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The Oklahoma Sooners silenced many of the doubters with their 2025 season, making the College Football Playoff for the first time under head coach Brent Venables, and for the first time since 2019. However, one college football expert believes that OU is just getting started.
On3's J.D. PicKell, the host of "The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell" thinks that the Sooners can excel again in 2026, led by Venables and his defense.
"So, where I'm at with Oklahoma is I'm believing," PicKell said. "I look at Brent Venables, and what his defenses have been, and the way they've progressed within that roster to get to where they are now. Like, I think a lot of people missed this too, Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman a couple years ago were like the bellcows of that defense. They left, and the defense kept progressing without them. What does that mean? It means the defensive way of doing things, the culture, the Brent Venables effect is real. The Brent Venables brand of ball on the defense side of the football, that's going to carry over here, I have to believe now, regardless of who you lose, because Brent Venables is going to make sure he has what he needs to cook at the highest level. So, blindly now, I will just trust that defense to be really freaking good, and one of the best in the SEC, because of who's in charge."
The Sooners will need to prove PicKell right in this department in 2026, because they'll be losing key cogs of the defense like Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton, R Mason Thomas, Marvin Jones Jr., Kendal Daniels, and Robert Spears-Jennings to graduation next season. They'll also likely be losing Owen Heinecke to the NFL, though the NCAA could still grant his appeal to play college ball in 2026. Nevertheless, there's a lot of veteran leadership and production for Venables to figure out how to replace next season on defense.
PicKell then touched on Oklahoma's offense led by offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle and starting quarterback John Mateer. Before Mateer's thumb injury, that unit was humming along nicely, but after he was injured, it never looked quite the same. PicKell thinks that the real Mateer is the one that played for the first month of the year last season.
"The other part of this is the John Mateer of it all," PicKell said. "Because, you look at John Mateer last season and there was two different John Mateers that showed up. There was pre-thumb injury, who was at different points in time a Heisman favorite. Then there was post-thumb injury where you're like, 'Golly, how many do we have to score to win today? Do we have to score on defense to win today?', was your thought as an Oklahoma fan. I think the second John Mateer was a Spirit Halloween John Mateer. I think it was a costume. I think it was an impostor. I don't think that's really who he is."
PicKell went on to explain that stability for Mateer and another year to team up with Arbuckle will yield good things for the OU offense next year, in his opinion. Clearly, that is the side of the ball that needs to improve the most if the Sooners are going to be taking another step forward next year.
Oklahoma proved a lot of people wrong in 2025, but that needs to be just the beginning, instead of the high point. With Venables running the show on defense, it's safe to assume that things won't waver too much from year to year on that side of the ball. Additionally, if Arbuckle, Mateer, and the offense can take the next step next year, the Sooners could be in for another special run in 2026.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners have made a believer out of J.D. PicKell for 2026
Continue reading...
On3's J.D. PicKell, the host of "The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell" thinks that the Sooners can excel again in 2026, led by Venables and his defense.
"So, where I'm at with Oklahoma is I'm believing," PicKell said. "I look at Brent Venables, and what his defenses have been, and the way they've progressed within that roster to get to where they are now. Like, I think a lot of people missed this too, Danny Stutsman and Billy Bowman a couple years ago were like the bellcows of that defense. They left, and the defense kept progressing without them. What does that mean? It means the defensive way of doing things, the culture, the Brent Venables effect is real. The Brent Venables brand of ball on the defense side of the football, that's going to carry over here, I have to believe now, regardless of who you lose, because Brent Venables is going to make sure he has what he needs to cook at the highest level. So, blindly now, I will just trust that defense to be really freaking good, and one of the best in the SEC, because of who's in charge."
The Sooners will need to prove PicKell right in this department in 2026, because they'll be losing key cogs of the defense like Damonic Williams, Gracen Halton, R Mason Thomas, Marvin Jones Jr., Kendal Daniels, and Robert Spears-Jennings to graduation next season. They'll also likely be losing Owen Heinecke to the NFL, though the NCAA could still grant his appeal to play college ball in 2026. Nevertheless, there's a lot of veteran leadership and production for Venables to figure out how to replace next season on defense.
PicKell then touched on Oklahoma's offense led by offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ben Arbuckle and starting quarterback John Mateer. Before Mateer's thumb injury, that unit was humming along nicely, but after he was injured, it never looked quite the same. PicKell thinks that the real Mateer is the one that played for the first month of the year last season.
"The other part of this is the John Mateer of it all," PicKell said. "Because, you look at John Mateer last season and there was two different John Mateers that showed up. There was pre-thumb injury, who was at different points in time a Heisman favorite. Then there was post-thumb injury where you're like, 'Golly, how many do we have to score to win today? Do we have to score on defense to win today?', was your thought as an Oklahoma fan. I think the second John Mateer was a Spirit Halloween John Mateer. I think it was a costume. I think it was an impostor. I don't think that's really who he is."
PicKell went on to explain that stability for Mateer and another year to team up with Arbuckle will yield good things for the OU offense next year, in his opinion. Clearly, that is the side of the ball that needs to improve the most if the Sooners are going to be taking another step forward next year.
Oklahoma proved a lot of people wrong in 2025, but that needs to be just the beginning, instead of the high point. With Venables running the show on defense, it's safe to assume that things won't waver too much from year to year on that side of the ball. Additionally, if Arbuckle, Mateer, and the offense can take the next step next year, the Sooners could be in for another special run in 2026.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Aaron on X@Aaron_Gelvin.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners have made a believer out of J.D. PicKell for 2026
Continue reading...
