When Oklahoma’s offense took the field in 2024, you would’ve been better off doing basically anything else.
Go check the mail? Sure. Clean the baseboards? Absolutely. Bang out some pushups? Why not? Anything that could distract you from what the 2024 OU offense was doing was a better use of your time. That’s not new.
What’s new is, well, almost everything with the Oklahoma offense. Thankfully. And dare I say, the addition of former All-Pac-12 (RIP) running back Jaydn Ott has me believing that Oklahoma is doing everything right in the portal with these offensive moves.
Credit Brent Venables for that.
I won’t credit Venables for benching Jackson Arnold for true freshman Michael Hawkins Jr. before halftime of his first SEC game just 2 months removed from taking him to SEC Media Days as a first-year starter. While I know that Arnold struggled, he also did so with an entirely new offensive line and a receiver room that lost guys by the quarter. But we can save that discussion for a different time.
Venables’ offensive moves have been worthy of praise. A lot of praise.
A defensive-minded head coach clearly understood the sense of urgency by making the bold decision to copy Clark Lea’s plan of poaching an offensive coordinator-quarterback packaged deal. While they might deny that it was framed as a “packaged deal,” all that matters is that’s what Venables got. He got Washington State OC Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer to be the new faces of Oklahoma’s offense. That pairing will have the biggest say in whether OU has a much-needed multi-win improvement to keep Venables around beyond 2025.
While I’m not in the group of people who believe Mateer is proven enough to be one of the top 10 quarterbacks returning in the sport, I applaud what Venables did to ensure that he’ll have coordinator continuity. Mateer might be more of a wild card than some are projecting — PFF had him for 13 turnover-worthy plays when kept clean — but any path to him being an All-SEC quarterback included him benefiting from continuity with Arbuckle. He’ll have that.
He’ll also have a receiver room that lost some key pieces in the portal, but also gained Arkansas receiver Isaiah Sategna and 1,200-yard FCS transfer JaVonnie Gibson. Plus, the return of Deion Burks, who might not be considered a 2025 transfer, was huge after he was expected to be the Sooners’ most valuable 2024 transfer until he got hurt in September. Even if this group doesn’t have the talent that last year’s did, OU’s pass-catchers simply have to be an upgrade because losing the top 5 receivers to injury by the end of September cannot happen in consecutive seasons. It just can’t.
Venables also knew that he couldn’t have as bad of an offensive line as he had in 2024. While it was a unit that started 8 different combinations because of injuries, it also wasn’t set up for success with all the new pieces. Venables’ addition of Western Carolina offensive tackle Derek Simmons — someone who played both tackle spots last year — will help a lot. He didn’t allow a sack, and he had a 2.9% pressure percentage allowed. That’s important for someone like Mateer, who loves to drift to his right and extend plays. Venables addressed the most important area of need on that offensive line, which he said he expects to be the best group he’s had during his tenure.
Offensive line play will dictate whether this group can find the balance that last year’s desperately lacked. It also helps that Venables added someone as proven as Ott in the backfield. Last year at Cal was a lost season due to injuries, but the last time we saw him fully healthy, he was one of the 10 best backs in the sport. In 2023, he was 13th among Power Conference running backs with 59 missed tackles forced, and he was No. 7 in rushing yards after contact (833). Just for a little context, OU’s entire running back room totaled 38 missed tackles forced (Javontae Barnes was the only one with more than 7) and 895 yards after first contact in 2024.
When Ott is right, he’s different than anything on OU’s roster (that includes the late-2023 version of Gavin Sawchuk):
The #Sooners have signed their bell cow back in Cal transfer Jaydn Ott, one of the top RBs in the country. He had an injury-riddled campaign in 2024, but in 2023, he posted:— 1,305 RUSH YDS— 12 RUSH TD— 5.3 YPC— 196 REC YDS— 2 REC TD pic.twitter.com/7lgEKjBEK3
— OUInsider (@OUInsider) April 16, 2025Teams that land an elite running back in the portal do so because they sense urgency. Think 2024 Georgia with Trevor Etienne or 2024 South Carolina with Rocket Sanders. Better yet, think 2024 Ohio State with Quinshon Judkins.
Oklahoma isn’t trying to put together the final pieces for a potential national championship run, but much like Ryan Day, Venables is in a “prove-it” season. The aggressive portal moves reflect that. There was basically a day between Ott’s portal announcement and his commitment to Oklahoma. While some might scoff at tampering and cry foul, what’s clear is that the Sooners are all in. Shoot, the Jim Nagy addition as the team’s general manager reflected that.
Does that mean Venables is about to deliver a unit reminiscent of the 2010s groups?
I wouldn’t bank on that, but yes, I’d like credit from OU fans for not using Lincoln Riley’s name to set the expectation.
At the very least, you can’t accuse Venables of being stubborn. He could’ve attempted to sell Hawkins as OU’s future QB1 while hoping that internal development on offense would be entirely responsible for yielding 2025 improvement. That type of process wouldn’t have been acceptable. Not in this era.
If 2025 is Venables’ last year in Norman, we won’t look back and critique the logic behind his transfer portal moves. He didn’t lose the offseason.
Now all he’s gotta do is just not lose the season that matters.
It might not yield historic numbers, but one can’t help love Oklahoma’s portal moves on offense Saturday Down South.
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