College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Oklahoma football season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Oklahoma Football Schedule Analysis
– Oklahoma Sooners Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
2020 Record: 9-2 overall, 7-2 in Big 12
Head Coach: Lincoln Riley, 5th year, 45-8
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 6
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 6
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 8
Oklahoma Sooners College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– Here we go. It’s not like the Oklahoma offense wasn’t fun last season – it was No. 1 in the Big 12 averaging close to 500 yards and 43 points per game – but now the parts that were getting up and running should be ready to hum.
There were some talent losses, and the depth in some spots takes a hit – helloooooo receiving corps – but seven starters are expected to return to go along with a few big-time parts from the transfer portal – helloooooo Tennessee.
Everything about the Oklahoma 2021 season revolves around …
– Spencer Rattler. This is the home-grown quarterback recruit in the Lincoln Riley era going into his third year in the system. This is when everything about the game is supposed to slow down, and this is when his production is supposed to blow up.
He was very, very good – throwing 28 touchdowns with seven picks – but he doesn’t add all that much to the ground game until he gets around the goal line. This is Oklahoma, though. The quarterbacks are supposed to be very, very, Heisman-caliber good. Rattler should be just that.
The depth is thin with No. 2 guy Tanner Mordecai off to SMU and Chandler Morris taking off for TCU. It’s asking a LOT out of a newbie to the system, but superstar recruit Caleb Williams is the likely main backup for now, with Penn State transfer Micah Bowens an interesting option to develop.
– At the moment, seven receivers/tight ends are in the transfer portal. That stinks for the depth – and fourth-leading receiver Charleston Rambo is off to Miami – but there’s a reason for this. Marvin Mims, Theo Wease, Jadon Haselwood, Drake Stoops, and TE/H-Back Austin Stogner form what should be the best – at least the deepest – receiving corps in the nation.
Include the backs in the mix, and the offense that spreads the ball around should be impossible to deal with. Throw in Arkansas transfer WR Mike Woods – all he did was catch 65 passes for over 1,000 yards and nine scores over the last two years – and forget it. No one’s covering all this talent.
– The offensive line loses its heart-and-soul quarterback in C Creed Humphrey along with star OT Adrian Ealy, but three starters return, 335-pound guard Marquis Hayes is terrific, and on the way from Tennessee is 6-5, 313-pound Wanya Morris, an all-star blocker who’ll push his way into the starting left tackle gig.
Also from Tennessee is new RB Eric Gray, a nice back who should fit in perfectly after running for over 1,300 yards with eight scores and 43 catches over his two years with the Vols.
If Gray’s the new No. 1 in place of leading rusher Rhamondre Stevenson, than 2019 1,000-yard rusher Kennedy Brooks – who opted out in 2020 – is No. 1A. No. 2 back TJ Pledger left for Utah.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Oklahoma Football Schedule Analysis
