The Oklahoma Sooners may have gone 6-7 last season, but the defense was a shining light on an otherwise depressing first season in the SEC. The defense gave the Sooners a chance, but it didn’t get much help from the other side of the ball.
Much of the discussion about the Oklahoma Sooners this offseason centers on the changes on offense, but a lot of the optimism rests on the defense as well. A defense that allowed just 21.5 points per game last season returns a bevy of key players like Robert Spears-Jennings, Gracen Halton, Jayden Jackson, Damonic Williams, Eli Bowen, Kip Lewis, and R Mason Thomas.
There are high expectations for the Oklahoma defense, particularly for Thomas, whom head coach Brent Venables has seen take strides this offseason.
“I thought R Mason Thomas had his best couple months of ball and leadership – all of it, you know, combined.” Venables said in a press conference back in April. “You know he’s a quiet guy by nature, but I think he took a real step forward … to get out of his comfort zone and raise the level of the players around him.”
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg included Thomas among the top non-quarterback playmakers for 2025.
Although Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman Jr. are off to the NFL, coach Brent Venables can build around players such as Thomas, who showed premier pass-rushing skills last fall. More than half of his total tackles came for losses, and he earned second-team All-SEC honors in his first season as a starter. Thomas became the first Oklahoma player to record three sacks in a game since 2020, and got better as games went along, recording six of his sacks in the fourth quarter. He also had a fumble return for a touchdown and recorded a forced fumble and a sack against LSU. – Rittenberg, ESPN
Thomas came up huge in crunch time for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2024,…
Source link : https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/sooners/football/2025/05/21/oklahoma-sooners-football-r-mason-thomas-espn-rankings/83765158007/
Author :
Publish date : 2025-05-21 13:34:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
