Tag: Jason Llewellyn

Sooners Tight End Jason Llewellyn to enter transfer portal

Sooners tight end Jason Llewellyn set to enter the transfer portal.

The transfer portal opens up on Dec. 4, and players across the country have begun to announce their intentions to enter the portal.

Sooners to enter the portal thus far are Marcus Hicks and D.J. Graham. Today, it’s Jason Llewellyn making it known that he’ll be entering the transfer portal.

In a statement on social media, Llewellyn said, “First and foremost, I want to thank God for blessing me with the ability to play football and for the opportunity to be part of The University of Oklahoma program the last two years. It has been an honor and a privilege to be a Sooners.

“I want to thank my coaches, teammates, trainers, staff, and Sooner Nation for all of your love and support. Y’all are amazing and I wish you nothing but the absolute best. I will carry the friendships made and the lessons learned with me forever.

“After much prayer and discussion with my family and coaches, I believe God has a different path for my football and academic journey. I will be entering the transfer portal with three years left of eligibility remaining. I love this sport and am excited to see what the future holds. Thank you for everything Sooner Nation.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Llewellyn appeared in 11 games for the Sooners, including eight as a true freshman. In those 11 games, he played just 48 snaps.

Llewellyn was a three-star prospect out of Aledo High School and chose the Oklahoma Sooners over a number of Power Five programs, including the Texas Longhorns.

Now Oklahoma’s tight end need becomes a bit bigger. But with elite four-star prospect, Davon Mitchell set to join the Sooners as part of the 2024 class, the Sooners have some immediate help on the way.

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 John on Twitter @john9williams.

5 positions the Oklahoma Sooners should target via the transfer portal

With the transfer portal set to open up next week, what position groups could the Sooners target for some help?

With just one game left to put a bow on the 2023 season, Oklahoma’s vision has widened a bit to prepare for 2024. 2024 is a significant year in the history of Oklahoma football as the Sooners will be moving to the SEC along with the Texas Longhorns.

Oklahoma’s 2023 season is a success after a dismal 2022 campaign where they won just six games. The Sooners have already won 10 games and have shown a lot of growth on and off the field.

Looking at the roster heading into the new calendar year, it’s easy to see that while Oklahoma got better, they will have some holes they must address immediately.

And that’s where the transfer portal comes in.

Oklahoma could lose significant pieces on the offensive and defensive lines and at quarterback. They could also add talent to the secondary and the linebacker unit.

This year, they benefitted from the transfer portal by landing Walter Rouse from Stanford, a rock-solid left tackle who routinely posted some of the best pass-blocking grades on the team, per Pro Football Focus. Da’Jon Terry was a foundational piece of a defense that took a step forward.

Other names like Andrel Anthony, Dasan McCullough, and Reggie Pearson made immediate impacts in their first year with the Sooners.

The transfer portal doesn’t officially open until Dec. 4, but players nationwide have begun announcing their plans to enter the portal.

Here’s a look at five positions the Sooners could target in the transfer portal.

Midseason positional review: How have the Oklahoma Sooners looked at the midway point?

How have each position group done so far for the Oklahoma Sooners at the midway point?

The Oklahoma Sooners have hit the midway point of the 2023 college football season. The Sooners are undefeated at 6-0 in year two under [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]. Venables is now 13-7

Offensively they’ve been pretty good. They rank No. 6 in total offense, No. 9 in 3rd down offense, No. 2 in 1st down offense, and No. 4 in scoring offense.

The defense has also been pretty good and shown vast improvement. They rank No. 50 in total defense, No. 12 in 3rd down defense, No. 31 in rush defense, and No. 2 in turnovers forced.

There is still much improvement that needs to be made for both units, but so far, they’ve made significant strides.

Prior to the season, I broke down each position group, so let’s go through and see how they are doing at this point and give them a midseason grade.

No. 16 Oklahoma Sooners vs Tulsa Golden Hurricane: How to Watch, key players, weather forecast for gameday

The Sooners take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and here is how you can watch the game, the key players to watch and the weather forecast.

Fresh off an up-and-down game last week against the SMU Mustangs, the Oklahoma Sooners are set to take on another [autotag]American Athletic Conference[/autotag] member, the [autotag]Tulsa Golden Hurricane[/autotag].

Tulsa, led by former Oklahoma offensive coordinator [autotag]Kevin Wilson[/autotag] brings an offense that hopes to give the Sooners defense fits this week. Tulsa has the No. 56 ranked offense in the nation.

While most people remember Wilson for his impressive passing attack led by [autotag]Sam Bradford[/autotag] when he was in Norman, his Tulsa team is different this year. While they don’t excel in the passing game, they do in the running game, ranking No. 26th in the country.

But if you are wondering how you can watch the game, what key players to look for, or what the weather will be like, we’ve got you covered.

5 takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners first official depth chart of 2023

5 takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners first official depth chart of the 2023 season.

If there’s one thing that signals we are genuinely back for college football, it’s the release of the official depth charts for colleges across the country. .

Earlier Tuesday morning, Oklahoma’s official football account released the depth chart, helping paint a clearer picture of how this year’s team will be deployed. Several names who played sparingly last year or didn’t play at Oklahoma are now in starting roles for the Sooners.

[lawrence-related id=89567]

All offseason, Brent Venables stressed competitive depth as one of the biggest changes from last offseason to this offseason. It clearly shows up on paper as the depth chart has 21 different “OR” situations.

In many ways, the game against Arkansas State is a tryout for many players to solidify or leap someone at their respective positions. Below, we share our five takeaways from the first official depth chart.

Oklahoma’s Austin Stogner returns to fill a void at tight end

The tight end room might be the weakest on the team but a familiar face has returned to make a huge impact.

The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] have several position groups for fans to be excited for. But one position group that has the most question marks is the tight end room.

Last year [autotag]Brayden Willis[/autotag] might have been the most valuable player on the offense but he’s now off to the NFL. Young guys like [autotag]Jason Llewellyn[/autotag] and [autotag]Kaden Helms[/autotag] have shown promise but have been battling injuries all camp.

The Sooners did get some fortunate news this offseason as Austin Stogner announced he would be returning to Oklahoma after spending one season playing for the [autotag]South Carolina Gamecocks[/autotag]. Stogner is going to be expected to be a big part of the offense and take his game to another level.

Stogner told reporters he feels this room is coming along.

“In the spring most of these guys weren’t going the whole time in spring, it was kind of just me and Blake (Smith) for the most part,” Stogner said. “Everyone else has come along. Our blocking has gotten a lot better, and we’re playing a lot faster. So, we’ve done well.”

But Stogner will be the one looked at to make plays both in the passing game and the running game. Though he wasn’t here a year ago, he’s the one with the most experience and has to be the leader of the room.

If you’ve followed [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag]’s career, you know how much his offense relies on the tight end position. We saw it a year ago with Willis’ career year. Now the hope is that the same kind of success will come Stogner’s way.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1366]

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.

Oklahoma Sooners 2025 four-star TE target Nate Roberts decommits from Notre Dame

Oklahoma four-star TE target Nate Roberts decommits from Notre Dame followed by a flurry of predictions favoring the Sooners.

The Oklahoma Sooners haven’t been shy about the need to improve their tight end depth. Injuries to 2022 signees [autotag]Kaden Helms[/autotag] and [autotag]Jason Llewellyn[/autotag] have put a dent in the tight end depth chart of the future.

Position coach Joe Jon Finley and the group gained a boost in the 2024 recruiting cycle when [autotag]Davon Mitchell[/autotag] committed and reclassified. He’ll joining the Sooners next year and could be a five-star prospect by national signing day.

But the position needs more talent. Oklahoma received some encouraging news on that front. 2025 four-star tight end target [autotag]Nate Roberts[/autotag] decommitted from Notre Dame Tuesday morning.

“I have made the decision to decommit from the University of Notre Dame,” Roberts posted on his social media profile. “I want to thank coach Freeman, coach Parker and Chad Bowden for the opportunity and wish them and the Fighting Irish the best going forward.

Roberts is a top five player in the state of Oklahoma, the No. 61 player overall in the 247Sports 2025 rankings and a top five player at the position.

Last week SoonerScoop’s Josh McCuistion issued a prediction flip favoring the Oklahoma Sooners in Roberts’ recruitment. That felt like a foreshadowing of what happened today in Roberts pulling his pledge to the Fighting Irish.

The talented in-state prospect had only been committed to Notre Dame since June. Now it looks like the Sooners are homing in on adding another blue chip prospect to their rapidly growing [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag].

Roberts holds 31 offers, including 27 from Power Five programs. Ten are from SEC schools, including Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas A&M.

Nate Roberts’ Recruiting Profile

Projections

Soon after the Notre Dame decommitment a flurry of predictions dropped favoring the Sooners. On3’s Sam Spiegelman, Rivals Clint Cosgrove and OUInsider at Rivals Parker Thune each put in picks for the Sooners.

Film

Hudl

Offseason Stock Up, Stock Down for the Oklahoma Sooners

Taking stock of certain aspects of Oklahoma’s football team after a long offseason. Who is trending up and down?

The offseason is coming to a close, and the 2023 football season is right around the corner. When the pads go on, teams take the intensity up a notch as they dig deeper to prepare for the season.

Oklahoma’s offseason has been pretty quiet, all things considered. Conference realignment isn’t dominating headlines for Oklahoma. Its focus is on being the best Oklahoma team it can be in its final Big 12 season.

Each week during the season, we take stock of where the Sooners are as a team and which way individuals within the program are trending. Here’s an offseason look at the stock report.

Oklahoma needs a breakout season from Austin Stogner at tight end in 2023

The Sooners return Austin Stogner at tight end, and Oklahoma needs him to experience a Brayden Willis-like breakout in 2023.

The tight end position at Oklahoma has just as many, if not more, question marks than the wide receiver position. It’s been a productive position over the years, but there’s not a lot of production to bank on heading into 2023.

The Sooners lose [autotag]Brayden Willi[/autotag]s, who was the second-leading receiver on the team and one of the best players in 2022. He was selected in the seventh round by the San Francisco 49ers.

His leadership made him an invaluable player for the Oklahoma Sooners. Willis has a career year last season. He hadn’t previously eclipsed 200 yards receiving before going for over 500 in 2022.

It was his performance in 2022 that earned him a draftable grade. In addition to what he brings on the field, his leadership on and off will be missed.

On a positive note, Oklahoma sees a familiar face return in [autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag]. Without Stogner, tight end would be in a load of trouble.

Stogner brings experience, but his production hasn’t matched his talent yet. His best season was his sophomore year at Oklahoma when he had 422 yards and three touchdowns. Since then, he hasn’t reached 215 yards in a season.

The hope is Stogner will have a similar type of breakout that Willis experienced. The Sooners also return [autotag]Jason Llewellyn[/autotag] and [autotag]Kaden Helms[/autotag].

They don’t have a lot of experience. Neither played more than 40 snaps on offense for the Sooners in 2022. What’s going to limit their ability to take a step is that neither Llewellyn nor Helms participated in spring ball due to injury.

This room is going to really rely on Stogner to take a massive step like Willis did and hope missing spring ball didn’t hurt the growth of Helms or Llewellyn.

The Sooners did add someone to be Gabriel’s go-to guy on third downs and in the red zone, areas where Oklahoma struggled in 2022. Stogner has the talent to be a big-time receiving threat for the Oklahoma Sooners, but time is running out in his career to show it.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1366]

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.

Projecting Oklahoma’s offensive depth chart before summer practice

Summer offensive depth chart projection for the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners.

Oklahoma has started summer preparation for the upcoming season. Currently, the players are getting in their strength and conditioning work. There have been no padded practices, and there will not be any for a while, but that will not stop us from trying to figure out what Oklahoma’s starting offense and defense will look like when the Sooners take the field on Sept. 2 against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Offensively, the Sooners starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel returned to help quarterback an offense that was 13th nationally in total offense last season. Much was made about Gabriel’s performance but a team finishing in the top 20 in total offense is probably doing many things right. Blaming the quarterback for a 6-7 season seems a bit excessive. In the one game Gabriel didn’t play, Oklahoma scored zero points in its biggest game of the season versus Texas.

Outside of that, Oklahoma underwent departures to the NFL by their starting right and left tackles, Wanya Morris and Anton Harrison, respectively. The latter was selected in the first round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Marvin Mims went in the second round to the Denver Broncos. Starting running back Eric Gray was drafted in the fourth round by the New York Giants. Starting tight end Brayden Willis is a San Francisco 49er after being drafted in the seventh round.

Oklahoma will have holes to fill. We took our best shot at projecting an offensive depth chart while considering transfer portal acquisitions, recruiting, general roster maturation and turnover from last year’s team.