Spring Practice Preview: Offense

By Charlie Gaasch

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As winter workouts roll on for the Oklahoma Sooners, eyes are beginning to shift to the upcoming spring practices that are slated to begin next month. This offseason is potentially the most consequential one for the program to date or at least in recent memory. The program is heading into their first season in the SEC, and they will be baptized in fire with one of if not the hardest schedules in the entire country. As anyone who has been involved with football to any extent knows, what is done now will directly impact the season in its entirety. There can be no days off and the room for error is nonexistent. This pressure is what Sooners are built for and they will be prepared under Coach Venables’ direction. But the question is what exactly do we want to see in spring ball to feel comfortable heading into the season?

 OU’s 130th team will be their first SEC team and they must be prepared as such. The SEC is going to feature more talented teams all around and will be faster, stronger competition than OU has faced before. With all due respect, having Iowa State on the schedule in the middle of the year is a far smaller task than Tennessee. The athletes that are distributed throughout the SEC are far better and more consistent than the Big 12 and the Sooners must ensure they are prepared to fight every single week. Legendary Coach Schmidt is one of the biggest offseason assets that the program has and he will oversee the training for the team as always. Players have already begun discussing the fact that Schmidt has ramped up the workouts and brought greater intensity than ever before. That may be mind boggling for many who know the depth of what Coach Venables refers to as a “Schmitty workout.” There is something brewing not just in Coach Schmidt’s office. Urgency is highly present in the Sooners’ building and the players need to put forth the effort to grow stronger, faster, and overall greater athletes than ever no matter the position. While the whole team works towards those goals, there are many things we hope to see as they work amongst their own position rooms this spring.

Quarterbacks

The quarterback room for the Sooners features some departures and some newcomers, but the star of the show is the returning sophomore, Jackson Arnold. Dillon Gabriel will always have his place at OU, but he left for a reason and Arnold is just that. Jackson Arnold is used to being the man. He was a composite five-star recruit, Gatorade national player of the year, and the Elite 11 finals MVP. His freshman year behind Gabriel provided him time to adapt to college without the immediate pressure of being the next QB to win the Heisman at OU. That pressure is here now and it’s time for Arnold to face it head on. With Gabriel gone, this is Jackson’s offense, his team. He needs to be a vocal and visible leader for the guys around him, many of whom are also young. Arnold on the field has to work on not forcing the ball where it doesn’t belong. Doing so cost him a few turnovers in the Alamo Bowl against Arizona. That is a part of the transition from high school to college as defensive backs are quicker and smarter at the next level. Field vision also is a room for improvement for the young QB. Scanning the field with less panic and higher composure will allow Arnold to make better decisions as he can see the positions of each defender. Fortunately, those are things that can be learned, his composure and resilience that he showed in the bowl game, cannot. Casey Thompson, an incoming veteran QB transfer can help with this by working with Arnold to learn the offense thoroughly. That will be his exact role: to prepare Arnold the best he can. For Michael Hawkins, the incoming freshman, he will get his chance to do what Arnold did this past year, adjust to college and find comfort in his quieter role.

Running Backs 

Potentially the most interesting group from the 2023 season, the running backs group took some hits in the transfer portal but kept the one that counted. For much of the season, OU simply did not have an identity when it came to the ground game. Marcus Major, Tawee Walker, Javontae Barnes, and Gavin Sawchuk split carries in an attempt to find the guy who would eventually stand out. Sawchuk would end up being the feature back by the end of the year and create an identity that the team desperately needed. He returns to OU as a redshirt sophomore with junior Javontae Barnes who did not receive as many carries at the end of the year as he would have liked due to injury. Fan favorite Tawee Walker exits for Wisconsin and Marcus Major for Minnesota. Sawchuk will head into the spring with expectation to continue what he created at the end of 2023. He finished the season with five straight games of 100+ yards rushing. Traditionally, Sawchuk has been seen as a shifty and speedy back who is patient and waiting for holes to open. Towards the end of the season, he showed flashes of being able to run harder and absorb hits while breaking heavier tackles. If Sawchuk can work on bringing that into his game while keeping his patient mentality, he could be elite across the board. Getting him involved in the pass game more could be exciting as well but he is already an incredibly strong pass blocker so it wouldn’t hurt to keep him there to protect Arnold. As for Barnes, he simply needs to get healthy. The 2022 season showed what he could be but 2023 was disappointing as he worked to even be on the field. Lastly, OU brings in two freshmen to the group: Taylor Tatum and Xavier Robinson. Tatum is the top running back recruit in his class but required surgery on his hand to finish high school. Health is the top priority for spring but once he is there, patience is something to work on. He is generally decent in patience but can get too hurried in urgent spots in a game. Robinson is a big back at 6’2 and 220 lbs. Because of his size, he struggles to stay low when getting the ball and this limits his cuts. Despite running track, it would be nice to see Robinson add to his speed as well. 

Wide Receivers

There is an argument to be made that the Oklahoma wide receiver room is the deepest in the country. The only significant loss at the position this offseason is Drake Stoops who is headed to the league. The team returns Nic Anderson, Jalil Farooq, Andrel Anthony, Jayden Gibson, and Brenen Thompson, all the while adding Deion Burks from Purdue to the room. Starting with the newcomer, Burks is a shifty receiver who impressed last year with route running and his visible bulk. A piece to work on is his vertical routes as he showed flashes of speed potential in that respect, but it was not consistent enough to be considered an asset yet. Red River hero and freshman All-American, Nic Anderson will likely have an expanded role after his breakout year. Anderson became a favorite deep threat of Dillon Gabriel and racked up almost 800 yards this past year. While largely impressive, there were games where his production fell off such as Kansas. If his deep threat ability is eliminated by a defense, Anderson will need to find new ways to produce for the offense this spring. Route running techniques and learning to find more space on shorter route designs can make a difference. He replaced the injured Anthony who continues to rehab his knee this spring and works to return to the field where he will hopefully return to form. Before his season-ending injury, Anthony was OU’s leading receiver, and he can immediately be that man again should he heal properly in the spring. Farooq returning came as a slight but welcome surprise. As one of the older players in the room, Farooq needs to step up as a leader and give Arnold a consistent and reliable fallback man this spring. Building trust and leadership through his game will allow the offense to flow smoothly through a familiar face. Jayden Gibson this spring needs to leave the coaches asking why they didn’t give him the ball more in 2023. He showed excellent flashes but only had 13 receptions, five of those being touchdowns. There is no simple reason for the lack of touches other than depth. This room is once again deep, and Gibson needs to shine in the spring to prevent a repeat of 2023. Finally, Brenen Thompson will wrap this portion up just as he wrapped this last season up in the bowl game. His bowl showing was impressive and showed that there is certainly chemistry with Jackson Arnold. Thompson’s goal this spring should be to build on that chemistry and be a reliable receiver for Arnold to weaponize.

Tight Ends 

The tight end room for OU in 2023 was abysmal and the spring must provide improvements for co-OC Joe Jon Finley’s group. Bauer Sharp and Jake Roberts from Southeastern Louisiana and Baylor respectively are transfers who were not present for last year’s mess. They both seem to be a significant upgrade from Austin Stogner and Blake Smith in both receiving and blocking. Kade McIntyre, Josh Fanuiel, and Kaden Helms all return to the Sooners from last year. McIntyre struggled with an injury for nearly all season long and assuming he is now healthy, he must work to return to the receiving success he was expected to be with Coach Finley. Fanuiel is set to play just his second season of football since middle school this year and needs to prove this spring that he is capable of being more than just a basketball player. Like McIntyre, Kaden Helms also dealt with an injury throughout the season and did not see the field. He saw three games in the year prior, his freshman year, and only had one reception for four yards. This spring is an opportunity for Helms to rise amidst the chaos of the tight end group and prove why he belongs as a Sooner. Lastly, the most exciting prospect for the tight end room this year is four-star recruit Davon Mitchell. Mitchell is a large target who will likely see a lot of the field in his first collegiate year. Overall, this room needs discipline and competition this spring. Amongst the five, they must push each other to prove that having a tight end on the field is not a waste of one of the eleven required players like it was for much of last year.

Offensive Line 

The Oklahoma offensive line under Coach Bill Bedenbaugh is the single largest question mark for the Sooners heading into spring. Four of the five linemen are departing for the NFL, while the other is headed for Columbia, MO. What is needed this spring is an establishment of positions amidst the many battles and a clear identity to start summer camps. There are no specific improvements that are needed here as everyone is stepping into a new role and needs to establish the entirety of their position. Each player needs to be open to Bedenbaugh’s direction and be willing to try new things. It will be incredibly difficult as they work to create an entire new group and one that will be the determining factor for success in the SEC for the Sooners. Early on in winter, it seems that Troy Everett will take over as center for OU, though he has played snaps at guard. Transfer addition Febechi Nwaiwu from North Texas boosts the line as he can and will most likely play at guard while also being capable of being a tackle. Another potential guard is incoming freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis. Pierre-Louis is large yet speedy, having run track in high school. He likely could add a good element of a power G scheme for the Sooners. While he needs work on technique, he could possibly get playing time as a freshman. All this interior offensive line potential was bolstered by Washington transfer Geirean Hatchett. Hatchett adds veteran support into a group that is seeking identity, and he will likely be a player who can make an immediate impact. Jacob Sexton looks to make the move to left tackle. While Guyton went down with an injury, Sexton filled in and played decently but needs refining. There are still many question marks, and this is a lot of guesswork but with an incoming class that adds young depth, combined with players ready to step in after waiting, Bill Bedenbaugh likely feels more comfortable than the vast majority of the fanbase. This position group will take patience in the spring and needs to wind up with a plan that can build chemistry together heading into 2024.

The offense has the opportunity to make large leaps forward this year in their growth so long as the offensive line comes together. The youthfulness of the offense is exciting in potential whereas the defense is where the seniority lies on the team, returning 79 percent of their 2023 production.