The Oklahoma Sooners leaned on the best defense the program had put on the field in 15 years last season, but it ultimately wasn’t enough, as OU sunk to a 6-7 record in their inaugural year in the SEC. An offense that was stuck in the mud was primarily responsible for that, but Oklahoma will need to continue to improve defensively this season, as they face one of the toughest schedules in America.
One area where the Sooners had plenty of success last year was at linebacker. The middle of the defense was all over the field, and not much got by senior Danny Stutsman, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints. It’ll be tough to replace Stutsman’s impact, but there’s plenty of talent that returns to carry the torch.
Former defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Zac Alley departed shortly after the bowl game to take the same role at West Virginia. This move prompted head coach Brent Venables to decide to take full control of the defense for this season. Defense is Venables’ calling card, and coaching linebackers is his specialty. However, he can’t do all of those things and be a head coach at the same time, so he made two hires to coach up the linebackers third this season.
The first was Nate Dreiling, who will coach the inside linebackers. He was briefly the defensive coordinator and then interim head coach at Utah State last season. The other was Wes Goodwin, who replaced Venables as Clemson’s defensive coordinator a few years ago. Goodwin will serve as the assistant linebackers coach and outside linebackers coach in Norman.
With plenty of returning production headlining the linebacker roles, let’s take a look at how the depth chart could shake out for the Sooners in 2025.
Oklahoma 2025 Positional Preview Series
Quarterback
Running Back
Wide Receiver
Tight End
Offensive Line
MIKE Linebacker
Starter: Kobie McKinzie
Kobie McKinzie…
Source link : https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/sooners/football/2025/07/06/oklahoma-sooners-football-kip-lewis-kobie-mckinzie-kendel-dolby-brent-venables/84423504007/
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Publish date : 2025-07-06 21:00:00
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