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Oklahoma EDGE R Mason Thomas returning to Sooners in 2025

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•01/06/25•

BarkleyTruax

Syndication: The Oklahoman
Oklahoma Sooners defensive lineman R Mason Thomas (32) pressures Tulane Green Wave quarterback Darian Mensah (10) during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Tulane Green Wave at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024.

Oklahoma EDGE rusher R Mason Thomas is set to return to OU for the 2025 season, he announced via Instagram on Monday.

Thomas will be a senior next season and is coming off a breakout season that saw him total a career-high 9.0 sacks in 2024. He’s spent his entire college career in Norman.

It was reported that Thomas was mulling whether to enter his name into the 2025 NFL Draft or return to college. He still played in the Sooners bowl game, a 21-20 loss to Navy in the Armed Forces Bowl. Thomas logged one tackle during the contest.

Before the bowl game, however, a post by 1Oklahoma, which is the official Oklahoma NIL account, that Thomas would be back for the 2025 season. That post was deleted in the minutes after it was posted and his status as a Sooner was up in the air until his announcement on Monday.

OU head coach Brent Venables touched on the interesting situation that surrounded his EDGE rusher at the time.

“I’ll let him talk to everybody when he wants to talk to everybody,” Venables said before the Sooners’ bowl game. “But I know he’s going to be lining up for us in this game. Look forward to that and his leadership and how he’s grown as a leader and certainly his improvement as a player.

“Proud of the leadership he’s exemplified for all of our players and his commitment from beginning to end.”

It appears as though he will be honoring his commitment from start to finish as he is now set to begin his fourth year as an Oklahoma Sooner this offseason.

Apart from his 9.0 sack total — which led the team by 5.0 sacks, he has totaled 23 tackles, one pass breakup and a forced fumble in 2024. In his career, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound defensive end has produced 10.5 sacks and 39 tackles.

Oklahoma finished the 2024 season with a 6-7 record and ended its first year in the SEC with a 2-6 record. Their two conference wins came against Auburn and Alabama. Thomas finished the Auburn game with 2.0 sacks. The most productive game of his season came on Sept. 14 against Tulane. He totaled 3.0 sacks and a forced fumble as a constant disruptive force.