Sooners once again embracing youth in the secondary in 2026

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During a 2025 season where the Oklahoma Sooners surprised many by winning 10 games and reaching the College Football Playoff, the team embraced a youth movement in the secondary. It was a move that paid off for OU, and it looks like head coach Brent Venables and his staff have decided to continue that trend for 2026.

After an overall disappointing season for the program in 2024, the Sooners did very little to add to the defensive backfield via the transfer portal, only adding a depth piece in Oklahoma State’s Reed DeQuasie. Instead, they relied on their returning players and their ability to develop their young, unproven players at defensive back. Additionally, they added five DBs to the roster in their 2025 recruiting class. Those decisions worked, especially at cornerback, where true sophomore Eli Bowen and true freshman Courtland Guillory became the starters by season’s end. Both are returning to those roles in 2026.

While the Sooners have added two DB transfers (Oregon’s Dakoda Fields and Mississippi Valley State’s Prince Ijioma) in the portal this time around, they’ve again decided to lean on their homegrown guys to continue to improve. Despite losing key pieces like Gentry Williams, Devon Jordan, and Jaydan Hardy to the portal this offseason, combined with the graduation of Robert Spears-Jennings, the Sooners are still in good shape in the secondary.

The youth movement starts in high school recruiting, where Oklahoma has now added four defensive backs in the 2026 class. The Sooners signed three-star defensive back LeBron Bauer out of Allen, Texas on Wednesday, making him the 25th member of their ’26 recruiting haul. Bauer will join Markel Ford, Nike Jandreau, and Derrick Johnson II as OU’s true freshmen DBs next season. Ford and Jandreau are slotted to play safety, while Johnson and Bauer both figure to play cornerback.

Bauer signed with the Sooners, despite the program not currently having a cornerbacks coach, as Jay Valai was hired by the NFL’s Buffalo Bills earlier this week. As Oklahoma looks for Valai’s replacement, they’ll have the benefit of some proven commodities in the secondary.

At cornerback, while Bowen and Guillory are slated to start again, the Sooners also return Jacobe Johnson to the position. He’ll see plenty of playing time again in 2026. Fields could also carve out a nice role on the outside, as could Jeremiah Newcombe (if he doesn’t spend most of his time at cheetah) or Trystan Haynes. Newcomers like Ijioma, Johnson, and Bauer will also be given the opportunity to fight for snaps for their new position coach.

For safeties coach Brandon Hall, he’ll return one starter in Peyton Bowen, but will have to replace Spears-Jennings’ veteran leadership. First up is the hard-hitting Michael Boganowski, who saw plenty of action down the stretch in 2025 as a true sophomore. Omarion Robinson figures to also see a lot of snaps as well, as he’s just wrapped up his true freshman season. Ford and Jandreau are the new wave, and if depth becomes an issue, Oklahoma can move likely starting cheetah Reggie Powers III around in the back seven of the defense.

Oklahoma’s defense was the best it had been in a long time in 2025, thanks it part to improvements made in the defensive backfield. As the Sooners look to return to the CFP in 2026, their defense is once again relying on their young players to develop and shine in the secondary

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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners again embracing youth movement at DB

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