THE Oklahoma Early enter spring ball looking to build on a 10-2 regular season and a College Football Playoff appearance in 2025. It’s a new challenge this year as Oklahoma welcomes a number of new faces to the roster and coaching staff to improve on their first-round playoff exit.
One of the challenges is revamping the roster and growing it. Oklahoma lost a key number of offensive and defensive players, and the Sooners’ depth will be tested in 2026.
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For Venables, that’s the biggest question heading into spring.
“You look and compare apples to apples, you have a little more experience coming back on offense,” Venables said. “But the challenge is even on the offensive side…the bottom on both sides of the ball, and how quickly can we, can we raise that floor? I think that’s ultimately going to be what defines this football team, and I can’t wait to see that. You know, how quickly can we close that gap? How quickly can we get these guys to play closer to a one, even if they don’t become, ultimately, a one? How quickly can we get our two to play more as one?”
Venables said last year, by the end of the summer, Oklahoma’s second-team players were playing a lot more like the first-team players. If there was a gap, it was tiny. This year, that is not the case. And of course no.
Losing Gracen Halton, R Mason Thomas, Damonic Williams and Marvin Jones, Jr. to the NFL would hurt the depth chart of any defensive line, even one that features the returns of Taylor Wien, Jayden Jackson and David Stone.
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But where Oklahoma’s depth may lack on defense, it has made up for on the offensive side of the ball, where the Sooners report more starts than Venables’ defense.
Development is the name of the game. Oklahoma needs to be better than last year, especially on offense, where it finished 79th in the nation in scoring. But that development needs to happen along the defensive line, where PJ Adebawore and Danny Okoye are expected to play important roles. Or at linebacker, where the losses of Sammy Omosigho, Kobie McKinze and Owen Heinecke mean James Nesta, Taylor Heim and Marcus James need to step up and be ready to be a part of the rotation.
The Sooners hope many of these probing questions will be answered this spring. Venables was pleased with the work the team did in the offseason training program, but now it’s time to take it to the practice field and begin the process of building on a foundation for the Sooners’ success in 2025.
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This article was originally published on Sooners Wire: Depth a key question for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2026
