Oklahoma football has ‘a lot to like’ entering 2023

Oklahoma‘s first season under new head coach Brent Venables didn’t exactly go the way the Sooners wanted it to, but they could be due for a bounce-back year according to On3’s JD PicKell, who believes there’s a lot to be excited about in Norman this upcoming season.

“There’s a lot to like about this team,” PicKell said. “Say what you want about 6-7 and what they didn’t do last year, there’s a lot to like about this team. A lot of close losses last year, now close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but even so man that just shows me that there was the opportunity for this team to have a much better record than they had last year based on the games they were in. They weren’t just showing up and losing every game by three touchdowns, that wasn’t the formula for Oklahoma, so they’re not far off.”

Just two of the Sooners’ seven losses last year were decided by more than a touchdown, and in both of those games star quarterback Dillon Gabriel missed time with an injury. Gabriel burst onto the scene last year after transferring from UCF and impressed, and PicKell thinks he can be even more impressive heading into 2023.

“I really like that Dillon Gabriel is back for another year in Norman, as I’m sure that most of the Sooner faithful that are tuned in right now do as well. He is doing into another year in Jeff Lebby‘s scheme and just common sense would tell us the longer you’re doing something, the more time you have in anything whether it’s a class, or a job, whatever it is you get better at it,” PicKell explained. “And so Dillon Gabriel getting another year in this offensive system I think is going to pay dividends.”

If a finger was to be pointed at where things went wrong for the Sooners’ last season, it’d be hard to point it at Gabriel, as the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year ranked second in the conference in passing yards and touchdowns.

But their defense did struggle, ranking as one of the three worst teams in the conference in points allowed, rushing yards allowed, and passing yards allowed last season, which can be attributed to two different things if you’re a Sooner fan.

“The first thing you may believe is that the personnel wasn’t good enough last year, and I would fall into this category,” PicKell said. “I would say last year the flexibility, the versatility you need to run Brent Venables’ defense, it wasn’t there last year in Norman. That’s okay, it’s year one, trying to figure it out. Probably better than the average roster but still wasn’t good enough”

“The other thing you may believe, and I think this is a fallacy, Brent Venables can’t coach defense. Let’s not let ourselves wander down that path, Brent Venables can coach defense. He’s got a resume that speaks for itself, he’s got some jewelry to show for it, like let’s not wander down that path of he doesn’t know what he’s doing on the defensive side of the ball.”

PicKell believes that the Sooners have made some serious upgrades on the defensive side of the ball that will improve that unit next season, expressing excitement about players such as Dasan McCullough and Jaren Kanak who will be able to provide a new level of size, speed, athleticism, and versatility to Venables’ defense.

“So the team speed will be much much better than what you saw a year ago. So team speed means you can do a lot of things for me, means you’re versatile. Which means it fits better in Brent Venables’ defense,” PicKell said. “So if you’re unhappy with what you saw last year, I don’t blame you. The good news, I think last year is not at all indicative of what this coming season will look like for you if you’re a Sooner fan.”

If the offense continues to click like it did last season with Lebby and Gabriel running the show and Venables’ defense can look more reminiscent of his units at Clemson, the pre-season excitement could turn into in-season success for the Sooners in 2023.