what is Oklahoma's best position group heading into 2024 you are locked on Sooners your daily podcast on the Oklahoma Sooners part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what's up soon Nation welcome to lockon Sooners and thank you for making lockon Sooners your first listen every single day shout out to all the every dayers subscribe to locked on Sooners wherever you get your podcast for free and available on all platforms today's episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use promo code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms apply he's Jay Smith follow him on Twitter unfair Sports I'm John Williams you can follow me at John N Williams the show is at locked on Sooners on all the social media the Oklahoma released their list of the or they ranked really the position groups for the Oklahoma Sooners and they came out with linebacker as the best position group now we've heard talk of wide receiver safety Jay what do you make of the Oklahoma's ranking as linebacker as the number one position group for the Sooners heading into 2024 to be honest that's pretty accurate and I say that because Phil steel you know he drops the the quote unquote Bible of college football right his big magazine that everybody gets and I actually have one sitting over here within within arms length and it he breaks down when it comes to the top positions in college football and honestly linebacker and secondary he has as number two in the country which makes them the number one position in college in in the SEC and so if the Oklahoma think why thinks that linebacker is the number one spot I don't think they're far off right because I mean if you really think about it how veteran is that linebacker room like I know in the recruiting TR we we have some concerns because we're trying to figure out who's going to come into this class but man we've got a lot of veterans in the linebacker room this year that we haven't seen in a while you start with Danny stutzman obviously an All-American talent and then you've got a blue chip roster of guys like jiren knck and Kip Lewis and Kobe McKenzie and Sam iGo and Lewis Carter and then a really intriguing three-star Prospect in Phil picotti and then you've got a four-star Prospect in James Nesta I mean there's a lot to like about the linebacker room we know Danny setman is going to start I've seen and the Oklahoma projecting Kip Lewis Kendall Dolby as the cheetah who do you think is going to be starting alongside Danny stutzman when we consider the three linebackers so I mean if you go with the 335 setup I'm sensing you're probably going to see of course stutsman Kip and I honestly think it's gonna be Kobe McKenzie right and like that's no shade to my guy jiren Canik but I think that we need to see everything click with him to where whenever he's placed on the field he takes over but I think this is the year right I've heard rumors and stuff going around I've seen in social media and some folks that have heard things at practice that it appears that canic is starting to really shape into the guy that we've been hoping for right I mean when you play the video game his speeds like a 92 or 93 he's one of the fastest dudes on the game at his size it's SD remember he ran like a 102 103 in the 100 cuz he's a track kid if you notice we recruit a lot of track guys and so no I sense this room is probably going to it's the most veteran probably honestly room in on the team I mean them in secondary have an argument for it but having St Danny stman who is an All-American in his in his right and someone that we expect to be a buttus finalist this year finally because he was disrespected last year I'm sensing it's going to be Kip Co it's Kip Kobe as well as stman if we go into a 335 setup yeah if you're if you're talking about three traditional linebackers I could definitely see Kobe rolling as the strong side linebacker Danny at the Mike and Kip as the will I think we're going to see a little bit more delineation like that but if you're talking about just two linebackers in a cheetah I could definitely see it being Danny and kit but I'm not I'm not ready to sleep on on Jaren knck either he started the season as you're starting you know linebacker alongside Danny setman last year in two linebacker sets again not considering the cheetah and I mean he played well at times he still has room to improve but he's in year three now him Kip Lewis Kobe McKenzie all in year three when did we see Danny stman have his best season at Oklahoma in 2023 which was year three for him so I have high expectations for this group because they are now with Brent venables for three seasons with Jerry Schmidt for three seasons they're going to have big time production and Big Time playmaking ability this year and and again however you play it you've got depth to where even if Danny stman is kind of the only one that starts consistently you feel pretty good about being able to roll out the other three guys on a regular basis and that that doesn't even include a guy like leis Carter who Bren Venable just Raves about every opport he gets so I could even see this becoming like matchup dependent so you go against a team that might be a little bit more runhe heavy like an Auburn well maybe you see more Danny stutsman Kobe McKenzie lineups or you're gonna see teams that want to spread the field a little bit more like a Mississippi State although you won't play Mississippi State this year but somebody like that you might see more Kip Lewis jiren canx so you can get more speed on the field get more athleticism on the field to be able to cover tight ends cover wide receivers out of the slot so it's an really really intriguing group wide receiver I think is a group that could challenge them for best position group this year and we've talked a lot about wide receiver on this show but you start with Nick Anderson who had 10 touchdowns last year 800 yards receiving you go to J faroo Who's now in his fourth year with the Sooners third year you know in this kind of a a system the Jeff levie Seth the trell uh spread offense type system you've got andrel Anthony coming back you've got Jaden Gibson continually de veloping a Dion Burks I mean that is going to be one of the best Playmakers in the country in 2024 is that a group that you see as potentially saying hey at the end of the year they were Oklahoma's best position grp honestly I feel like they are actually the best group we have we have so much depth at that position and it was the one that showed out the most last season but I kind of want to go back to one point you made a minute ago you mentioned Kendall Dolby running in at cheetah my question is where's the McCulla going to end up at right cuz the rumors were going into spring was that he was playing a lot more like will uh on on the defense uh mixture of Will and a little bit of Mike with stman like it was the matchup was him and stman at linebacker but the goal was making it to where McCulla was more of an edge rusher in comparison to him playing linebacker I'm wondering where he's going to fit also on this team but to answer your question we we'll come back to that portion of this second I think that wide receiver is definitely going to be they're going to end up being the best group right like we ra I'm raving about the defense and you know I'm very bullish about that is because I do think the defense is going to carry us but I think the wide receiver room is going to benefit from the fact that people are going to overlook Jackson Arnold right now because they don't know what he is yet right I mean he's young he's a true sophomore so we haven't truly seen him show out but because the skills position is so veteran I truly believe that they're going to come out here and put up some absurd numbers this coming season to where some dude's going to end up getting themselves drafted yeah it's got that kind of a talent on it I mean I could see Nick Anderson going pro after this year I could see Deon Burke's going pro after this year Jalil fru will be out of Eligibility so he's going pro you could see your three starting wide receivers get drafted and you know Jaden Gibson I mean he'll be draft eligible after three after his third season in College he'll be draft eligible I'm just hoping we get one more year out of him in 2025 uh to continue to work with Jackson Arnold it it's a a strong argument to be made for both linebacker for wide receiver the Oklahoma has secondary as their second best position group and I I like what we have at safety and if you were talking safety as a position group versus cornerback then I I could buy the argument but as a total package not Lex luer the total package but as a total package in the secondary I'm not ready to put those guys above the wide receiver position uh just because I think you still have a little bit of a question mark at one of the quarterback spots and I need to see Gentry Williams stay healthy for a season that one is the tough part is is Gentry being healthy and I'm gonna be honest I that was the other position at feeli still was very bullish on and me being honest here I I I kind of agree with him on that position right this is the thing about it Woody was Washington's probably not going to play Corner much here he's going to rotate around from Cheetah to safety like he's going to be in multiple positions for us which to me is huge for what to for the versatility we can provide on the field right we know Woody is a really good man Defender and if you throw him out there just roaming around and following some of their good players he's fast enough to do it could be impressive now this the best part you brought in Dez balone specifically because Dez not only is a solid Corner he's really good in zone one of the things we struggled in last season was having really good Zone coverage especially because Gentry was in and out you know you had Josiah Wagner who was in and out with injury and now he's no longer here but him jacobe Johnson has been flying up the charts this past season and I think mcari vicker's kind of pushed himself a little bit further in the depth chart because of you know his little incident that he had but they'll take care of that or what not not internally but I sense that you're going to see some seat belt you're going to see some Kobe Johnson a lot more than anticipated with Gentry and Dez Malone out there at corner then Robert Spears j's got to be healthy too right there's a very good chance man that secondary could it's gonna the secondary is going to definitely be top three this season we'll just say we'll leave it at that to make it easy but I get where your concern is I think they may shot cuz I really believe this defense is going to be absurdly talented I mean I I've got belief that they're going to continue to develop but as things sit right now for me it would probably be wide receiver one linebacker 2 you know defensive back might not even be three for me just yet but I think there's enough Talent on that in that group to be one of the best position groups at the end of the season a group that has to be better than what it was in 23 we're going to discuss coming up next here on lockon Sooners game time is an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes getting tickets faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to first pitch with killer lastman deals all in prices views from your seat and the lowest price guarantee game time takes the guesswork out of buying major league baseball tickets the app is super easy to use it's super functional and gives you the view from your seat which I love to be able to look at that and say hey this is where I'm going to be sitting this is what I'm going to be looking at and I don't have to guess I don't have to worry about obstructed views I don't have to 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second listen here on the lockon network go check out locked on SEC our guy Chris Gordy is doing a great job covering all the angles getting you ready for the 2024 college football season go subscribe to lockon SEC wherever you get your podcast as well and so Jay we discussed the best position groups on this team well one of the team one one of the position groups that people aren't super confident in heading into the season but could certainly turn our opinions around and that's tied end if we're looking at the Oklahoma's rankings of the you know position groups for the Sooners they came in at number eight just ahead of offensive line we spent enough time talking about offensive line this week go check out our shows earlier in the week how we discussed our hope and our expectations for the offensive line but let's talk tight end because last year Austin stogner returned it didn't turn out to be what everybody had anticipated it would be he wasn't super productive in the passing game the group as a whole was not very productive in the passing game and it was a little it was a little bit disappointing after what Braden Willis was able to do in 2022 and and you're right we haven't seen much production wi at tight end wise and the one thing about that is I mean leby system really wasn't conducive to the tight end or the tight end getting love regardless now unfortunately we bringing in Austin stockner he was basically a shell of himself and it looked like he had kind of aged like 10 years when he left and went to South Carolina I don't know what's in the water over there in South Carolina but hey he obviously was not feeling being a Gamecock but this system that Seth Latrell is going to put in place we got to remember one dude that this dude went and recruited was Rob gronowski right gronowski went to Arizona while Seth Latrell was there and running the offense and he was very productive so now not saying the guys we have on the roster right now is grank but what I'm saying is is that there's a very good chance that they're used enough that they become a major threat Jake Roberts as well as Bowers sharp both were two of the highest grade players in the SEC going into the SEC based upon the PFF grades right so they did the list PFF put the grades up there or whatnot and you had both Bower and Jake Robert I think Bower was second on that list so that's a huge deal for what we're trying to do here at Oklahoma because even though we did get Devon Mitchell who is technically a 25 he's 17 years old he reclassified and came in a year early we're struggling right now with recruiting tight ends and it's only because we don't have a proof of concept to show that we we're going to use them so I guess the question have to ask oursel is who do you think is going to be the one that's going to be able to step up would it be a Bowers sharp is it going to be a Kaden Helms are we going to get him a Kate McIntyre you know the Nebraska kid or would Jake Roberts be that guy who do you think is going to be the one that's going to be able to step up and give us production at tight end that we've been needing I have no idea right now and I know that's not the answer that you come to lockon Sooners to get because I think there was a lot of you know positive things said about Bowers sharp and Spring ball Jake Roberts wasn't necessarily available because of injury Kaden Helms is just now getting back and and becoming available due to injury Kaden McIntyre was is also very limited at times uh and he's got size that he needs to put on if he wants to play tight end at at the SEC level so I I don't have a great feel for what the tight end position is going to be this year because you're bringing in a Bowers sharp who is at Southeastern Louisiana and I know he graded out well but I'm not gonna sit here and stack him up against SEC tight ends because the level of competition is very very different so the grade that he's got it's coming from the f FCS level that's not power five football Jake Roberts I think he's a a solid kind of Daniel Parker type tight end a dude that can do it all for you he's going to be a good blocker he's gonna be able to play in line you're gonna have him out there in two tight end sets three tight end sets goal line packages short yardage stuff and he's goingon to be able to move mountains there he's gonna be able to match up with edges and he's gonna be able to help you get those tough yards and I think he can provide something in the passing game but he's not going to be this I don't think he's gonna be Braden Willis I don't think he can produce like Brad Willis produced and so I could very well see a tight end by committee approach this year and if we can start to see the athleticism the past catching ability of a Kaden Helms rotating in in passing situations I think it gives you another element it gives you a dynamic that you haven't had but you still got to see it I think this is a group that's got a ton to prove and I just don't know if they're going to be able to do just that now you talked about Seth Latrell and his offense and again this is a guy that played HB for Oklahoma and is gonna have that that HB mindset he's going to try and get them the football and space and and let them pick up some easy yards I I think they could do that I think a guy like bers sharp could have a solid season because of his athleticism I just need to see it that's the tough part is that just about everything we have here right we don't have the concerns we have the questions and that is going to be a question for us when it comes to the tight end room and you're right Bowers sharp got all of those numbers there in the FCS era but at the same time he's as big and physical and sizey as he is and he played quarterback he kind of gets a little bit of a leg up with some of the other players out here to me in the SEC the biggest thing is he's again once he gets on the field and he's able to prove it by leveraging athleticism and actually getting catch isn't going yeah I know you'll be so on that point but cuz you're 100% right it the biggest thing is we need the proof of concept which sucks because we still got to wait like what four weeks we got about four weeks left before we really get some football coming on Friday we'll get four weeks away from the actual season then we'll get that our initial proof of concept and to me I'm going be honest when it comes to it and I'm going ask you this John I'm curious about your thoughts which game would make you a what game make will make you a believer of the tight room for me all I need to see them is show out against Temple if they show out against Temple I'm already sold on them which game is going to be the one that's gonna get you sold on this tight end room I mean probably that Auburn game so I think that's gonna be your your first like big physical test up front along the line of scrimmage so I need to see them be effective as blockers in the Run game because that's an important element to playing tight end but I also need to see them win some of their matchups over the middle and give Jackson arold some easy outs you know there are going to be challenges and Oklahoma's receivers are going to be tested they're going to be challenged at the line of scrimmage they're going to be put in some you know some press man you got to get some Easy Button throws for Jackson Arnold over the middle and if Bowers sharp can be that guy which I think he's got the the biggest potential to have a breakout season amongst the tight ends because I think they like his experience they like that he played quarterback they like the toughness they like the the workout you know Warrior mentality you know I think he's got the biggest potential to have that breakout season it's just okay Temple I'm not gonna I'm Not Gonna Know Much from Temple I'm not gonna know a whole lot more from Houston or t Lane I'll learn more I'll feel better about it if I see them go and put up like 554 in a touchdown from the tight end group as a whole if bow sharp does that by himself I'll feel much better about it but it's not going to be until that Auburn game seeing a couple SEC games where I see a little bit of tight end production again they may not go off for you know 10 and 120 and two touchdowns like a Mark Andrews might but if they can get me a consistent four for 45 four for 55 you know average 0.25 touchdowns a game this year man that's far and away better than what we got last year you know you get out of your tight end groups if you get six touchdowns combined you get 500 600 yards combin mind out of the tight end group I'll call that a successful season given the uncertainty that we have at the position going into this year we have a little bit of an answer about what the roster makeup for football is going to look like in the future as the NCAA is settling an important case we'll discuss coming up next Sean lockon Sooners college football analyst Ross Dinger and reporter I should say not just analy but report he does the leg work he's boots on the ground uh reported earlier on Wednesday that the NCAA has reached a settlement for what the roster limits will look like in college football moving forward there and for other sports as well and what the scholarship limits look like so as presently constructed uh football can have 80 scholarships and then a number of walk-on players up to a limit of 120 players well they're upping the scholarship ship limit to 105 now what this means for Walk-Ons we don't know because also the roster limit will be at 105 so Jay what's your take and what's your your reaction to the news that the roster limit is decreasing scholarship limits are increasing yeah digging into it man it it's talking about what it's saying roster limit it's going to be 105 which concerns me right we're used to 120 and I guess for now what's up in the air is what looks like when it comes to the preferred walk- on system right today that is a very beneficial component to what these teams do because they need the bodies right football is very physical and unfortunately as much as we love this Sport and I love the physicality of it this is this is this generation's version of Gladiators back in the like 1600s these dudes put their bodies on the line every single weekend I mean technically they say statistically it's like going through like 30 or 40 small car accidents every single day by the way that they hit each other yeah it sucks but at the same time we love it and I do so you need to have those extra players in for reps you need those extra players in to help with like planning out and scheming and mapping out for your next game what sucks about it is if they get rid of those preferred Walk-Ons man it's going to put a lot of teams behind IND the eightball I'm just curious to what some of these teams are going to do if they don't have that component available to help them strategize for the season yeah and let me correct myself it's 85 is the current scholarship limit not 80 so you're getting a 20 scholarship bump but I find it fascinating that we're increasing the schedule the the number of potential games that college football teams will play while also decreasing the roster I that doesn't sit well with me because you're asking now college football players to potentially play as many as 16 or 17 games in a season with the expanded college football playoff and there's talk of going from 12 to 16 down the road which right now okay if you get a buy then you're playing maybe three college football playoff games in addition to what your schedule was well it expands to 16 and everybody's gonna have to play they have to play Four to win a National Title so I don't love the idea of decreasing the roster limit and potentially really causing depth issues as you get later into the season recruiting is going to become so much more important and so much more valuable this is going to help some of the halves like a Georgia abama Texas Oklahoma because you're going to be able to take more both in the transfer portal and on the recruiting front as opposed to having to get creative with nil resources you're going to be able to just say Andy bass you're on scholarship you know um you know as opposed to looking at some of the the the guys that you like in the transfer portal but maybe you're not gonna have space for well you're gonna have space for them now you may not have to Pro quote unquote process guys uh to get under the scholarship limit you know there there are going to be some roster construction issues that guys like Curtis Lofton and and Brent venables are going to have to work through and manage and figure out figure out and I'm with you man I don't really like the idea of eliminating the Walk-Ons I I think that has been a an intriguing integral part of college football for a lot of years I mean we have a whole movie devoted to a dude walking on and going and and getting and earning playing time one of the greatest sports movies of all time in Rudy if you don't have the walk-on situation you don't have Walk-Ons you don't potentially have a baker Mayfield situation or a ston Bennett situation like you really or or gav Drake Stoops or Freeman now some of those Walk-Ons might get scholarship opportunities but I think what happens is those guys that are quote unquote Walk-Ons you're not seeing them rostered you're seeing Oklahoma go after more four stars go after more three star prospects and those Walk-Ons kind of having to go the the smaller school route to the the group of five you know what what makes me what question comes to mind with this is so we all know that these teams get very creative when it comes to doing the scholarship piece as well as the nil plus type setup right and the nil plus nil uh n the pwo plus nil my apologies you know word salad here but the kind of point of that is and in some situations logically it makes more sense when you have graduate transfers to put them on pwo plus nil because it's a lot cheaper they're staying off campus regardless and it's a lot cheaper on the tuition side because they're grad student they're not paying the traditional higher tuition that you would get because they're playing taking less hours than you would in undergrad so having players like a dejon Terry a Dominic Williams right like a Kaden Ward it makes more sense to get them on pwo plus nil than it is would be to give them a scholarship so when once you eliminate that capabilities it it feels like it's going to handicap even some of your bigger schools who was using the ability to put them on a non-scholarship and and save the scholarship for the younger players it makes them now have to figure out those 20 additional like we're going to have to finagle some things if we want you know to to get these players on the team that's the question I have is how is that going to affect the W roster construction when you get to those graduates the ones that you want on a nil type pwo setup because like I said cost-wise it's so much cheaper to put them on on that instead of wasting a scholarship that you can take that and put give it to a player that you know a younger undergraduate player in comparison that's the one thing jumped to my mind yeah it's interesting somebody that's coming out of high school you know you want to have that setup for him you know as an incoming freshman to be able to take advantage of all the resources and and and things that are that are on campus whereas a veteran you're not as concerned about being on campus they can be off campus because they've kind of proven that they can get to campus and they can get to practice and workouts and all that stuff so man I think that's going to be one of the topics that gets brought up whenever OU has its media days and speaks with Bren venables because you know he and davo Sweeney and I think Nick Sabin I've heard even talk positively you know and and want to keep the walk-on situation Kirby Smart so many coaches have come out of this walk-on movement over the who knows you know how many years the walk-on movement has been a part of college football but coaches have gotten opportunities to get their foot in the door with programs and then work their way up the the coaching ladder starting off as walk-on so it's gonna be it's gonna be really intriguing to see now what that does for college football because the transfer portal kind of messed some things up with high school recruiting where there weren't as many opportunities especially in the covid era where guys were staying in for five six sometimes seven or eight years because of medical red shirts and things like that how that kind of messed up opportunities for high school recruits and then the transfer portal as well well now getting that 20 scholarship bump maybe it opens the door for more opportunities out of the high school level so it's going to be fascinating to see how this all plays out at the Collegiate level especially at the power four level uh here in the coming years but it's going to it's going to be something we'll cover here on lockon Sooners as we continue to cover recruiting transfer portal all that stuff so make sure you're subscribed to the show where wherever you get your podcast free and available on all podcast platforms and on YouTube go follow Jay on Twitter unfair Sports myself john9 Williams and you can also subscribe to the locked on Sooners Insider program by texting SEC 2024 to 405 81767 one1 to get 25% off your first month that's where you can have direct one-on-one conversations with myself and Jay you can get you know give us questions give us feedback give us uh topics for the show over there at the lockon center Insider program again text SEC 2024 to 4058 81 76711 the show is lockon Sooners on all your social media platforms subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcast and make us your first listen of the day shout out to all the every dayers now go check out the locked on sports today 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app locked on sports today is here for you 247 covering the the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of locked on plus our national shows covering every League find locked on sports today now available on the free Fire TV channels app we'll have more for you on our next show where we'll dig into some of those questions that we're getting from the lockdown Center Insider program again follow Jay he's Jay I'm John Williams we'll catch you next time Boomer Sooner