Are the Oklahoma Sooners better than they were in 2025?
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The Oklahoma Sooners open the 2026 college football season in one week when they welcome the UTEP Miners to Norman for some Friday night lights. This has a chance to be a special team. And that's because of the talent assembled.
There's a belief that this is the best team of the Brent Venables era in Norman. The program did a great job retaining talent off of last year's College Football Playoff team, and they added big-time players via the transfer portal. The starting lineup has a lot of experience on both sides of the ball and emerging players ready to establish themselves as some of college football's best.
So, looking at last year's roster, how does each position group this season compare?
Quarterback – Same (but Yes)
John Mateer is back at quarterback. He was great before the injury. My expectation is he'll have a better year than last year, when he played with less-than-ideal grip strength for seven games after midseason thumb surgery.
Running Back – Yes
The depth chart is mostly healthy, aside from Tory Blaylock, but that puts them in a much better place than they were last year when they had just two healthy running backs and DeMarco Murray was having to take turns in the drills. Xavier Robinson, Lloyd Avant, Jonathan Hatton, DeZephen Walker, and Andy Bass are already good to go for Week 1 with something to prove.
Wide Receiver – Yes
Oklahoma had a productive year at wide receiver led by Isaiah Sategna and Deion Burks. With Sategna's and JerMichael Carter's return, the additions of Trell Harris, Parker Livingstone, and Mackenzie Alleyne, and the emergence of Elijah Thomas and Manny Choice, the Sooners are in a better position at wide receiver than they were a season ago when there were several unknowns on the depth chart.
Tight End – Yes
Yes. Jaren Kanak was a good receiver for Oklahoma but was limited as a blocker because he was undersized for the position. That won't be a problem this year with the additions of Hayden Hansen, Rocky Beers, and Jack VanDorselaer. Also, don't sleep on former four-star Carl Albert product Trynae Washington, who has impressed in training camp. This group is bigger and deeper than it was a year ago.
Offensive Line – Yes
What a difference a year can make. Physical maturation matters, especially for guys like Michael Fasusi, Ryan Fodje, and Jake Maikkula, who were making their first appearances against SEC competition. Fasusi and Fodje have now been through two Oklahoma offseasons in the strength and conditioning program. Maikkula has been through a full year. There's experience up and down the line of scrimmage and they have a true freshman that's come in and taken a spot along the offensive line in Noah Best. This might be the best offensive line of the Brent Venables era.
Defensive Line – We'll See
Taylor Wein, David Stone, and Jayden Jackson are back to lead the way but this is a group that lost a lot of veteran leadership, toughness, and experience with the departures of Gracen Halton, Damonic Williams, R Mason Thomas, and Marvin Jones Jr.
Todd Bates and Miguel Chavis have recruited and developed well. There's a lot of potential in guys like Adepoju Adebawore, Danny Okoye, Nigel Smith, Trent Wilson, Tank Carrington, Jake Kreul, and others, but we have to see them perform on a week-to-week basis as part of the defensive line rotation.
The question isn't if the talent's there. The question is if it's ready.
Linebacker – Yes
Kip Lewis, Owen Heinecke, and Reggie Powers III is a better linebacker/cheetah trio than Kip Lewis, Kobie McKinzie, and Kendal Daniels. Cole Sullivan is an upgrade over McKinzie as well in Oklahoma's linebacker depth.
Cornerback – Yes
Courtland Guillory isn't a true freshman facing SEC wide receivers for the first time. Now he's a cornerback with over 640 collegiate snaps (second on the team in 2025). Combined with Eli Bowen, the Sooners have one of the better cornerback tandems in college football. Jacobe Johnson provides strong veteran depth along with the emerging Trystan Haynes.
What makes this group better than last year is that it's more experienced and better prepared for the rigors of the SEC than it was a year ago.
Safety – We'll See
Last year with Peyton Bowen, Robert Spears-Jennings, and Michael Boganowski as the primary safety trio, the Sooners were really good, and Spears-Jennings provided the veteran leadership. Now that falls to Bowen, and Omarion Robinson takes those third safety snaps.
The upside is higher for this year's group, but it's a bit less certain than it was heading into 2025. It's a playmaking bunch. Bowen is one of the best in the nation, Boganowski will provide some old-school football highlights, and Omarion Robinson is a playmaker on the back end. But it'll be Boganowski's first opportunity to start and Robinson will be getting his biggest snap count yet. Both are really good players, but we've got to see them do it. One thing you can bet on is that Brandon Hall will have them prepared.
Special Teams – Yes
The Oklahoma Sooners bring back the main cast of characters from last year's special teams unit that was so good, especially during their November run. But the return game got a boost with the addition of Lloyd Avant to return kicks. Who knows if they'll return more than the two they did last year, but he'll be more effective when they do.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Are the Oklahoma Sooners better than they were in 2025?
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