Tag: Sooners

No Sooners make Pro Football Focus’ All-Big 12 first team

Zero Sooners were included among Pro Football Focus’ All-Big 12 teams, but several made the second and third team.

It’s almost that time of the year for fall camps, which means preseason All-Big 12 teams are being selected by national publications.

The latest comes from Pro Football Focus. No Sooners made the first team, but several made the second and third teams.

The second team members were [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag], [autotag]Rondell Bothroyd[/autotag], [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] and [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag].

The third team members were [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] and [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag].

After a season like 2022, having zero first-team members should be expected. But if the Sooners have the bounce-back year many expect, Oklahoma should get more recognition after the season.

[autotag]Tyler Guyton[/autotag], [autotag]Dasan McCullough[/autotag], and [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] are players to watch this season. Each player could find themselves on the end-of-the-season list. Another guy to watch out for is R Mason Thomas. He has the unique skills to have a breakout season.

By season’s end, Stustman, Gabriel, and Bowman have a great chance to earn first-team honors.

Most preseason all-conference teams aren’t going to be kind to the Sooners. However, as long as the product on the field is better, there will be plenty of Sooners receiving postseason awards in 2023.

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5 Sooners who will be new starters for Oklahoma in 2023

When you have a below .500 season, there’s going to typically be quite a bit of turnover the following season.

When you have a below .500 season, there’s going to typically be quite a bit of turnover the following season. That’s exactly what people should expect for the 2023 season in Norman, Oklahoma.

There are going to be several positions with new starters, some familiar faces and some unfamiliar faces the fan base should get to know.

The defensive line might be the position that sees the most turnover. The position that could have a star step into a starting role is most likely in the secondary.

It might not be who you think, either. The offense also is bringing in some new starters this season after leading receiver Marvin Mims and starting tight end Brayden Willis were selected in the 2023 NFL draft.

Here are five players I expect to start this season for the Sooners that didn’t a year ago.

The 5 most likely scenarios for Oklahoma Sooners 2023 season

What are the five most likely scenarios for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2023?

The Oklahoma Sooners were picked to finish third by the media in the Big 12 preseason poll. This is the final season in a conference the Sooners historically have dominated.

After what happened a year ago, it’s safe to say there are question marks heading into the 2023 season.

Will the Sooners improve defensively? Will the offense take a step back or take a step forward? Who becomes the go-to playmaker at wideout? All are major question marks.

But this is Oklahoma. Whether you like it or not, fans are going to have high expectations regardless of the questions laid out in front of them.

Combine all of that with what appears to be a fairly favorable schedule, and there are again high expectations coming into Year 2 for Brent Venables and company

Let’s take a look at five ways the season could play out for Oklahoma

Oklahoma lands PWO wide receiver commit

This one is Southlake Carroll (TX) wide receiver and return man Jacob Jordan. Jordan is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound receiver who will be a preferred walk-on on the team.

The Oklahoma Sooners land their 10th commitment since the ChampU BBQ at the end of June.

This one is Southlake Carroll (TX) wide receiver and return man Jacob Jordan. Jordan is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound receiver who will be a preferred walk-on for the team.

On3 has him as a three-star but he’s not rated on any of the other major recruiting sites.

Jordan had an impressive season a year ago. He caught 64 passes for 1,202 yards and 16 touchdowns.

This followed a season in which he was named Texas District 4-6A Offensive Newcomer of the Year as a sophomore.

From the first highlight you watch, you can already see the impressive route running and speed he possesses.

He’s also a really impressive return man for Southlake Carroll. He adds to an already stacked class at wide receiver in the 2024 cycle for the Sooners.

They’ve added five receivers, Zion Ragins, Zion Kearney, Ivan Carreon, K.J. Daniels and Dozie Ezukanma.

Jordan has the perfect size and ability to play the role currently occupied by Drake Stoops and could follow Stoops’ potential successor, Gavin Freeman.

The Sooners have had success with both of those players and hope to continue that with Jordan.

For a high school player, he already has an impressive route tree. Several times in his highlights he showed the ability to take the top off the defense, catch something short and break it for a big gain, and also the ability to shake a defender during the route leaving him wide open for a huge gain.

Just like any preferred walk-on, it will be tough for him to get on the field and make a name for himself, but he definitely has the ability.

One thing he has working for him is the impressive track record Oklahoma has with preferred walk-ons including his two predecessors.

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General Booty named to 247Sports’ CFB all-name team

There are a ton of unique names in college football that it sometimes feels like a sketch from “Key & Peele” and one of those is none other than General Booty.

There are numerous unique names in college football that it sometimes feels like a sketch from “Key & Peele.”

247Sports comes up with a team just about every year of the players with the unique names at each position.

This year, the starting quarterback is none other than Oklahoma’s backup General Booty.

Booty transferred to Oklahoma before last season after spending one year at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas.

While there he threw for more than three thousand yards and 25 touchdowns.

Those numbers ranked second in the nation among NJCAA players. In one game, he threw for 528 yards and eight touchdowns.

Booty comes from an athletic family. His father, Abram Booty played wide receiver, and his uncle Josh played quarterback for the LSU Tigers.

Another uncle, John David Booty played quarterback for the USC Trojans and Pete Carroll.

So, he definitely has some talent and comes from a great football background. However,  he probably will never take a meaningful snap at Oklahoma unless there’s some kind of injury.

He comes into the season as Oklahoma’s fourth-string quarterback behind Dillon Gabriel, Jackson Arnold and Davis Beville.

But having that last name has also opened him to making some serious NIL money. According to On3, Booty has a NIL evaluation of $118K.

He has partnerships with “Crimson and Cream” and “More Than Just a Name” collectives.

He has merchandise you can purchase, and, yes, even “The General’s” Crimson and Cream in a hilarious video he posted on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnP7sEsD4Jx/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

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Oklahoma men’s basketball 2023 conference schedule released

After another poor season, the Sooners hope to bounce back with their new Big 12 schedule.

The seat for Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Porter Moser is blazing hot after missing out on the NCAA tournament in the 2022-2023 season.

To make matters worse, the Sooners have to replace their top three scorers and four of their top five scorers from a year ago. Tanner Groves, Grant Sherfield, Jacob Groves, and Jalen Hill are out the door.

Hill was a leader and the best defensive player. He’ll be hard to replace this upcoming season.

This offseason, the Sooners were again hit hard by the transfer portal, which has been a constant theme in the Porter Moser era. But they added some players through recruiting and the portal they hope can contribute right away in Javian McCollum, John Hugley IV, Kaden Cooper, and Jacolb Cole.

Those additions with the natural progressions Otega Oweh and Milos Uzan are likely to make and this Sooner team has a chance at being a tournament team come March.

Oklahoma is going to be long and athletic, but they have a hole at the power forward position they have to sort out. Athleticism isn’t something we’ve seen from a Moser team since he arrived in Norman, which adds a lot of excitement about what the Sooners will put on the court this fall.

On Thursday, the Sooners received their final conference schedule as members of the Big 12.

The Sooners will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats, Iowa State Cyclones, Texas Longhorns, Kansas Jayhawks, and Oklahoma State Cowboys at home and on the road.

They play the Baylor Bears, Kansas State Wildcats, TCU Horned Frogs and UCF Knights on the road only.

At home only, Oklahoma will play the Houston Cougars, BYU Cougars, Texas Tech Red Raiders, and West Virginia Mountaineers.

So, Sooner fans will see all of the new teams except UCF in Norman before they head off to the SEC.

Overall, this schedule is shaping up nicely. The Big 12 is obviously still the best conference in basketball but there are a lot of question marks. Texas, Texas Tech, and West Virginia are all replacing their coaches. Although Texas’ coach was named interim during the season last year.

Porter Moser has done a tremendous job filling the roster. Now it’s about getting all of the pieces to fit together for their final run in the Big 12.

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‘They’re certainly ready’: Shane Beamer on the Sooners’ move to the SEC

While Shane Beamer believe Oklahoma is ready for the move, he acknowledged the SEC is a different animal than the Big 12.

One of the many topics at SEC media days is if the Oklahoma Sooners are ready for their new conference when they make the move in 2024.

You heard from Nick Saban, Brian Kelly, and many others who love the new additions to their league.

Another coach who sees issues with the Sooners making the move is former Oklahoma assistant coach and current head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks, Shane Beamer.

He believes they are “ready” for this move. He spoke about the six straight conference championships they won before winning 11 games in 2021.

But he acknowledged the SEC is a different animal than the Big 12.

“The line of scrimmages are different,” Beamer said. “Beyond the field, just the stadiums. It’s one thing I love about this conference, just the stadiums that you get to go into every single Saturday.”

Beamer relayed that the SEC led the nation in average attendance and that will be a far cry from what the Big 12 can put in the stands.

That will certainly be an adjustment period for the Sooners. The SEC has eight of the 12 largest stadiums in college football. Outside of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns, the Big 12 doesn’t have any in the top 25.

“Certainly feel like they’re ready,” the former OU assistant went on to say. “They’ve got great tradition at that place. Certainly excited about going back to Norman in 2024. We got a lot of football to play before then, but that’s a proud program with great leadership under (athletic director) Joe Castiglione. Excited to have OU and Texas in this awesome conference.

Because of last season, it seems like people have forgotten Oklahoma is one of the “blue bloods” of college football.

Typically those programs don’t get knocked down for long. We’ve seen it with recruiting. Oklahoma had a top-five class in 2023 and is on an absolute hot streak right now in the 2024 cycle.

Now, all that’s left is for Brent Venables to prove the Sooners can have as much success on the field as they’ve had off of it. That will determine how successful Oklahoma is in the SEC.

Historically, defensive-minded coaches take a little longer to get things going than head coaches. Go look at Nick Saban’s first season for the Alabama Crimson Tide and Kirby Smart’s first year for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Georgia was coming off two straight 10-3 seasons when Smart took over and they went 8-5. They could have easily gone 6-7. They beat Nichols State and a four-win Missouri Tigers team by a combined three points. They also beat a 7-6 Kentucky Wildcats team by three points as well.

But both Smart and Saban turned it around the next season. Smart went 13-2, and after a 7-6 campaign, Saban went 12-2. Venables and the Oklahoma fan base are hoping for similar progress to really show they are ready for success in the SEC.

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‘The relationship with Oklahoma really isn’t complicated’: Josh Heupel excited for return to Norman

At SEC media days, Josh Heupel shared he’s looking forward to returning to Norman.

The SEC media days are in full swing. One topic brought up to just about every coach and player is the addition of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024.

One coach Sooner fans wanted to hear from was former Sooners great and current Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel.

Heupel is the last Sooners quarterback to lead Oklahoma to a national championship.

After his playing days were over, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater. He played a big role in developing future Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford.

As quarterbacks coach, he also played a big role in some of those historic offenses.

Then Heupel was promoted to offensive coordinator. At that point, the offense dipped and the quarterback recruiting and development dropped off.

After a poor 2014 campaign, the Sooners and Heupel parted ways. This left a sour taste in the mouth of the fan base. He was asked about his relationship with OU, and Heupel said there’s no fracture. He said he has great memories of his time in the crimson and cream.

“The relationship with Oklahoma really isn’t complicated,” Heupel said. “I’ve got nothing but great memories with the people and my time there. Everybody there shaped who I am and where I am today. I still have a lot of great friends and teammates who live out there.”

Heupel called his return to Norman a unique day in his coaching career. It’s going to be an emotional day for a lot of people.

No, Heupel’s tenure didn’t end the way anyone wanted. There was a real chance that if things went well when he was the offensive coordinator, he would have been in line for the head coaching job when Bob Stoops stepped down.

That isn’t how things worked out. Sometimes in life, a difficult decision like that is best for everyone and that’s okay.

There’s pressure with coaching at the school you played for and won at. Since Heupel has gotten away from that, he’s grown so much as a coach.

He’s one of the best offensive minds in the nation and it looks like he’s turned Tennessee around. But it’s time for this reunion.

The one thing about Sooner Nation is they love and take care of their own. When Heupel returns, there will likely be some kind of tribute video. Sooner Nation will welcome him home with a standing ovation. 

It’s time to heal the wounds that were left and remember all of the great things Heupel did for the program.

He deserves that for what he did at Oklahoma. Some schools say it but in 2000, Heupel along with his teammates made sure to let the whole nation know Oklahoma was back.

He played a massive role in bringing the program back to prominence and he should be celebrated for that.

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Oklahoma among Hearland College Sports top 5 Big 12 defensive lines

The Oklahoma Sooners defensive line was included among Heartland College Sports top five units in the Big 12 heading into 2023.

The Oklahoma Sooners coaching staff has worked since January on improving a defensive line that was so poor a year ago.

The Sooners lacked depth, talent, and athleticism in all areas of the defensive line which resulted in having one of the worst run defenses in the country and a pass rush that couldn’t get home in 2022.

But things look to be changing in Norman after adding five-star P.J. Adebawore and transfers Rondell Bothroyd, Da’Jon Terry, Davon Sears, Phil Paea, Trace Ford, and Jacob Lacey.

With those additions in mind, Heartland College Sports’ Bryan Clinton put the Sooners’ defensive line No. 3 in the Big 12 behind the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Texas Longhorns.

Among many issues that the Sooners faced defensively in 2022, the defensive line just wasn’t good enough down the stretch. OU allowed 212.6 ypg rushing in Big 12 play, and ranked dead last in the conference in sacks, with 13 in Big 12 play. So, how is Oklahoma third on our list? An absolute haul in the transfer portal. Brent Venables added six defensive linemen from the portal, all of which are projected to make a major impact on the unit: DE Trace Ford (Oklahoma State), DT Davon Sears (Texas State), DT DaJon Terry (Tennessee), DE Rondell Bothroyd (Wake Forest), DT Jacob Lacey (Notre Dame), and DT Phillip Paea (Utah State). The Sooners also add five-star true freshman DE P.J. Adeboware and expect big things from returnees like Jonah Laulu, Ethan Downs, and R Mason Thomas. This unit it lightyears ahead of where it was a season ago, and we expect it to be one of the most productive DL units in the Big 12. – Clinton, Heartland Sports

While I think the additions are big and will lead to a better defensive line, I don’t know if I would rank them that high just yet.

They have to prove it on the field because right now, I don’t know if they have any game-changers. I’m high on R Mason Thomas and Adebawore, but they are both unproven guys.

At defensive tackle, they have a lot more depth than last year, but is it quality depth? I think you’ll see four or five guys rotate in there and not see much of a drop-off.

No one is elite, but at least some consistency should help the run defense. Could a guy like Gracen Halton emerge to be a difference maker against the run and as a pass rusher? Can guys like Jordan Kelley and Isaiah Coe take the next step in their development? 

This is a defensive line that should feast on a poor offensive line and at least hold up to better offensive lines. Something that should lead to a much-improved defensive side of the ball in 2023.

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Sooners make top six for elite 2024 basketball prospect

It’s been a while since an athletic, tall, skilled big man has called Norman home and he’d be a great compliment to some of the young guys already on campus.

It’s not just the Oklahoma football program that is in the midst of some big-time recruiting battles. The Oklahoma basketball program, led by Porter Moser, is in a few of its own.

One of those is for top 50 power forward Robert Miller III from Houston, Texas.

Miller released his top six, with the Sooners included alongside the Texas Longhorns, Alabama Crimson Tide, LSU Tigers, Arkansas Razorbacks, and Colorado Buffaloes. There’s no doubt everywhere you look, the Texas Longhorns seem to be the prohibitive favorite and the team to beat.

On3 has them with a 93.1% chance to land the prospect, and with the success the program has had lately, they’ll be tough to beat.

But if Moser can pull it off, Miller would be a player they just haven’t had in the program in a long time.

Robert Miller III has all the tools making his upside fascinating. He stands every bit of 6’9”/6’10” with long arms and fluid movements. He has a smooth shooting stroke with catch and shoot ability when his feet are set from beyond the arc. Miller is a fluid athlete with some explosive pop. He runs and moves, both laterally and vertically, very well. He can put it on the floor for 2-3 dribbles and has a developing mid-post game with a nice mid-range pull-up game. He needs to continue adding a strength to his core and base. Continue working on his footwork and the finer nuances of how he scores his baskets. He can face the basket in the half-court and finish in transition at the rim. Miller is still raw, he is still young and learning his spots. He will need to continue focusing on rebounding and on defense. The flashes are very apparent here, and the patience could be well worth the wait. – On3’s Jamie Shaw

It’s been a while since an athletic, tall, skilled big man has called Norman home, and he’d be a great compliment to some of the young guys already on campus.

As mentioned, the defense still needs work, but he’s a pretty good shot blocker. We know if you don’t play defense, Moser has a hard time finding you minutes on the court.

In the end, winning a player in Texas’ backyard is going to be tough but could be helped out if the Sooners can find themselves in the NCAA Tournament this season.

Will Miller wait that long to commit? That’s to be determined.

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