SEC football power rankings after spring portal closes: Did Aggies get better?
Post-SEC Spring Power Rankings: #9 - Oklahoma Sooners
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The less-discussed of the two new additions to the conference, OU is out to remind everyone which of the two has had more success to their name in recent memory. The Sooners have some holes to fill, but behind bright young freshman Jackson Arnold, OU fans feel bullish about their upcoming season.
He’s not the only young luminary donning the Crimson and Cream this upcoming year. Five-star David Stone should be a force on the defensive line for the Sooners, and recent transfer portal addition Damonic Williams could make finding success on the ground against OU quite the elusive prospect.
Star LB Danny Stutsman will be back for another year in Norman as well, as will DBs Billy Bowman and Peyton Bowen. This could well be the best defensive unit that Brent Venables has had to work with since before he departed Clemson.
Even so, there are more questions than answers when it comes to the Sooners. Receiver Nic Anderson should be a factor, and you have a couple of intriguing pieces in Brenen Thompson and Jayden Gibson. But this is not the OU of old, who had star receivers coming out of their ears, and it may make the transition to the SEC tough on a young guy like Arnold.
The Sooners will have a few weeks to warm up against Temple, Houston, and Tulane before facing Tennessee in their first-ever SEC conference game. A trip to Auburn follows that, then they have a bye week before Red River.
OU has had Texas’s number in that rivalry more often than not, and especially this year, a win would go a long way. Barring some major eventualities in the first few weeks of the season, I expect the Horns to be favored, but if Venables pulls off an upset there, this could end up being a remarkably successful first season in the conference for the Crimson and Cream.