Sourced Notes | Junior Day Intel
– Charlie S – Posted on: January 27, 2025
The Sooners held their first junior day of the 2026 cycle this weekend and by all accounts, it was very well received among the attendees.
I spoke to a handful of recruits who were on campus, and by the time I got around to hitting them up, they were already pushing out copy-and-paste reactions filled with the common superlatives for the most part.
Every recruit I spoke with talked about the energy around the coaches and players as well as the familiar acknowledgment of the family vibe that is often talked about when people visit Norman.
I will note that getting to watch the squad workout was a highlight for most of the visitors I touched base with.
I did ask a source if they felt anything was off or missing from the event with the changes that OU is going through (with SOUL mission and front office) and they said they did not notice anything and pretty much the event went off as scheduled. So that was good to hear.
So with all that said, I asked source to name some of the visitors that stood out to them in respect to OU making a big push or improving their standing with said recruit.
***First name source brought up was EDGE KJ Ford. Source said OU clearly made a big move for Ford this week led by Miguel Chavis who not only was able to host Ford this weekend, it sounds like it was a midweek visit from Venables and Chavis that got Ford to make it to Norman this past weekend instead of heading to Austin where he was originally headed. Duncanville does not have a history of being all that kind to OU, but the Sooners seem to be making a concerted effort to change that around as they are very high up on Fords list right now.
***Was also told Chavis really made a big impression on EDGE Kamhariyan Johnson (Muscle Shoals, AL) who was really taken back by the environment in Norman. It was his first trip to OU and he came with his family. It will not be his last trip as right now, source expects Johnson and family to return for an official visit n the summer. Good stuff there, but as you know, pulling a kid from Bama out of Bama will be a battle.
***Source said Bill Bedenbaugh was a big hit with Noah Best (Midlothian, TX) and Pulelei’ite Primus (Midland, TX) among others. I was told Best and Primus looked very comfortable interacting with Coach B and they were clearly focused on everything he was talking about as they watched the workouts and Coach B was offering technical advice. Source said they looked like a couple of his players who were just sidelined for the session instead of being out there working out with the way they were interacting with Bedenbaugh. Definitely two guys who will be featured prominently on the Big Boards at OL.
***Finishing up this batch of notes, source pointed to Emmett Jones making some nice impressions on a pair of receivers in particular in Daniel Odom (Bellflower, CA) and Aljour Miles (Kaufman, TX). Source believes OU has a very good chance of securing additional visits from the pass catchers and their size (6’2 and 6’3 respectively) has them right at the top of the Sooners wish list. These guys will also be high on the list of the Big Boards and source said they believe OU should be considered the leader for Miles at this time.
We will have more sourced notes from the visit weekend coming up this week.
Quick-Hitter | KJ Ford
– Super K – Posted on: January 28, 2025
Just want to follow up one what Charlie mentioned about 2026 4-star DE, KJ Ford.
It does sound like the Sooners made a great impression on him this past weekend.
I did touch base with him and he is setting up an official to Oklahoma this summer. I was told by someone close to him to expect more visits, so, it’s a little premature to trend this one but right now the point is to get to the next step – making sure these players come back for OVs.
Step one has been accomplished.
Look Ahead | 2025 Cornerback Room
– Charlie S – Posted on: January 28, 2025
With the 2024 season in the books and most of the winter portal work done, it is time to look ahead to the 2025 season.
I will go through the position rooms one by one and note who left, who remains, and who is coming in.
Obviously, the spring transfer portal window can and will have an impact on some of the rooms, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Previous looks ahead:
Today we look at the Cornerback room
Who is out:
Dez Malone – 6’0 203 – 72.8 PFF rating – 169 snaps
Woodi Washington – 5’11 191 – 53.1 PFF rating – 356 snaps
Kani Walker (portal) – 6’2 206 – 1 year of eligibility – 59.2 PFF rating – 424 snaps
Makari Vickers – 6’1 187 – 3 years of eligibility – 53.3 PFF rating – 9 snaps
Jayden Rowe – 6’2 221 – 3 years of eligibility
Who returns:
Gentry Williams – 6’0 187 – 2 years of eligibility – 52.7 PFF rating – 17 snaps
Eli Bowen – 5’9 187 – 3 years of eligibility – 81.9 PFF rating – 510 snaps
Jacobe Johnson – 6’2 202 – 3 years of eligibility – 49.2 PFF rating – 237 snaps
Jeremiah Newcombe – 5’9 181 – 4 years of eligibility – 69.3 PFF rating – 20 snaps
Devon Jordan – 5’11 187 – 4 years of eligibility – 67.6 PFF rating – 42 snaps
Kendel Dolby – 5’11 190 – ½ years of eligibility – 76.9 PFF rating – 94 snaps
Who is coming in:
Courtland Guillory – 6’0 175 – 4 years of eligibility
Trystan Haynes – 6’2 175 – 4 years of eligibility
Maliek Hawkins – 6’0 180 – 4 years of eligibility
Outlook:
Nobody is going to cry about the guys OU lost to the portal and those who exhausted their eligibility.
Jay Valai and the Sooners have plenty of talent in the room heading into the 2025 season, but that talent needs to stay healthy and continue to develop.
True freshman Eli Bowen took over the CB1 crown last season as his play put many of the upperclassmen on the bench or competing for time opposite him. Bowen was the Sooners best cover corner and he was very good in run support despite his size disadvantage.
Oklahoma could really have quite a pairing if Gentry Williams comes back and can stay healthy in the 2025 season. Williams has the physical tools to be an early-round draft choice, he just needs to be able to be on the field more.
Behind those two at the top you have some really talented young guys. Jacobe Johnson has the physical tools to be an outstanding corner, but he has yet to show any consistency at the position and it didn’t help when OU decided mid-season to split his practice reps with the offensive side of the ball. Johnson never really was a factor on offense (shocking, I know), and right now he is penciled in to be a cornerback full-time once again.
One interesting guy who I have listed in the corners room right now is Kendel Dolby who had a breakout season two years ago at Cheetah (inside corner really). With the addition of Kendal Daniels and the potential emergence of guys like Mike Boganowski, Sammy Omosigho, Reggie Powers, and others at Cheetah, we believe there is a good chance that Dolby gets more run outside at corner, which would be a good thing for OU as he is very good in coverage and we know he is physical to support the run.
Jeremiah Newcombe and Devon Jordan each got their feet wet last year and they will be more likely to compete for playing time this season as the room cleared out above them somewhat.
I am really looking forward to hearing about and seeing Courtland Guillory in the winter and spring as I think he has a chance to make an immediate impact in the room.
Haynes has a ton of talent but he is a bit raw right now and I am not sure Hawkins will stick in the CB room as I could see him moving over to safety at some point.
The Sooners were looking for an established corner in the winter portal and they were not able to get the guy they wanted. I expect them to be active in the spring portal for at least one high-end true corner and they may be in a position to take two transfers in total in the spring at corner if they are the right guys.
I like the talent in the room, this is the year we need to see the development come through.
Look Ahead | 2025 Safety Room
– Charlie S – Posted on: January 29, 2025
With the 2024 season in the books and most of the winter portal work done, it is time to look ahead to the 2025 season.
I will go through the position rooms one by one and note who left, who remains, and who is coming in.
Obviously, the spring transfer portal window can and will have an impact on some of the rooms, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
Previous looks ahead:
Today we look at the Safety room:
Who is out:
Billy Bowman – 5’10 194 – 76.9 PFF rating – 745 snaps
Erik McCarty (portal) – 6’1 186
Who returns:
Robert Spears Jennings – 6’1 219 – 2 years of eligibility – 78.7 PFF rating – 599 snaps
Peyton Bowen – 6’0 199 – 2 years of eligibility – 58.1 PFF rating – 394 snaps
Michael Boganowski – 6’2 214 – 3 years of eligibility – 59.6 PFF rating – 68 snaps
Jaydan Hardy – 5’11 185 – 3 years of eligibility – 71.3 PFF rating – 58 snaps
Reggie Powers – 5’11 211 – 3 years of eligibility – 90.1 PFF rating – 21 snaps
Kendel Dolby – 5’11 190 – 1-2 years of eligibility – 76.9 PFF rating – 94 snaps
Who is coming in:
Omarion Robinson – 6’0 171 – 4 years of eligibility
Marcus Wimberly – 6’1 200 – 4 years of eligibility
Maliek Hawkins – 6’0 180 – 4 years of eligibility
Outlook:
Losing an all-American level player like Billy Bowman is never easy to overcome for any room, but the Sooners are positioned well to make the transition as they have a ton of talent returning, both experienced and new.
Sooners safety coach Brandon Hall will seek to replace Bowman and he has a lot of very good options to choose from.
You can pencil in Robert Spears Jennings as a starter at one spot and you may as well go ahead and write in Peyton Bowen in the spot vacated by Billy Bowman as Bowen has been working for the last two years as Bowman’s primary backup.
Bowen has a higher ceiling than Bowman (Billy Bowman has said as much) and it will be all about staying healthy and staying focused for Bowen who will finally get his chance to shine.
Both Spears Jennings and Bowen are leaders on the field and they will be tasked with holding off some very talented young guys in the room as Jaydan Hardy, Michael Boganowski, and Reggie Powers were able to get their feet wet last year and they will be looking to make a jump.
Hardy is a guy who will likely push the hardest for increased reps as he displayed a knack to be around the ball on just about every opportunity he got last year.
Boganowski and Powers will see some reps at Cheetah (I believe) and they will work their way into the safety rotation as well.
Looking at the newcomers, you have a very underrated and talented Omarion Robinson as a guy who could make an immediate impact both on defense and on special teams. I’m gonna go ahead and predict no redshirt for Robinson off the rip, should he stay healthy of course.
I suspect Marcus Wimberly is a candidate for a redshirt, but he has drawn some really positive reviews from sources early on in regard to his work ethic and dedication, so he may turn out to be an impactful special teams contributor when all is said and done.
I included Kendel Dolby (will play some cheetah) and Maliek Hawkins in both the safety room and the corners room and while I think it is likely that Dolby sees more time at CB than Cheetah this year (I could be wrong, a lot depends on what OU does in the portal at CB in the spring), I think it is the opposite with Hawkins as I think he is a natural safety as opposed to CB for the Sooners. We will see.
One thing is for certain, OU is not lacking talent in the safety room. They did lose a very good player and an important leader in Billy Bowman, but the talent level didn’t take a massive hit and they have some guys that could make this a very successful transition to life post-Bowman.
Look Ahead | 2025 Defense Confidence Rankings
– Charlie S – Posted on: January 30, 2025
Now that I have dropped all the ‘Look Ahead’ write-ups on the defensive side of the ball, I thought it would be interesting to read your thoughts on which rooms you have the most confidence in and which rooms you have the least confidence in.
You can find all the write-ups here, just click the link:
Here is how I rank my confidence in the rooms from top to bottom.
In order of confidence:
1. Interior Defensive Line – If there is one position group on the defensive side of the ball with a clear 2-deep filled with future NFL players, it is absolutely the interior defensive line room. Williams, Halton, Jackson, and Stone all look to have NFL futures and each has the ability to change the game on any given play. Could still use one more experienced body in the spring portal, but this room is likely to be among the best IDL rooms in the conference and the entire country.
2. Safety – This second spot on my confidence list was a toss-up between Safety and Linebacker and I went with the safety room in large part because the ceilings of the projected starting pair (RSJ, Bowen) are higher (IMO) than the ceilings of the projected starting linebackers. RSJ and Bowen have the talent to be All-American type safeties. After them, the room is stacked with top-level physical talent who have some experience and very high ceilings as well. Just need to lock in that consistency and this room could be a real force.
3. Linebacker – The loss off Danny Stutsman will be a challenge to overcome for the backer room, both on and off the field. Stutsman was the unquestioned leader of not only the defense, but the entire team at OU. Adding Kendal Daniels to the mix will help fill the talent void left by Stutsman and Kip, Kobie, Sammy, and Jaren have a ton of talent, we just have to see it play out on the field as in the past, when Danny was not out there, sometimes things went off the track. Again, lots of talent in this room, just need to put it on the field on game day. This room could easily be the second best room on the defense if things go as planned.
4. EDGE – OU scored a huge win in the retention game with R Mason Thomas locked in for another year at OU, however, filling the snaps lost from Ethan Downs, Trace Ford, and Caiden Woullard will require some of the young guys stepping up, and we really have not seen any signs of breaking out from that group which includes PJ Adebawore, Taylor Wein, Nigel Smith, Wyatt Gilmore and Danny Okoye. That list of EDGE players is very, very talented, but they need to make that jump. OU brought in Marvin Jones Jr and he likely will be the starter (initially) opposite of RMT and he could have a breakout year as well. Bottom line, lots of talent in this room, need to see development.
5. Corner – Pretty simple here once again…if Gentry Williams gets and stays healthy, OU has a very, very good set of corners as Eli Bowen will likely continue to develop. There are a ton of very good athletes in the room who have size, speed, and length, but far too often we saw mental busts from this room in the past. There is absolutely a path that leads to OU having one of the better CB rooms in the SEC…but that path includes taking a jump in production, staying healthy, and simply developing at a higher clip. OU needs fewer busts and more consistency out of this group.
Interested to read how you rank your confidence in the rooms on the defensive side of the ball ahead of spring ball!
Big Board | Quarterbacks | 2026
– Charlie S – Posted on: January 30, 2025
Time to start rolling out the class of ’26 Big Boards.
We will start with the Quarterback board.
The Sooners have extended 9 offers at this point at Quarterback in the ’26 class:
Quarterback: (9)
Jaden O’Neal – Narbonne (Harbor City, CA) – 6’3 200 *OU Commit
Bowe Bentley – Celina (Celina, TX) – 6’2 200 *Ben Arbuckle offer
Faizon Brandon – Grimsley (Greensboro, NC) – 6’3.5 197
Jared Curtis – Nashville Christian School (Nashville, TN) – 6’4 225
Noah Grubbs – Lake Mary (Lake Mary, FL) – 6’4 188
Jonas Williams – Lincoln-Way East (Frankfort, IL) – 6’1.5 200
Dereon Coleman – Jones (Orlando, FL) – 6’1 170
Tait Reynolds – Queen Creek (Queen Creek, AZ) – 6’2 210
Legend Bey – North Forney (Forney, TX) – 5’9.5 180
Commits at this time: 1
Jaden O’Neal
Number of commits OU is looking to take out of high school: 1 maybe 2
Jaden O’Neal committed to the Oklahoma Sooners back on June 24th, 2024. He chose the Sooners over a couple dozen other programs and is one of the most highly coveted quarterbacks in the 2026 Class. O’Neal is considered one of the most polished passers in the class and has tremendous mechanics at this point of his career.
O’Neal originally committed to OU while Seth Littrell was the offensive coordinator and he stayed committed to OU through the tumultuous 2024 season, the firing of Seth Littrell, and the interim period when Joe Jon Finley was in charge of the offense. Once Ben Arbuckle came on board as the new OC, O’Neal didn’t blink and he has remained one of the more vocal Sooners commits in quite some time as he has continued to recruit for the Sooners (see WR Daniel Odom’s commit as evidence).
Now, with all that said, Ben Arbuckle was hired on December 2nd. He brought his quarterback from Washington State, John Mateer with him, and Mateer will be in town for a possible two-year stint. OU also added Cole Gonzales from the portal and signed Jett Niu in the 2025 class. Mike Hawkins is the lone holdover for the Sooners from the previous regime and he currently has 3 years of eligibility left.
On January 24th, Arbuckle extended an offer to Bowe Bentley out of Celina, Texas. Bentley is on record as calling the OU offer his ‘dream offer’ and he is scheduled to visit on February 1st. It is not a stretch to say if OU pushes, they have a very, very good chance of landing Bentley.
I do not view the Bentley offer as a ‘backup’ plan for Arbuckle and the Sooners. This is a legit offer to a kid who is rocketing up the rankings (offer wise at least) and he is a really good fit for what Arbuckle wants to do offensively. I have been told that OU would be more than open to take two QBs this class and they appear to be pursuing Bentley in earnest.
As I mentioned previously, we have a source at a Big 12 program who likes Bentley more than O’Neal as a prospect for Oklahoma. Nobody is saying Bentley is the accomplished passer that O’Neal is at this point, but his mobility and improvisation abilities are something that folks recognize and believe would be a great fit for the Sooners.
I would love to say I think OU can walk the tightrope and bring both QBs into the fold in the same class. I just do not know that I can say I believe that would be the outcome at the end of the day as QB is the most coveted position out there and chances are slim that two high-level QBs end up in the same class. I am not saying it cannot be done, but I am saying it is not very common.
We will know in the very near future just how hard the Sooners will push on Bentley. OU hosted Jaden O’Neal and his family last week and they are still saying all the right things and are actively recruiting for OU (again, see the Daniel Odom commitment). There is a path to bringing them both in, we will see if OU can walk down that path.
