College Football

What opposing coaches had to say about the Oklahoma Sooners heading into 2022

What opposing coaches had to say about the Oklahoma Sooners heading into 2022

It’s an odd position to be in if you’re the Oklahoma Sooners, but certainly not an unwelcome one. The Sooners had just one player make the Big 12 media preseason first-team; punter Michael Turk. And the Sooners finished five first-place votes behind defending Big 12 champion Baylor for first place in the preseason poll.

To a man in the Oklahoma Sooners football program, they’ll tell you that none of that matters, and they’d be right. Preseason accolades don’t mean a whole lot in the big scheme of things. But the big takeaway is that this is a program that many expect to be good, but because of the turnover, there’s uncertainty about how good they can be.

And that was reflected in comments made by opposing coaches to Athlon Sports for their 2022 College Football Preview there’s confidence in what Brent Venables and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby can bring to the table, but some uncertainty as to how it will translate in 2022.

Season of Change

Dec 29, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Oklahoma Sooners interim head coach Bob Stoops trades hats with incoming Sooners coach Brent Venables after the 2021 Alamo Bowl against the Oregon Ducks at the Alamodome. Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

The best and most talented program in our league year in and year out, and now they’re dealing with more change than they’ve seen in 20-some odd years. The good news is that most of that is gonna be limited to coaches, not players… — Athlon Sports

They’ve had a ton of turnover and that can’t be understated. On both sides of the football, the Sooners lost a lot of talent. But that shouldn’t slow them down, because the coaching staff, led by Brent Venables, did a fantastic job attacking the transfer portal to fill holes in the depth chart. The Sooners may not be heading into 2022 with as much hype or as many stars as they did in 2021, but that doesn’t mean they can’t achieve the same results or more.

Brent Venables defensive approach

April 23, 2022; Norman; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Brent Venables reacts during the spring game at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Brent Venables is going to bring in a lot of new stuff, new looks and get wild, but he’s going to start with what they do well already. They had a great defensive line, the linebackers were fast and we thought the secondary improved. It’s odd — they actually did more DL movement to create big plays last year than any year before, which is something…

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