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JD PicKell: The top priority for the Oklahoma Sooners offense in 2022

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•07/20/22•

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Oklahoma underwent massive changes this year, losing its quarterback and coaching staff in one offseason. But the Sooners revamped with the hiring of head coach Brent Venables, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and the addition of quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

But now, they have to produce, and On3’s J.D. PicKell thinks one of the area will have to improve if the Sooners want to maximize their success: the run game.

Last season under Riley, Oklahoma averaged 186.6 rushing yards per game, which ranked fourth in the Big 12. PicKell argued Lebby has the ability to turn the Sooners run game into a strength in 2022 after what he did at Ole Miss last year as the Rebels averaged 217.6 rushing yards per contest.

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“This offense is going to make it a priority to establish the trenches,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “There were times where Oklahoma ran the ball effectively last year. A lot of that was from their counter game and what Caleb Williams was able to do on the quarterback runs and things like that. Oklahoma is going to make it a priority to establish the run. Don’t believe me? Trust the numbers. Jeff Lebby, a season ago, his Ole Miss offense averaged 46 carries per game. That’s good for top-10 in the country. Now, some of that also attributes itself to how quickly they were going, how many plays they were running. But look at what Lincoln Riley’s offense did a season ago — 34 rushes a game.

“The difference there is Jeff Lebby’s offense picking up 208 yards a game on the ground, Lincoln Riley’s offense 180 yards on the ground. It’s not a bad number, but to set the tone by running the football, I think, also says something about the attitude of your offense, the attitude of your football team. If you’re going to just make it a case in point to run the football downhill at somebody, a defense gets tired third and fourth quarter after seeing that time and time again, especially if you’ve done it 46 times during that game. So the attitude to make sure that they establish the line of scrimmage, especially offensively, that’s going to be a new priority for Oklahoma. They did it a season ago, but it’s going to be a lot higher on the priority list for Oklahoma on offense going into 2022.”