Tag: Key Lawrence

Oklahoma Safety Key Lawrence to enter the transfer portal per report

Sooners safety Key Lawrence to enter the transfer portal.

According to Matt Zenitz of 247Sports, Oklahoma Sooners safety [autotag]Key Lawrence[/autotag] is entering the [autotag]transfer portal[/autotag].

After Gabriel, Lawrence marks the most significant departure for the Sooners and easily the biggest loss on defense at this point.

Lawrence started 14 games across three seasons after transferring from Tennessee following the 2020 season. Each year in Norman, he improved, showing a playmaking ability in coverage and the ability to come up and support in the run game.

In his Oklahoma career, he tallied 149 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three interceptions, and 12 passes defended.

His playing time began to diminish late in the season. Over the final four games, Lawrence played fewer than 20 snaps for the Sooners defense.

Heading into 2024, the Sooners will rely on young safeties [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] and [autotag]Robert Spears-Jennings[/autotag] and hope that [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] will return for his senior season.

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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.

No. 13 Oklahoma vs. TCU Horned Frogs: Sooners Wire Staff Predictions

How will the Oklahoma Sooners final Big 12 regular season game play out? Sooners Wire staff predicts OU vs. TCU Horned Frogs.

And just like that, we’ve reached the conclusion of the 2023 regular season. As they old saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Though the results haven’t gone Oklahoma’s way each week, here we sit heading into game 12 with a chance at a 10-win season and an outside shot to play in the Big 12 title game.

Yes, 10 wins and “a shot at a conference title game” aren’t meeting the standards at the University of Oklahoma. However, the improvement we’ve seen from this team from year one of Brent Venables is as important as anything.

There are still things that have to continue to get better. But as the Oklahoma Sooners get set to host the TCU Horned Frogs, one more opportunity awaits for Venables and the Sooners to prove they’re a team on the rise.

Here are this week’s Sooners Wire Staff Predictions for OU vs. TCU.

Stock Report: Offense finding second win as season heads into final stretch

Taking a look at who is trending up and down for the Sooners after they beat the West Virginia Mountaineers 59-20.

Oklahoma’s domination of West Virginia was a welcome sight on the heels of two frustrating losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State. The losses put a trip to Arlington in doubt for the Big 12 title game.

After back-to-back losses, the Sooners had to dust themselves off, get back up, and fight. They did just that on Saturday.

They came out swinging and never looked back.

The offense looked as cohesive and explosive as it has all year and the defense put a stranglehold on a physical West Virginia rushing attack. From a coaching perspective, Venables looked comfortable, and his coordinators, in particular Jeff Lebby, were in sync the entire game.

As Oklahoma prepares for a trip to Provo, Utah, to take on BYU in its final regular season road trip of 2023, we look at how the team is trending heading into the game in the week’s stock report.

20 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through Week 10 per Pro Football Focus

The 20 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through week 10 per Pro Football Focus.

Though the Oklahoma Sooners are on a two-game losing streak, they’ve already surpassed their win total from a year ago with three games to go and a bowl game.

They still have a shot at a Big 12 title game berth. And after 6-7, that’s all we can really ask for.

The offense has shown improvement on third down and in the red zone. Dillon Gabriel is having a career year. The defense has shown significant improvement this season. A year ago, they allowed 30 or more points seven times. This year that’s only happened once against Kansas. Texas scored 30, but seven of those can be attributed to special teams on the blocked punt.

Yes, they lost winnable games the last two weeks, playing uncharacteristically sloppy football. Otherwise, they’ve been a really good team this year.

As they get ready to close the season, here are the top 20 highest-graded players according to Pro Football Focus through week 10.

Minimum 25% snap count

Offense: 177.75

Defense: 167.75

Bedlam Stock Report: Sooners 2022 signees making an impact

Taking a look at what’s trending up or down right now in Oklahoma’s program following their lost to Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma is in a tailspin. If things don’t improve quickly, they could begin to resemble the 2022 team that started fast but fell apart against some of the better teams in the Big 12.

There are still three games for the Sooners. They can go out and finish on a high note. While slim, Oklahoma still has a chance to make the Big 12 title game. They would need some help, but they’re not completely eliminated from the conference championship game.

In the interim, it’s all about improving as a team and letting the rest fall into place.

It’s time for this week’s stock report as we look at how things are trending up and down for the Oklahoma football team.[anyclip-media thumbnail=”undefined” playlistId=”undefined” content=”dW5kZWZpbmVk”][/anyclip-media]

Report Card: Poor grades all around as Oklahoma loses to Kansas

Oklahoma struggles nearly across the board areas but how did each position group grade out in the loss to Kansas?

Oklahoma took their first loss of the season on Saturday, falling to the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag] on a rainy and disgusting day in Lawrence. From the first play from scrimmage, it appeared Oklahoma would be in for a fight. And sure enough, that’s precisely what happened.

Oklahoma fell victim to another slow start on both sides of the ball. The Sooners were never able to get their passing game going. Due to the weather conditions, they relied heavily on their offensive line and running backs to generate offense.

The sooners will try and figure things out as they get set to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in what will be the last Bedlam for quite some time.

OU played a rough game on all fronts. Some things were encouraging, but a lot of the performance put forth was not good enough. We broke it down by position group below.

Oklahoma Sooners look to continue their turnover success

The second half of the season is about to get underway and the Sooners defense is ready to improve on their first half performance.

The rise of the Oklahoma Sooners has been the talk of the town after their big win in the [autotag]Cotton Bowl[/autotag]. The Sooners are currently sitting at 6-0 and are the only unbeaten team in the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag].

There are a lot of reasons as to why this is. From the offense continuing to get better in year two under [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] to the defense showing vast improvement under [autotag]Ted Roof[/autotag]. The Sooners defense ranks No. 52 in the nation in total defense after finishing No. 122 a year ago.

A big reason for the turnaround has been takeaways. The Sooners rank No. 3 in turnovers and No. 2 in interceptions this season.

Key Lawrence spoke to reporters last week about why they’ve had so much success forcing turnovers. “It’s not really a focus. We just let the defense work for us,” Lawrence said. “Coach has a great defensive plan, and he knows schemes well. Hand in hand, it’s a lot of stress that we do. We just try to stress, and a lot of those things we just have to work for us.”

That’s a different mindset from what the team had under the previous regime. [autotag]Alex Grinch[/autotag] put so much emphasis on causing turnovers that it ultimately led to players being out of position trying to make a play or missing easy tackles.

In this scheme, it’s more about being in the right spot, and if you do that, the turnovers will come, as we’ve seen this season. The players on defense are getting in the right spots and making plays on the football.

Now they have to continue to do that as the Sooners enter the second half of the season.

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.

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.

15 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through Week 5 per Pro Football Focus

Five games into the season, who are the highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners according to Pro Football Focus?

Football is a team game, but it’s made up of individual performances that enhance the whole. This season, the Sooners are playing well on both sides of the ball and have a top-five scoring offense and defense.

But what’s happening in 2023 is a change of pace from years past.

Of the Sooners’ top 15 highest-graded players, according to Pro Football Focus, nine of them are on the defensive side of the ball. Oklahoma has an elite offense but looks like they have an elite defense to match for what feels like the first time in forever.

Minimum Offensive Snaps: 99

Minimum Defensive Snaps: 89