Takeaways from OU's updated roster ahead of spring ball
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The Oklahoma Soonersbegan spring football practice on Wednesday, as Team 132 prepares for the 2026 season. Ahead of spring ball opening, OU released an updated roster that reflects the changes made since the 2025 season came to a close.
The Sooners have seen a lot of roster movement since December, with the transfer portal, high school recruiting, and the NFL draft all changing the roster over the past few months. OU lost key players, but the team also gained players who should play pivotal roles. Oklahoma also returned plenty of familiar faces from a season ago.
Today, we’ll take a look at takeaways from the updated roster. We’re still over five months away from Week 1, but with no spring portal window this year, the OU roster is mostly set, although the Sooners can add to the team right up until the first game on September 5th. For more in-depth coverage, be sure to check out both our transfer portal tracker and our positional breakdown of all that Oklahoma has gained and lost from the roster since last season.
Here are the key takeaways from OU’s brand-new spring roster.
By the Numbers
At the beginning of the 2025 season, the Sooners had 111 total players on the roster. Oklahoma returns 66 players from last year’s team, and lost 45 players from the 2025 roster. OU has gained 43 players, leaving the team with a current total of 109 players heading into spring practice.
On the spring roster, there are only 106 players listed. That discrepancy is due to the fact that three of OU’s true freshmen, wide receiver Xavier Okwufulueze, defensive lineman Daniel Norman, and defensive back LeBron Bauer, were not early enrollees and won’t join the team until June. Every other player is accounted for on OU’s spring roster.
That number of 109 total players also accounts for the fact that defensive lineman David Rowaiye, a former preferred walk-on who spent the last two seasons at OU, was not listed on the updated roster. He did not enter the transfer portal, and he had not exhausted his collegiate eligibility, but he is apparently no longer with the team, and therefore is included among the 45 outgoing players.
Aside from that, all of Oklahoma’s additions arrived either via high school recruiting or via the transfer portal, and all of OU’s subtractions left via the portal or due to the fact that they had exhausted their collegiate eligibility. For the second straight year, the Sooners did not have any players forgo their eligibility to leave early for the NFL draft.
Venables’ Team Now
Fifth-year head coach Brent Venables can finally say that he brought every single player on his roster to Norman, as for the first time since he took over, all of Oklahoma’s rostered players have never played for former head coach Lincoln Riley. Though that number of players was low for the past couple of seasons, the number is now at zero.
In fact, there are only three players on the roster that are left from the 2022 season, Venables’ first at the helm. Linebacker Kip Lewis, long snapper Ben Anderson, and offensive lineman Gunnar Allen are the longest-tenured Sooners in 2026 and only Lewis was part of the 2022 recruiting class that was Venables’ first with the Sooners. Lewis is also the only player on the roster that is gearing up for his fifth-straight spring ball with Oklahoma.
Bigger is Better
Since Venables took over for Riley, one of the biggest priorities has been improving the defense and getting the Sooners bigger and stronger in the trenches to deal with the rigors of the SEC. No position has been a better example of that than defensive tackle.
If you look at the roster for the 2020 season, Riley’s second-to-last at OU, you’ll see that Oklahoma did not have a single defensive tackle that weighed over 300 pounds. Fast forward to the spring of 2026, and the Sooners have three defensive tackles that are over 300 pounds, and four other DTs that weigh at least 290 pounds. There were only three total defensive tackles on the ’20 roster that had hit the 290-pound mark.
For a position group that is replacing two seniors who will be off to the NFL this year, and brings in new, younger faces, that number is down from last fall. However, it’s still a testament to the change in philosophy that has occurred in Norman under Venables. The Sooners finally looked “SEC-ready” last season, and defensive tackle was a big reason why.
Coachin’ Em Up
Oklahoma’s coaching staff has also undergone plenty of shuffling this offseason. Tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley was fired and replaced by Jason Witten. Cornerbacks coach Jay Valai left for a job with the Buffalo Bills and was replaced by LaMar Morgan. Running backs coach DeMarco Murray left for a job with the Kansas City Chiefs and was replaced by Deland McCullough.
Additionally, three in-house analysts received promotions this offseason for Oklahoma. Kevin Wilson is now the assistant head coach for offense. John Kuceyeski is now the quarterbacks coach. Xavier Brewer is now the assistant secondary coach.
Oklahoma also reshuffled the strength staff this offseason. Former strength coach Jerry Schmidt now works in OU’s front office as the elite performance liaison, helping to replace former chief of staff Woody Glass. Replacing Schmidt is his top assistant James Dobson, who is now the director of sports enhancement and strength and conditioning.
Aside from those changes, and other more minor changes within the program (coaching analysts, assistant strength coaches, recruiting personnel, etc.) the rest of the coaching staff under Venables remains the same from last year. Oklahoma returns its play-callers on both defense (Venables) and offense (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle), which should bring stability that wasn’t always present during the last two seasons.
Retention is the Key
Venables and general manager Jim Nagy worked hard to retain some of the team’s best players from last season, and keep them out of both the NFL draft and the portal. While a perfect success rate is impossible, Venables and Nagy retained some of the key guys they set out to bring back.
Lewis’ return is obviously massive, as he’ll anchor the defense and lead the way like the veteran voice he is. No player on the roster has more experience in Venables’ defense than Lewis, as he’s started for two-and-a-half seasons at inside linebacker.
On offense, the returns of wide receiver Isaiah Sategna III and quarterback John Mateer are extremely important. At times last season, they were the offense for the Sooners, and they, along with Lewis, could have jumped to the NFL, but chose to come back. Their ability and chemistry are great to have back for Oklahoma’s offense. You also can’t forget about special teams, where Lou Groza Award winner Tate Sandell returns as one of the best kickers in the country for his final season.
After a trip to the College Football Playoff in 2025, Oklahoma has put a focus on going from “really good” to “great” in 2026. They’ll look to get back to the CFP this year, and maybe make a run at a championship if things fall right. With spring in the air and spring football underway, OU feels like this roster has improved in many ways from last year’s playoff squad. The work the Sooners do over the next few weeks will show up in the fall, when Oklahoma will take the field for real games again.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Takeaways from Oklahoma’s updated spring ball roster
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