like Sam Bradford, Ryan Broyles, Rocky Calmus, Gerald McCoy, Teddy Lehman, Curtis Lofton and Sterling Shepard just to name a few.

“I always wanted to give players in this state here the benefit of the doubt, go for them first. And I’ll say this, too. I always told our coaches. You go way back to Jason White, my first recruiting class. I said, ‘We don’t have a big population in the state of Oklahoma, so maybe we’re not going to offer 15 guys, 10 guys from the state, but the guys we do have, they can play anywhere in the country and they can be the best.’ You look at Teddy, Rocky, Sam, Jason, on and on and on,” Stoops said of his in-state recruiting philosophy.

It appears new Oklahoma head football coach Brent Venables is taking a similar approach to recruiting in-state talent.

In recent weeks, Venables and his staff have sent out offers to running back Erik McCarty from McAlester and defensive end Bai Jobe out of Community Christian in Norman. Those two class of 2023 prospects are currently projected to land with OU.

The Sooners appear to have locked up the soon-to-be signing of Booker T. Washington’s Gentry Williams in the 2022 class and they made it a priority to re-offer the top player in the state for the 2024 class in Del City’s David Stone.

McComas feels Stoops’ in-state approach in the past can offer some glimpse into Oklahoma’s future with Venables.

“I think a lot of things about how [Stoops] went about things, we can use as a useful tool to see what the future here is going to look like. I think without a doubt, the way Bob did things, Brent is not entirely going to look like that, but it’s going to look pretty similar. My initial thought is, okay, well, if Bob was willing to give an Oklahoma kid a chance, then I think that Brent is going to be way more willing to do that as well, especially more than what Lincoln and the previous staff did,” McComas said.

McCarty fits the bill for a player that Oklahoma is willing to extend an offer to and take a chance on that maybe it wasn’t willing to under Riley. According to Rivals, the 6-foot-2, 180 pound running back is ranked as a three-star recruit.

“My whole conclusion out of that is, okay, I thought OU was going to be more active in the state with recruiting and obviously they’re going to get four and five-star guys, but I’m kind of thinking that maybe—not like five or six guys a class—but you’re going to see one or two three-star kids from Oklahoma be a part of classes here moving forward and that obviously wasn’t the case here recently,” McComas said.

Oklahoma fans are more than familiar with both the upside and the downside of the NCAA’s transfer portal since Riley ushered off to USC. McComas said that’s less of a worry with in-state talent.

“Some people might call some of these kids risks. I would consider it…it’s a calculated risk. They’re not going to just take a kid to take a kid to say they recruited Oklahoma. They’re going to take him because they like his size, they like his measurables, they like what he’s going to be. I like it because you’re way more apt to keep a kid on the roster I think if he’s from in state. You’re way more apt for that kid to not maybe go into the portal after his sophomore season. Maybe he’s more patient to finding his turn on the roster,” McComas said.

One of the other common thoughts about in-state talent is that their connection to and familiarity with Oklahoma’s program means they may inherently care more about the program.

McComas didn’t completely shoot that down, but pointed out that there’s been prominent examples of players that are synonymous with OU that aren’t from the state of Oklahoma.

“Some of those things are overblown. Baker Mayfield and Brian Bosworth cared more about OU than maybe any other players that existed here and they were both from the state of Texas. So, maybe the whole they care more about OU thing is overblown, but I definitely think that there’s some advantages to guys may be willing to stay around four and five years if they’re from the state as opposed to outside of it,” McComas said.

Successful in-state recruiting was one of the pillars of the Stoops era and early indications are that it appears Venables and his staff are making it one of the foundational pieces of their approach with the Sooners.

In-state talent winding up out of state has been one of the bigger recruiting gripes of the Oklahoma fan base in recent years. If the early approach from Venables’ staff is a sign of things to come, then OU fans may be able to put some of those past frustrations to rest.

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