After a rocky start in the SEC, head coach Brent Venables and Oklahoma are expected to turn things around in 2025. The Oklahoma Sooners are in need of a bounce-back season after posting a 6-7 record a year ago. Venables simply can’t afford another year that isn’t up to the OU standard, or his job might not be safe.
The Sooners’ offense ranked 97th in 2024, and Venables seems to have addressed some of the problems with new additions to the offense, including highly rated quarterback John Mateer and his offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle.
Brent Venables Under Pressure as Oklahoma Faces Key Season
After last season’s dismal showing, the pressure to perform is higher than ever for Venables, and analysts are beginning to wonder if he’s well prepared for the new season.
Although the Sooners have added a very talented player in Mateer, they lost their defensive coordinator ahead of the new season, and Venables has refused to replace him. Instead, he assumed the role himself and will be calling the defensive plays for next season.
Oklahoma is also struggling to get in talented recruits, and analysts believe the Sooners might struggle this season if they do not have enough quality across the squad. Speaking on the latest episode of Orangebloods, Geoff Ketchum and Chad Hastings analysed Oklahoma’s recruiting struggles.
“Oklahoma has one top-20 kid in the state of Oklahoma committed, and they’ve got, I think, one inside the Texas state top 50. He mentioned that one of those might be close to peeling off,” Ketchum said.
The 2025 recruiting class is currently ranked 16th, while their 2026 class is ranked 53rd. This is coming off a promising recruiting class in 2025, but the outlook beyond next season is spotty at best.
“They just lost one of their top wide receiver targets in the 2026 recruiting class to SMU. You know, a year ago, they really only got Michael Fasusi, and we’ve talked about it over the course of the last three years.”
Ketchum further added that recruiting has been a weak point for Oklahoma since Venables arrived.
“They’ve only been able to pull a total of three super blue-chip prospects combined in the last two cycles. That’s not anywhere near nationally competitive. It’s even below the standards set by coaches like Tom Herman or Charlie Strong.”
“I think recruiting is completely out of Venables’s control, not that he ever had it,” he added.
While Oklahoma has struggled in the recruiting game, they did manage to snag one of the top QB targets from the transfer portal this year: Mateer. However, with Mateer’s arrival and him seemingly locked on to be a starter next year, Cole Gonzales hit the transfer portal, meaning the Sooners are now short-staffed in the QB department.
Mateer has incredible talents, but Venables will need to add another quarterback as a lack of depth behind him could become a major concern for Venables’ offense.
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