Brent Venables states Oklahoma cannot enter 2025 with only two quarterbacks

Brent Venables knows Oklahoma has to add another quarterback this offseason. The Sooners lost Jackson Arnold to the transfer portal and are set to graduate Casey Thompson, meaning it only has two players at the position for next year.

OU returns Michael Hawkins, who started three games this past season, including the Red River Rivalry against Texas. It is also set to add three-star prospect Jett Niu out of Lehi (UT) High School.

However, speaking with media on Friday, the Sooners coach was blunt about the fact that his team needs to add at least one more player at the position through the transfer portal.

“We can’t go into next year with two quarterbacks,” Venables said. “I think that goes without saying. So Mike is our quarterback. …Mike’s looked good and we love where he’s at and the progress that he has made and of course we have Jett Niu coming in as a freshman. We got some work to do to get that room where it needs to be so we can compete in the SEC. We’ve been diligently doing that.”

Oklahoma finished this past year with a 6-6 record in the regular season as quarterback issues were a major storyline. The Sooners began the year with Arnold at start but later benched him for Hawkins.

However, after Hawkins threw two interceptions in his third start of the season against South Carolina, OU again made a switch at the position. The team finished last in the SEC in passing yards per game and 15th in both scoring and total offense.

For now, as Venables stated, the Sooners will enter 2025 with Hawkins as the likely candidate to start. However, that could change depending on what type of talent they are able to attract in the portal.

Regardless, it’s clear that something needs to change offensively heading into Venables’ fourth season at the helm. That begins with the quarterback and offensive line play that were both severely lacking in 2024.