Andy & Ari On3 - Oklahoma preview: What does SUCCESS look like for Sooners in 2025?

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

Happy Monday! It's vacation week for Andy & Ari, but we have 5 great shows coming your way this week. While on vacation, we'll introduce you to some of our great time sites, and this week, we start with the Oklahoma Sooners. Joining us from SoonerScoop.com are Eddie Radosevich and George Stoia, and we dive deep into the Sooners ahead of this year. Will Brent Venables make a BIG jump in year 3 in Norman? How will John Mateer really be? Find out everything you need to know on the Oklahoma Sooners now! More on the Oklahoma Sooners here: https://www.on3.com/teams/oklahoma-sooners/ (0:00-1:32) Intro(1:33-7:52) Eddie Radosevich and George Stoia join(7:53-18:15) John Mateer in Norman(18:16-21:26) Success is what in 2025 for OU?(21:27-27:14) How will the lines of scrimmage be for Oklahoma?(27:15-30:44) Impact of Jim Nagy hire(30:45-35:05) Was Jackson Arnold given a fair shot?(35:06-37:21) Year 1 Review of being in the SEC37:22-38:08) Wrapping Up Want to watch the show instead? Join us LIVE on YouTube, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] 

Welcome to Andy and Ari on Monday and a little bit different week here at Andy and Ari on three. Ari and I take a little vacation, but you know we wouldn't leave you without shows. We are going to be introducing you to some of the teams that you'll be watching in college football in 2020. Some of the most interesting teams through the lens of our team side experts at On3. So Ari, starting today with the Oklahoma Sooners, a team that you are very high on.

Yeah, Oklahoma is a confusing program right now to me, much like USC was, but Oklahoma, I feel like everybody has just like left for dead. I think everybody in college football takes what happened last season and thinks that that's just what's true forever. And it just like, if you actually zoom out and look at how much injury that they were subjected to and the fact that their entire roster is decimated, the fact that Oklahoma has been good every year since I was like, conceived, and even before that, like it's probably a pretty safe bet that they're

gonna be pretty good. Not to mention they got the most influential transfer in the portal with quarterback John Matier. I am pretty high on Dion Burks the receiver, Ben Arbuckle's call and plays. Like I think that there's a lot to like about the team especially because you just know that Brent Venables is gonna have a good defense. Like thinking they're gonna stink like they they did last year, I think is a really stupid thing to think. But we'll have our friends here explain this to me and tell me if they think I'm nuts. But I think they're going to agree with me.

Well let's bring in the experts. So we got Eddie Rudossovich and George Sawyer, the third from Sooner Scoop, which is it. Listen, if you're not, if you're an Oklahoma fan and you're not subscribed to Sooner Scoop already, what are you even doing? Like get off the Schneid, subscribe to Sooner Scoop, best Oklahoma community, that message board and the best Oklahoma coverage from these guys right here. How are we doing guys? Gentlemen, uh, doing well. I think that there's a lot of, uh, thunder on the brain for a lot of people with the NBA finals, but, uh, it's going well. And it's really weird coming out of spring. I think this was one of the things that we talked about the most, like coming out of

post spring was the fact that there's positive momentum for Oklahoma right now, it seems on the football field. And I don't think that they've really done anything on a field quite yet to get that honor. But at the same time for a team coming off of a six and seven season for the second time in three years and so many questions around Brent Venables and the tenure in Norman, it's odd right now. What did you say? It's probably the most intriguing team in Norman in a long time.

And I've said this on our show, guys, several times. It's probably the biggest season for the program in 20 some years. And I know that's maybe cliche to say, but it's true when you talk about the jobs that are on the line this season, the toughest schedule in the country, maybe the toughest schedule in program history, at least going back several decades. And then all the new names, new faces that they've brought in here to basically turn this thing around from what was a disaster a year ago. It just feels like in terms of teams that are going to be fun to watch this year and see, is it going to be great and everything work out? Or is it going to implode? I think Oklahoma is one of those teams to watch. Andy, you know what I have a hard time with is that I feel like Oklahoma has

the hardest schedule in the history of college football for anyone. It's the hardest last seven games. I've never seen anything like it before my entire life. And the hardest thing for me with Oklahoma is that people will say, they're gonna stink again because they're just gonna be trapped with last year. But the record might not be that much better, but it's not because they didn't get better. And I hope that Oklahoma fans come into the season, understanding that you can make strides and be a much better football team with a lot to like

without having to make the playoff. Because like, I don't know who, who would have that schedule that I would be like, that's a lot to make the playoff anyway. Like that's just an impossible. Like you have to, the context of their season cannot get lost because they are also dealt a pretty crappy hand in terms of what they're being facing with their schedule, right? But they did overhaul almost everything. And that's what Eddie and George, I want to talk to you about this because you have new coordinators on both sides of the ball.

Although Brent Venables is the defensive coordinator for, for, you know, all intents and purposes, but Ben Arbuckle, you know, 29 year old wonder can comes in from Washington state. He brings John material, the quarterback, uh, they've got a new GM and Jim Nagy. This, it feels like this whole organization is structurally different now. Yeah, 100%. And I think that it started from the top down. I mean, the restructuring of what they've been doing with the front office. And I know that George talked about it coming out of spring meetings down in Destin a week ago, just in terms of, I think there are a lot of programs that are looking at what Oklahoma's doing. And if it works out, that

could be a model that a lot of teams follow. But I think, like, wouldn't you say that Brent had to do a lot of, like, self-reflection coming out of this last, you know, third year when things didn't go well? A lot of the decisions that he made did not work out promoting Seth Littrell, the Jackson-Ornold situation that, you know, turned out to be one of the worst offenses that Oklahoma's put on a field in the modern era of Oklahoma football. They had to really kind of change some things. And I don't think it's like a last ditch effort by any means, but there is a lot of momentum when you do bring in Ben Orbuckle,

a better vision, I think offensively and what they wanna be able to do. And certainly in the limited amount of time that we've been able to talk to Ben Orbuckle, super impressive. You can see why he was highly recommended at 29 years old. It's just going to be a, there's a lot of boxes that are going to have to be checked if they can really pull themselves out and get this offense going. Yeah. And I think for Brent this off season, he's not that it's a change of mindset, but he's basically put all his chips in on, you know, retaining guys.

He told me that down in Destin. That was their number one priority was retaining their best players are Mason Thomas, Kip Lewis, Robert Spears, Jennings, some of the best players other than Danny Stutzman and Billy Bowman who were out of eligibility, keeping those guys on the defensive side of the ball and then taking the reins. Like before the whole Jim Knowles stuff went down, the plan was for Brent to take over when Zach Alley left for West Virginia. Brent said, I'm going to just take over. Obviously, if you can get Jim Knowles, that would be great. It didn't work out. They weren't able to pay him, you know, whatever the ungodly amount of money it was that he took from Penn State.

But then you look on the offensive side and they prioritize getting guys that have been healthy, especially at wide receiver and productive. I know that I don't know if we'll get into all the details of all the wide receivers they've added, but they've added seven guys To the wide receiver room They lost six to the transfer portal and two of those seven that they brought in are true freshmen that they believe can play but five guys from you know, really smaller schools other than Isaiah Sotania and they feel like those guys can be Extremely productive for him and then also adding a guy like Jay to not

in the spring portal at running back. I feel like that gave them a big boost. So they feel, I mean, they've totally overhauled on offense and even the offensive line guys, they bring back several, I think it was six guys that started at least four games a year ago on the offensive line and they had 10 different starting offensive line units in 13 games,

but they feel like they are bringing back some good experience, some young guys, and they also bring in obviously five star Michael Fasusi. What was the number that you threw out there? How many sacks did they give up last year? 50 sacks last year. Most in college football. And only 37 again were against South Carolina.

Yeah, that was in the first quarter. That's when the game, I're going South Carolina. Yeah. That was the first quarter. That's when the game, I guess, relatively wasn't close. Five minutes, but unbelievable. So let's talk John Matier because anybody who stayed up late and watch Washington State games last year loves this guy. And what does he bring and how different can Oklahoma's offense be with him in charge? I think the biggest thing Andy is one he's very skillful you know the way he throws the balls a little bit unique he almost

sidearms it but he's got a good arm he can run I think that's one thing too he's bigger than what I thought especially his lower half I mean he's got some huge legs, which feels weird to say, but it's true. And I think that what they do offensively, Ben Arbuckle, he liked to run them a year ago. I think he ran for 800 yards and over 10 touchdowns a year ago on the ground.

I think you're gonna see some of that play out, but I think the biggest thing, and the thing that we've noticed just talking to him is his confidence. And not that Jackson-Ornold wasn't confident, but there was just a lot of unknown with him, even for himself. Like he didn't really know what he was getting into in terms of the SEC and not to say John does either.

He hasn't played in the SEC, but you can just tell the way that Matier handles himself, whether it's in a media setting, in practice, his comfortability with, uh, somebody like a Ben Arbuckle has played in his system now for two years, like he just looks way more confident out there than Jackson Arnold really ever did. And I would say that it's, it's somewhat similar to the way that Dylan Gabriel came in and that first year for Dylan Gabriel was a tough adjustment of just being the quarterback at Oklahoma. It's going to be interesting to

see how Jon Mattier kind of navigates that as we work our way through the summer. But yeah, like George said, I think the No. 1 thing was just the way that he was able to present himself to the rest of his teammates. I think he, I don't know, earned a little bit of a kinship or whatever you want to call it with some of the new guys being himself a new guy in that locker room. And that was, I think, striking to me coming out of spring was how I think comfortable he was in being able to be the guy that, you know, basically spoke up and helped Ben Orbuckle kind of bridge this offensive terminology and everything that he brought in from Pullman into what the guys that were returning were doing with with Oklahoma a year ago. And I would just add on top of that,, it feels like, and I know you guys have talked about it on your show, but there's a lot of hype around here, around him.

It's gotten to a point where I'm like, are we hyping him up too much? Like it's gotten, like, I think they're going to be better at that position than they were a year ago. I think they're going to be better offensively. It's more of a question of how good can they be? How good can John Matier be? Cause there's talk about, Oh, he's a Heisman favorite. He's going to be a top, you know, three quarterback in the country.

Uh, like all of these questions, it's like, okay, I think he's going to be good. I think that he could be, you know, a top five ish quarterback in the SEC. Is he a Heisman contender? I don't know if I'm ready to go that far. I think there's a lot of PTSD too too from last year and going into the season and the hype that was around Jackson Arnold as a former five-star kid out of Denton that you know took over obviously didn't play well in the bowl game But there were glimpses of okay This guy's gonna be the dude for the next couple years and you know, I the schedule it it's a terrible schedule

just in terms of tough opponents. But I think around here, we're kind of saying like by week two, you should have an idea where this thing is headed when Michigan comes to town for, you know, obviously it was going to be a big game in the world of college football in the second week of the year. Yeah, that's gonna be a lot of fun. Sharon Moore will still be coaching Michigan. We don't we think the suspension starts the following week. So that's gonna be very interesting.

You know what I think is interesting, Andy, and I want to hop in here is that throughout the last 15 or so years, I feel like Oklahoma's identity, a lot of it in terms of just who they were as a program was wrapped up with elite level quarterback play and high flying offense. And it almost felt like watching Oklahoma last year as a result of all the injuries and the offensive line and aptitude as a result of injuries and just not being very deep there. That they just weren't Oklahoma. And I think that the part of the reason why John Matier is getting all this hype

or seems to be so important is because I feel like when he if he steps in and is a top five quarterback in the SEC, which I think is probably a virtual lock that Oklahoma just gets back to being the team that we've watched year over year my entire life. Like, and I think that like being who you are and getting back to that is an important thing for Brent Venables, because I'm not necessarily sure Oklahoma has been peak Oklahoma at any point during his tenure, because they haven't had that guy there. So it's not just how good is John Matier. I also think, and tell me if you think I'm nuts guys, you know better than me, but like, if Oklahoma could just look like Oklahoma again, that would be such a huge difference maker in terms of the trajectory of the program into the future.

If Ari, if they could just look like half of what Oklahoma used to on offense, I think that it would be huge. And that's the thing. I mean, Britt still wants to build. And that's what's been so interesting the last four years is it's he's kind of flipped the program on its head defensively. He wants that to be kind of the, you know, the side of the ball that kind of dominates, right? Like, and we've seen that they were great defensively last year, top 15 unit in almost every single category. If they can just get the offense to a top 25

ish area, they feel like they can win a lot of football games. The problem though, in Brent Venables is 10 year now in three years in there just hasn't been a ton of complimentary football. And even in 2023, uh, when they had a pretty good team and were, you know, one win away really from playing in the big 12 championship, playing Texas again, who they beat earlier in the year and possibly going to the cultural playoff, those losses that they had, they didn't play complementary football. And even, you know, that that offense under Jeff Levy statistically did really well, but in big moments other than the Texas game

couldn't come through. And that's the thing I think that you want to see from Oklahoma is not so much, you know, be this historic offense that you saw under Lincoln Riley, which was just fantastic. One of my ton of football games. They just want to play complimentary football, which has just been an issue, I think for Brent, you know,

during his three years now searching, searching. Yeah. And you kind of want to go back to the Bob Stoops era where you let's say you had Kevin Wilson running the offense and then Stoops and Venables running the defense. And they were good at both. It's possible to be good at both. And I think to win in the league they're in now, you have to be good at both.

I mean, George's best teams, good on both sides of the ball. Alabama's best teams, good on both sides of the ball. When LSU is good, they're good on both sides of the ball. Alabama's best teams, good on both sides of the ball. When LSU is good, they're great on both sides of the ball. Like I think LSU is a good example of the last few years in the SEC. Like you cannot be lopsided one way or the other. It doesn't, you don't get what you want. You still have to be good at both things to win in that league. Preston Pysh

No doubt about it. And I think that, you know, just specifically last year when you had all the injuries, you were already kind of playing with one arm tied behind your back. And then they turned the ball over at a historic level. It seemed almost every way to the Missouri point, a game where it's like, how do you lose that game? And then yeah, the Missouri game is the one example that it's still mind blowing to think that they were up seven in a game with two minutes left with the football and lost by seven in regulation. They should be. They should get an SB out of it, honestly. Well, between Oklahoma and Auburn, I think there was a lot of just head scratching, including the Oklahoma Auburn game, like the whole the whole game itself. So it was perfect. the game ended like that. And speaking of Kevin Wilson, he's now back in Norman as an analyst on this team. And I don't know if it's gonna mean a big change

in what they're doing. I don't think it certainly will. He's gonna let Ben Arbuckle run the offense, but it is going to help having somebody like that around. Yeah, and I think that for Brent, when you look at his shortcomings as a coach, he's not been a great game manager. And I think adding somebody like Kevin Wilson, who, I mean, I don't know his history of being a game manager,

but he has been a head coach before. Brent's calling the defense, like allowing somebody like a Kevin Wilson to come in and help a young coordinator in Ben Arbuckle. You know, Kevin Wilson could be Ben Arbuckle's dad. Like, I think that that is beneficial, having somebody on staff that, you know, while Brent could be Ben Arbuckle's dad. Like I think that that is beneficial, having somebody on staff that, you know, while Brent's helping coach the defense and the offense is on the field, understanding just, you know, small things like clock management, I think is going to be a benefit for them this year. I just, I just want to see when, when Kevin Wilson goes up to Ben Arbuckle and is like, son, we were hanging 40 on Michigan and Northwestern when you were in preschool.

Yeah. Yeah. we were hanging 40 on Michigan and Northwestern when you were in preschool. Yeah. Yeah. And it's true. But that's the sort of thing. When you have the new and the older generation and they work together well, that's where the magic actually happens. Yeah.

And I think that for a lot of people, this season is going to be determined on what happens on the offensive side of the ball because there is a belief that this defense is taking a step each of the first three years under Brent and. You do lose the Danny Stutzman you do lose the Billy Bowman, but they feel like they've recruited well enough and they've been able to go out in the portal and that makes some key additions going into this season that there could be a chance this is probably maybe one of the better defenses. Oklahoma's put out with Brent coming back in the defensive line is probably the best it's been in terms of depth and talent really is probably the best it's had in about a decade and that's why there's so much optimism on on that side of the ball guys.

Like the Barry Switzer quote back from 2013. He's like you Sam. Jerome McCoy Scott and down there like Barry's finally going to be happy with the D line. I'm glad. I'm glad for that. Absolutely. And I think that there's a couple of those guys and you

had the David Stone situation that enters the portal that he returns but interior wise and the defensive end wise getting it the retainment of an or Mason Thomas was a massive deal. They need PJ Atabore to take that next step that I think a lot of people have been expecting. And he's kind of that perfect example of guys that take that next step in the third year under Brent Vinnibles, historically, wherever he's been, whether it would be Oklahoma the first time around or Clemson and then coming back, the light bulb just comes on for a lot of those guys. And even somebody like a, I think a Billy Bowman

was talking about it a year ago, going into the season that that was his third year. And all of a sudden things really started to come together for him. So I really like talking big picture too here, especially for people who are listening that aren't Oklahoma fans, but want to know, I want to know this from you.

It's very bizarre to look at, but the Las Vegas win total for them is six and a half this year. Okay. And that's a really tough thing to look at if you're an Oklahoma fan who's used like 10 wins seasons were bad back in the day. What constitutes success in your guys's mind? Like is there a number you put on it? Is it a look? I put Brent Venables, my top 25 coaches in America, when we ranked our coaches here a few months ago, and people went absolutely berserk. I actually think that he he belongs on that list. What does he have to do this year from a win standpoint or a look

standpoint to prove me right? That's such a difficult question. And I feel like we've been battling with that all offseason because you hit it on the head earlier, Ari, when you were talking about this team could be a lot better than it was a year ago and only win seven games. And so I think that some of it has to do with who they beat, who they lose to, how they lose those games. I mean, the way they lost games last year where it was, you know, you get embarrassed in Dallas by Texas. That can't happen again this year, right? I know Texas is going to be really good. You know, maybe the most talented team in the country.

You can't get embarrassed at the cotton ball again. You get blown out at home by, you know, a South Carolina team. That was good last year, but a team that Oklahoma fans felt like, you know, you should be able to compete with. You lose just an absolute horrific game. Maybe the worst loss I've seen in my lifetime to Missouri on the road. There were some dark conversations going from Columbia to Kansas City last year at 2 a.m. And then you finished the season in Baton

Rouge and you just get blown out by an LSU team that I think is going to be really good this year. So I think a lot of it has to do with if you can get to eight wins, that would be great. I think that's a good season for Oklahoma. I think there's a lot of expectations here to do with if you can get to eight wins, that would be great. I think that's a good season for Oklahoma. I think there's a lot of expectations here that, oh, you should get to about nine and maybe be in the playoff conversation. I think that would be a stellar season with this schedule. But for me, Ari, it's so much about what does it look like? If you go seven and five and you just lose some really close games, maybe you lose a

close one to Texas, you lose on the road to Alabama or lose some really close games. Maybe you lose a close one to Texas. You lose, you know, on the road to Alabama or Tennessee and some close games or maybe a last second field goal, but you're in it, you're scoring points or whatever, and they just come up with some lucky plays and you just can't win it. That's going to happen in this league. But there was too many times last year where, Oh, you just got embarrassed. And they just looked like a dysfunctional football team. That cannot happen again this year. I would also say 12-3.

Nine and three's playoffs. If they make nine and three, I think they'll be the, they'll make the playoff. Yeah, I think so. And with this schedule, if they could go nine and three, it almost feels like you'd be going 11-1 to a certain extent. In stealing a couple games that you're probably going to be an underdog in going into them. It's almost like will people be talking about Oklahoma in a positive light by the end of November? If that's the case, that means it's somewhat of a successful season. Yeah, there's the other side of it. In November last year, sure of the conference. Absolutely. So they can't they cannot be in that same, you know category this year.

So you guys mentioned the offensive line and I wrote about this last year. You guys talked about it extensively on your show and on your site. Have they fixed because it feels like there were some original sins back in 2022, 22 in those recruiting classes that now maybe they've had some time to make up some of those players that they've signed since then have had a chance to develop. Like how much different is that group going to look? It should look a lot different. I would imagine just in terms of just having a functional offense that can run a play with the quarterback not being sacked two seconds after the ball is snapped. And you saw a lot of that a year ago. Obviously, I think when you talk about

Bill Biedenbohm, that's why it's been such a tough conversation to have because nationally, he's obviously one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. But I think if you ask the Oklahoma fan or the fan that is posted on the Crimson Quarter on the message boards, there's a lot of people that the patience has kind of been growing thin. He won that back, I think, bringing in this offensive line group in the 2024 class, just, or 2025 class, just in the fact that there's probably as a whole the best group that he's ever brought in, Michael Vasuzzi, Ryan Fogel, kind of leading from the front. And they could end up starting. If they, if you told me they ended up starting midway through the season, I don't think anybody would disagree. But they have also gone into the portal, brought in guys that should be able to add depth. And, you know, I don't think anybody would disagree, but they have also gone into the portal, brought in guys that should be able to add depth.

And, you know, I think if nothing else, one of the things that Brent had told you, George, down in Destin was Troy Everett, I think just his presence. He was injured at the beginning of the season, missed a lot of that first part of the season when things really started going down the wrong track. And just his presence, I think as a leader in that group should help things and mold that to be a little bit better

from the jump at the beginning at camp. Yeah, and Andy, I would just go back to the kind of the stat I threw at you earlier. Going into the 2024 season, they only had two guys coming back on that offensive line that had made eight career starts combined. It was Troy Everett, Jacob Sexton. This year, coming into this season, they have six guys that have made a combined 46

starts and have played over 3000 snaps. And now some people would be like, well, those guys are the ones that gave up the 50 sacks a year ago. And I get that. Not all of those guys. It's not easy the first year when you're playing. Right. But I do think though that that experience is valuable. Those guys and a lot of those guys were freshmen or redshirt freshmen last year, sophomores that had never really played college football before you bring those guys back. They learn under Bill Beaton, but we've seen it time and again, they get developed. They grow into good players. And last year, guys, they took five offensive linemen in the transfer portal and all five guys were players

that they expected to start for them the next year. And they did, all five ended up, I believe, starting at least one or two games out of the portal. This year, they take three. Well, two of those three in Luke Baklenko and Jake Michael are projects. They have, I think, two or three years left. And so they're guys that they don't anticipate.

Maybe they end up winning a starting job at some point or they have to play. But Derek Simmons, the transfer from Western Carolina is really the only one fighting for a true starting spot right now. Whereas last year, all five of those guys they brought in, and sure, you can add in the portal in certain spots and maybe they come out and they'd be good players.

I think on the offensive line, that's extremely difficult to do. You have to have, uh, you know, a strong recruiting class and develop those guys. They feel like with the experience returning as well as the freshman class that Eddie mentioned, that their depth and talent is much improved from where it was a year ago. Are there receivers good enough? That is a big question, Ari. I think that what they decided to do in the portal was, because you guys know the receiver market in the portal is just insane. The price number

for a lot of these guys is just way too high. And so Oklahoma decided to allocate their resources to going in guys from smaller schools, a Giovanni Gibson, who was just a stud at Arkansas Pine Bluff. And he looks the part. I mean, you see him out there, six foot two, 210 pounds. The guy looks like an SEC type receiver, crushed in the spring, ends up breaking his leg. Like the last practice of spring, they still anticipate him being back by the beginning of the season. Jaden Gibson, who was injured all last year, they expect him to be back by the beginning of the season. So it's a big question mark.

You know, Dion Burks needs to be the guy. Kind of feels like he got to transfer in Dion Burks with the limited amount of time that Oklahoma fans saw him a year ago. Yeah, and he was supposed to be the star last year. He ends up getting hurt. So if he can be healthy, they feel like they have a guy. And then I would even mention Elijah Thomas, a local kid from Oklahoma, true freshmen coming in, you know, he's got good size,

was extremely productive coming out of high school. They feel like he can play for them, possibly as a true freshman. He's that good. So they've got a lot of bodies that they brought in. Isaiah Sittani, I mentioned him earlier, transfer from Arkansas, who had, I think, around 500 yards receiving a year ago and several touchdowns for Arkansas. They think that he can play. So they have, you know, a handful of guys that they're basically saying, who's going to emerge. And they're hopeful that at least a few of them can. And much like the offensive line, they had to play a lot of guys as freshmen, true freshmen a year ago, as Zion Kearney, for an example,

that you hope that you look back and go, yeah, that sucked that you had to be thrown in there as a true freshman, but you did get experience, especially on the back end of the season against some pretty good opponents in the SEC, and you hope you grow from that. They have to develop them as well. So we mentioned the new GM, and that's Jim Nagy. He used to be the head of the Senior Bowl. He was a

former scout for the Seahawks and other NFL teams. This is an interesting one, guys, because this is the first GM position in college that feels more similar to an NFL GM position where he doesn't work for the coach. He works for management basically. Like he's reporting to the board chair and the AD and those people. How does that manifest itself in a working relationship with Brett Venables because we see this in the NFL

where the GM reports to the team president. He's essentially has oversight of the coach, but we never seen anything like this in college. Yeah. And I think Andy, we're seeing it kind of play out in real time right now with what OU is doing in recruiting, because the big question, and I wrote about this just the other day on Soonerscoop.com, go subscribe. But I wrote about the big question is, who has the final say, right? Like if Brent Venables really likes this player

in the 2027 class or in the transfer portal, but Jim Nagy likes this other player at the same position and they can only take one, who's got the final say in that? And I think that they're still figuring that out. I know Nagy has kind of said it, it's going to be a very collaborative process in terms of, you know, identifying talent and what kind of decisions they make in terms of roster

building. But I would also tell you that it's very interesting to see how it plays out. If this season doesn't go the way that Oklahoma wants it to, and they have to make a very difficult decision, who's making that decision? Is Jim Nagy making the call on, you know, Brent Venables' future is Joe Castiglione, Randall Stevenson, who they brought in from AT&T to help with all the revenue sharing and budgeting and all that, President Joe Harris. Like, that's the part where we don't really have an answer

of what the hierarchy is right now. No, and I think that, you know, kind of as George said, everybody's kind of learning on the fly, if you will, in terms of molding the front office and how it operates with the football program. But all in all, it's been pretty successful, I think. I mean, obviously you haven't lost any games, so nobody's getting a ton of blame right now

in the early part of June. But at the same time, I do think that getting Jayden not that was kind of a big sign of, you know, he committed to Oklahoma, before really he even started delving into the schools that were going to be interested in him when he entered the portal. I think it was less than 24 hours after officially entering. And he was a guy that I think they definitely kind of spotlighted as if he's going to enter, that's the guy we want. And I think it was assigned to everybody around here. I don't think Oklahoma gets him without somebody like a Jim Nagy kind of leading that chart. Yeah.

Nagy was, I mean, he deserves not all the credit, but a good chunk of the credit for that. And that's what's going to be interesting is how much say he has in a lot of this stuff. And so far, I would say that he is very influential in terms of what they're doing at every single level, whether it's transfer portal or high school recruiting. And we saw him out at camps this past week here in Norman, helping evaluate players. He's hired, I think, four or five guys to their,

quote unquote, NFL-esque front office. So in terms of long term, they feel like they've got a home run higher in Jim Nagy, it's just going to be interesting to see what happens next year if things don't go the right way. Or even next year when he comes in to build the roster, the next portal cycle. Guys, I thought that was very revelatory and I appreciate you being here. I got to ask you one that might be kind of painful, but I need your help. Okay.

It's about another team. Uh, but did Jackson Arnold get a fair shake and how excited should Auburn be about him? This is an interesting question. I, I would just say on the surface, Love Jackson had a good relationship with them. That was the most surprising thing that I can remember in maybe a decade of covering OU football, just in terms of how unprepared he looked. I know that a lot of it had to do with him on the field. They didn't have a quarterbacks coach.

Which is just insane that we go back to like this time last spring thinking, everything's going to be OK. They, they've used the word Continuity. They're going to just promote Seth Littrell. I think a lot of people around here that, you know, grew up with Seth playing in Oklahoma's backfield, winning a national championship as a captain. You know, his family has a good standing with Oklahoma. His dad played at Oklahoma, won a national championship. It was shocking to see Oklahoma, his dad played at Oklahoma, won a national championship. It was shocking to see how bad, how unprepared Jackson was a year ago. You know, I think ultimately if it's a good move for Hugh Fries and Auburn, it will maybe come back to bite Oklahoma at some point. But I think that like for both of the program and for Jackson, he needed to get out of Norman

because there was so much toxicity at the end of last season. It was going to be hard to kind of turn that thing around. So yeah, it's a very, I think layered question when you're talking, is he going to have success? I think he can still make the throws, be a guy at a big time program. He's just going to have to kind of dig himself out of the hole that he dug in a narrative that is going to surround him for his entire career if he's not able to. And the biggest thing with Jackson, he needs good coaching because, like Eddie said, it just felt like he was maybe unprepared.

And I don't think that's because Jackson was lazy in the film room or wasn't doing what he needed to in practice. There was a lot of external factors that played into it in terms of whether it was not really having a true quarterbacks coach. I mean, Seth Latrell was technically the quarterbacks coach, but he's not somebody that's coached quarterbacks a ton in his career. I don't think he meshed well with Jackson where Jackson's guy was Jeff Lebby, and I think they got along very well. The offense changed over the season. And I think that there was, did he get a fair shake in terms of being the starter? I think so, but I think that there were so many things around him, whether it was wide receiver injuries, offensive line shuffling, and then obviously the offensive coordinator

situation that it wasn't fair to him or Michael Hawkins who came in and struggled to, um, you know, to say, Oh, well, they, they aren't, you know, a great quarterback. Now I think Jackson has some limits in terms of, you know, especially reading defenses right now. Um, you know, that was a very big issue even, you know, um, you know, prior to the season, you know, we heard about that stuff in about that stuff in spring practice and fall camp. Last of all over. Yeah. We just said, oh, well, the defense is just that good. So I think with the right coaching, he can have success, but I also still am skeptical of what that looks like.

Because you go back to like the Tennessee game. Had to come out. Yeah. You had to bench him in that moment. It just had to happen. And Ari, you were there. I mean, it was just some of the couple of the turnovers just cannot happen. I mean, Britt Venable said in the postgame, he's like some of the throws he made. They weren't even options in the

playbook. And so whose fault is that? Is that Jackson's fault? Is that Seth Littrell's? I don't know, but it was a it was a disaster. He's coming to Norman. Oh my God. Should be fun. I mean, that's every week. You know, you schedule going into 2025, maybe outside of like Illinois State, that unique game going up to Philly to take on that temple. You can make like four or five storylines

for each one of them just going in. And that's certainly going to be one of them that when you open the conference season next year and you're looking at Jackson Arnold possibly starting for another team in Norman, it just kind of adds to the I guess uniqueness that comes with an incredible 2025 schedule. You gotta get that win buddy. Oklahoma's gotta win that game. They have to. They have to. It is true. They gotta be fine. Before we let you go guys, one very, you know, 30,000 foot question.

What did Oklahoma learn you're one in the SEC? They weren't ready, which I think is tough for a lot of people down the street over at the stadium to admit. But at the same time, you're always going to be judged on wins and losses at Oklahoma. And if you're not winning, they're going to find somebody, it's kind of like we talked about, about a year ago, or maybe it was down at SEC Media Day, Andy, Oklahoma will find somebody that can get this thing to work. And I think that, you know, for a

long time, for the last two decades, really, they were maybe a little bit of a victim of their own success and that it put some blinders on people within the program that everything's okay. But when you got to these bowl games and you lose to these SEC teams, I think that people kind of explained it away while they want 11 games. It was still a great year when in reality, I think that there were some other programs across the country that are obviously doing it a little bit better. And I think that was are some other programs across the country that are obviously doing it a little bit better. And I think that was a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow around here. And they're kind of having to dig themselves out. And maybe they will be able to do that. But it kind of starts at the top from, you know, goes all the way down to the bottom of, you

have to fix this thing, or there are going to be a lot of people that lose their jobs and they'll find somebody else that can find success for Oklahoma football and I think the other thing too on top of that you kind of hit it Eddie is there's gonna be years in the SEC that you just aren't very good or that you just have a down year and you lose some games and You know, we'll see how this season plays out I expect them to win more games than they did last year. But I think the reality is, and we've seen it now for the first two years for Oklahoma, there's gonna be some years that your schedule just sucks and

that it's gonna be brutal. Now, I don't know if it's gonna be as brutal as it is this year in 2025. Like Ari said, maybe the toughest schedule any teams ever faced in college football. But there's just gonna be years where you aren't going to win 10, 11, 12 games, which I get that is the expectation in Oklahoma. And I think they can get back to that where they are winning 10, 11, 12 games. They're competing to get to the college football playoff year in and year out. But I think there's also every once in a while going to be some clunkers in there.

And the question is, can Brit Venables get through this year? Turn this thing around, give the program some hope, and then maybe in 26 or 27, you are back in those big time conversations. That's right. Because OU does not sit these things out. They will be a participant in the national title picture going forward one way or the other. And I'm convinced that like I don't I don't believe the SEC is too hard for a program like Oklahoma. It just depends on whether it's going to be these people or not. So we'll find out. But gentlemen, thank you so much. That was awesome. Absolutely. Thanks, guys. Anytime. Thanks, guys. Love appreciate it. Anytime. Thanks guys. Love having you here.