THIS IS WHY Brent Venables Has His BEST Oklahoma Football Roster Ever

There have been many ups and downs during Brent Venables' tenure as Oklahoma's head coach. He had a ton of success learning under head coach Dabo Sweeney at Clemson. During Venable's time with the Tigers, they dominated the ACC and made the College Football Playoff six out of the ten seasons he was with the program. All six playoff appearances were in consecutive seasons from 2015-2020. Four of those seasons were national championship appearances with Clemson winning two of them in 2016 and 2018. 

2022 and 2024 were rough years for Venables. In 2022, Venables had to start practically from scratch after the departure of Lincoln Riley. 2024 began a new era for the Sooners in the SEC. Brent Venables now has the program in a pretty solid spot going into year three in one of college football's premier conferences. 

With Oklahoma reaching the College Football Playoff last season for the first time since 2019, Venables has his best Sooner roster coming into 2026. 

Here's why: 

1. The tight end room is arguably the best it's been since the Sooners had Mark Andrews and Grant Calcaterra back in 2017. Oklahoma had been lacking a solid tight end room since then. While the Sooners have had some decent ones come through such as Brayden Willis, Austin Stogner, and most recently Jared Kanak, they really haven't had much depth. That has changed drastically since the addition of former Dallas Cowboy tight end Jason Witten, who will be taking the reigns as the tight ends coach in 2026. The tight end room is very athletic with Florida transfer Hayden Hansen, a 6'8 redshirt senior. Not only will his SEC veteran presence help improve the Oklahoma offense, but he will add massive height to the projected starting lineup and will be able to help block. The other notable additions to the tight end room include 6'5 redshirt senior Rocky Beers from Colorado State and sophomore Jack Van Dorselaer from Tennessee. Just like Hansen, they will be able to bring a lot of physicality to the offense.

2. The defense will still be elite even with the NFL departures. You know Oklahoma's defensive lineup is stacked when you have guys like the Bowen brothers, David Stone, Jayden Jackson, Taylor Wein, Owen Heinecke, and Kip Lewis returning in 2026. The biggest addition to the defense is Michigan transfer Cole Sullivan who is known as the "linebacker doctor". Sullivan, who is currently not projected to start, will be a major piece in the depth chart. 

3. The coaching staff is only going to do nothing but improve this season. As mentioned earlier, getting the Dallas Cowboy legend in Jason Witten is massive. It will continue to help build on the recruiting side to land more elite tight ends. Despite the turnovers Oklahoma had in its last two games in 2025, the Sooners were starting to see a little improvement on offense. In the 17-13 regular-season finale win over LSU, Oklahoma managed to have 393 total yards of offense. In the playoff loss to Alabama, Oklahoma had 362 total yards compared to 212 total yards during the regular-season matchup. If Arbuckle can start where the offense left off and limit the turnovers, this will boost a ton of confidence for the offensive staff. Lastly, Venables leading the defensive staff will be electric once again. 

4. The offensive line looks legit. Not only is there some valuable production returning, but the depth chart looks deeper. This will help the running game immensely. Redshirt senior Jake Maikkula brings back his veteran presence inside. Arkansas transfer E'Marion Harris is also a redshirt senior which will help Maikkula tremendously. Harris was a huge factor in 2024 for Arkansas as he helped the offense average 459.5 yards per game. You also have Pierre-Louis, Fasusi, and Ozaeta returning on the offensive line. 

5. Mateer has more options at wide receiver. Along with Hansen at tight end, the receiving room has potential NFL talent. The big three for the Sooners will be leading receiver Isaiah Sategna, Texas transfer Parker Livingstone, and Virginia transfer Trell Harris. Harris made third-team All-ACC in his 2025 season with the Cavaliers with 847 receiving yards. Sategna had 67 receptions for 965 yards (14.4 average yards per reception) and eight touchdowns in the 2025 season with the Sooners.