By Charlie Gaasch
The palace on the prairie was filled by 45,000 fans from Sooner nation and an extensive recruiting visitor list on Friday afternoon to watch team 130 take Owen field for the first time. Fans enjoyed the culmination of the hard work the team has put in all spring and found an assortment of takeaways. The offense wore red and the defense white, alternating between first, second, and third team players throughout the duration of the game. It is important to remember that we are still about 130 days until game 1 against the Temple Owls and much work will continue to be done to improve over the course of the following months. However, with that being said, Sooner fans can take away many positive notes from the early debut of the next OU product.
Potentially the most thrilling part of the cloudy Saturday in Norman was the instant connection between blossoming young QB Jackson Arnold and Purdue transfer WR Deion Burks. Burks caught five passes from Arnold, most of them crossing routes over the top middle of the field, totaling 174 out of Arnold’s 233 yards. Burks displayed his speed, agility, and ability to create separation against the admittedly basic defense that was run. The transfer WR had two touchdowns on the day for the red team, each of them had the fans seeing fireworks. One of the touchdowns came extremely early on and was a 64-yard reception and the second was a 50-yard catch. Sooners across the country are reasonably excited about this WR group that adds Burks to an already stacked room that contains a returning Anthony, Farooq once healthy, Anderson, Gibson, Thompson, and more. Arnold will have a plethora of weapons to utilize and tear apart SEC defenses throughout the year. Timing seemed to be an issue for Arnold though, he missed on passes with a couple receivers, completing just 10 for 20 on the day. He appeared comfortable in the new system as well as behind an offensive line that has undergone much scrutiny this offseason. The trust Arnold displayed in the line was a good thing to see however it also did not help the lingering factor of holding onto the ball for too long. This will have to be adjusted over summer as he grows in the Littrell-Finley system.
The offensive line has shown to be a weak spot for this program in spring as the Sooners will be forced to play mostly inexperienced men. Bill Bedenbaugh has had his work cut out for him working with the young group and fortunately, the first team offensive line looked far better than many had originally thought. They handled the defensive line well and permitted a good amount of time for Arnold to get the ball off as previously mentioned. Colorado-raised Joshua Bates showed vast improvements and stood out more than the rest of the group as he showed that he can in fact play at center. Bates also displayed some leadership amongst the group and stood out for a post-whistle incident with Michael Boganowski who dished a slightly late hit. Bates immediately took off to defend his teammate and let the freshman know exactly how he felt and added some fire and leadership to the offense. This did not change the fact that the coaches brough in SMU transfer center Branson Hickman who will immediately take over as starter. Hickman will be an exciting addition to the line and give the group much needed experience and leadership. The first team offensive line improvement is where this stops, however. The second team OL group struggled mightily to provide Mike Hawkins any space in the pocket. Hawkins struggled as a result, panicking as the pocket quickly closed. Sooner fans however got to see Hawkins display his dual threat nature as he scrambled to make something out of nothing. The unfortunate reality is he had to do so more often than not, giving little to see in terms of his down field processing from the pocket. Every so often Hawkins was given slightly more time but still seemed to panic and scramble earlier than he needed to. The second team OL still has much work to do this summer to ensure the next man up does not destroy a season.
The running back room featured an interesting dynamic this spring and continued into Saturday. One consistent word that is heard from practice this offseason has been praise for Kalib Hicks, a red-shirt freshman. Hicks was once feared to be a portal exit but has since stuck around and competed. This spring, he has solidified himself into the rotation as the number two back and I daresay come fall, could even challenge Sawchuk for the starting role. Hicks ran with his hair on fire, giving extreme effort each play. This was highlighted by a 30-yard rush for a TD and a total of 62 yards on the afternoon with 10 carries. Sawchuk, granted a back who breaks down before hitting a hole, did not seem to run as hard each play and appeared a bit slower than expected. He has built plenty of muscle but did not seem to use it as much in the game, rushing for 27 yards on 5 carries including a 1-yard touchdown. Another notable back from the spring game was Sam Franklin, a name that not many OU fans were aware of coming into this offseason. Franklin is a transfer back from the FCS level at the University of Tennessee-Martin where he was widely praised. He came to Oklahoma as a redshirt-junior this spring and used a solid performance at the spring game to enter his name into the conversation with Sawchuk and Hicks. Javontae Barnes was a noticeable absence from the game, and it was initially believed that he would enter the portal. This came as a disappointment to many OU fans who held out hope for Barnes following the end of his 2022 season as a freshman. Fortunately, intel tells the Crimson Captain that Barnes will in fact be staying with the team and the deep group at hand. With Taylor Tatum coming into this position group as well over the summer, it is sure to be entertaining come fall.
The defense overall ran a mostly basic scheme, aside from a couple blitz packages, that did not do much to turn heads during the game. This can be explained away however and there is no reason to panic or worry. There are politics at play in any spring games and there is no point in riling up a fanbase with turnovers and concerns over the offense (See Texas Longhorn QB Quinn Ewers). Brent Venables’ defense is known for accumulating turnovers and OU was a leader of the country last year with Billy Bowman accounting for many of them. The defense simply was not out to take the ball away or be too physical. That is putting aside Michael Boganowski. Boganowski was a freight train running around the field and clearly loves to hit and hit hard, totaling a team high 6 tackles. It became a love-hate relationship for the crowd as these hits are sure to be exciting when landed against the likes of Texas, Tennessee, or Alabama but not so much against the Sooners’ own players. For the game, Bowman and Woodi Washington sat out and allowed for younger players to get some time taking reps against the first team and second team offense instead. The two defensive backs led the white team without pads for the afternoon and there should be no significant concerns on that front. As for the defensive line however, that is where most of the spring game concerns have turned the most. The line is young, inexperienced, and arguably undersized. Freshman Jayden Jackson stood out with Ethan Downs as highlights for the line but overall, it has left both the fan base and coaches wanting for more. David Stone struggled to make a large impact right away which is understandable due to the fact that he is playing 30 pounds heavier and closer to the middle than before. The coaches are in pursuit of DL transfer portal recruits such as Damonic Williams (TCU) and Jermayne Lole (Louisville) both of whom were in attendance for the weekend. Lole has just committed and will land in Norman while Williams will go on to visit other schools before choosing his next spot. Further updates regarding the recruitments can be found on the Crimson Captain discord servers where updates are given frequently in real time. Another interesting element of the spring game was the usage of Dasan McCullough and Sammy Omosigho. McCullough was Venables’ signature cheetah position last year but has since been thrown in the middle more than ever. Omosigho on the other hand has been sliding into the cheetah role often and this will be a noteworthy dynamic to continue to keep eyes on. As good and exciting as the offense seems, the defense will be that much better.
Special teams did not cause much of a stir. It does appear that the kicker spot has not been solved. Keltner appears to be the starter over Schmitt as sources have told me he gave up the job on his own free will this spring. After a 2023 season that featured a wide pool of kick returners, the staff seems to have settled on star safety Peyton Bowen for the spot. He returned nearly all the punts through the third quarter and likely will continue with it into the summer and fall.
Overall, the spring game did the job that it was supposed to. It stirred up the fanbase with conversation mixed with excitement and some worry. The recruits have spoken glowingly about the weekend and the staff has already landed multiple commitments since Saturday, with more to come in the future. Sooner fans should be excited to see the further development through the summer and finally enjoy team 130 as it takes the field for the first year in the SEC. Game one is on Friday, August 30th and Oklahoma can confidently begin counting down the days until football returns to the palace for some Friday night lights.
