The Oklahoma Sooners certainly had a dramatic 2026 quarterback recruitment, but at least it all worked out in the end.
When head coach Brent Venables hired new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle following the conclusion of a .500 regular season in 2024, OU already had a quarterback committed in the 2026 recruiting class. But Arbuckle wanted his own guy to run his offense down the road.
Oklahoma’s 2026 quarterback choice originally started with a different decision, long before Arbuckle came to OU. Last summer, the Oklahoma staff picked Jaden O’Neal over Dereon Coleman, who is now committed to Miami, to headline their 2026 class. Both four-stars leaned toward Oklahoma, but the staff liked O’Neal more than Coleman.
O’Neal was a four-star quarterback from Narbonne High School in California, and he committed to Oklahoma in June of 2024. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound passer committed to Seth Littrell, who was OU’s co-OC/QBs coach at that time. The Sooners locked down a blue-chip prospect two classes away and looked set for O’Neal to be a big part of their future.
Then the 2024 season happened.
Oklahoma’s offense, behind the tandem of Littrell and former starting quarterback Jackson Arnold (now an Auburn Tiger), was a dumpster fire week in and week out. Littrell was fired after seven games, and co-OC/TEs coach Joe Jon Finley was promoted to play-caller with offensive analyst Kevin Johns taking over QB coaching duties on an interim co-OC basis.
But the search for a new OC was officially on. After a 6-7 season, Venables landed on Washington State’s Arbuckle to call the offensive plays in Norman. As for the men he replaces, Littrell is an offensive analyst at Tennessee, Johns is the QBs coach at Oklahoma State, and Finley has been demoted back to only coaching tight ends this season at OU; he’ll no longer serve as a…
Source link : https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/sooners/football/2025/06/28/oklahoma-football-ben-arbuckle-bowe-bentley-jaden-oneal/84310287007/
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Publish date : 2025-06-28 16:20:00
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