Morning gentlemen (and ladies),
As we prepare for Navy and to enhance our team thru the portal I feel like things are going about how we anticipated. In truth, I'm pleasantly surprised it's not worse. Most of our portal casualties have been addition by subtraction or depth pieces that probably created a win/win for both parties.
Here I'll discuss some portal needs, wants and surprises. I have to say... @Parker Thune posted a player chart that made it clear and easy to see the amount of talented depth we've stacked over the past 3 classes. The cupboard isn't bare and in all honesty the writing was on the wall for most of our portal guys, outside the medical guys.
Before we dive into that, i do want to touch one other item. The recipe I believe is necessary to win a championship. And im not talking position groups and recruiting classes. All of you are smart enough to know the correlation between recruiting stars/rankings and championships. I'm talking 3 key ingredients:
1. Offensive and Defensive Identity - i think this one is the easiest for us Sooner fans to come to terms with. Between the Linc years offenses and the past season on defense, we've witnessed an entire side of the ball be good, excellent or down right DOMINANT while the other side is terrible. Our offense last season (between injuries, incompetence, and lack of talent) was a sobering reminder to the Bake and Kyler defenses who could have won championships with just a little bit of help.
2. Culture - i think about our 2000 team and the UM teams shortly after or the USC teams after that. Tebow, Kirby, Saban, even the TCU team who recently lost to Georgia in the title game...in their respective seasons, championship teams develop swagger that starts with a leader or coach and based upon our school, its record, and the lack of star power leaving for the portal (aside from the medical staff issue) we're in really solid shape. BV will have a chance to show how strong his culture is next season but initial thgts are that the lack of top shelf talent leaving is a good sign.
3. Qb play - okay, i did say leave out position groups, but this particular position is so important. If both of the other ingredients are REALLY strong, then a tough and competent qb can get the job done, but most often..this ingredient will win and lose you games throughout the season. Ours simply hasn't been good enough the past season...and really 3 to since Caleb left (i don't wanna hear DG 2023 with this roster vs DG with that roster this year. Check the other two ingredients and get back to me).
Surprises: im surprised Farooq is in the portal. I selfishly hoped he'd stick and I feel like he's playing with fire hoping he gets a good school and will compete at a new school. He's talented, but OU knows that and i feel they'd ensure he's featured and fed the ball if healthy. My only other surprise (as of now) is a lack of our young talented defenders in the portal. On all three levels, if the culture was bad or even stagnant guys would be publicly bouncing. They aren't..and thats a good sign. We'll see how things play out after fhe Bowl Game. Being the 27th isn't a bad thing.
Needs: we needed an OC most and we made a risky but impactful hire. We need an alpha QB. I happen to believe we have one on the roster, but we need an incumbent. It'll be interesting to see how Hawk plays and if the staff and Arbuckle like him and feel like a Spring signee to come in as a two is the way to go. By no means am i saying that's what I want or think, but it came to my head and it could be possible. However, in my mind we need a dawg. We need a Tackle, Inside Guy and at least 1TE. We also will need 2 portal wrs. I believe some of our younger guys will play better when the qb can anticipate and throw them open, but i like the sound of Burks, Gibson and the two portal guys + our young guys in an offense with an identity. The talent is there. RBs will need a depth piece as well. Preferred a home run hitter. On defense we need 1 or 2 DEs that can get after a qb, 1 backer for depth or a stud along side Kip and at least 1 cb. Safety is good unless we can get a 6'3 rangy safety.
Wants: i want Mateer or Mailik Murphy. I think either would be a perfect fit at qb and both have proven they can win with lessor talent throwing and running the ball. I want the Kentucky portal wr. Kids a stud and has played well against bigtime opponents. I want Luke H the Arky TE who originally committed to Linc. I also want Daniels, another kid who committed to us before heading to Stillwater. I want the Rice tackle...hell yeah i want big long guys like him, who've played a ton. Sign me up. The "want" category is personal, but the point is...we need name guys who have done it on the college level who are looking for an upgrade and chance to win a ship. And we need about 5 to 7 of those guys. After the playoffs and the top 12 teams start losing..other players will emerge. We need a solid dose of SEC and other Playoff caliber good players so im okay with patience.
I can't think of 1 player who's left for the portal that is irreplaceable. Jackson could be great but his departure is good for both sides. Anderson hurt, but the writing was on the wall in October. Farooq is surprising and to a lessor degree McC is as well, but all make perfect sense. In two seasons he couldn't snag any starting position or stay healthy.
We win the portal and establish a qb to run this offense and we have all three ingredients necessary to win. This is a huge opportunity for BV. I hope they knock it out the park because 2025 will be "All In" and we need to come out of it all spades.
As we prepare for Navy and to enhance our team thru the portal I feel like things are going about how we anticipated. In truth, I'm pleasantly surprised it's not worse. Most of our portal casualties have been addition by subtraction or depth pieces that probably created a win/win for both parties.
Here I'll discuss some portal needs, wants and surprises. I have to say... @Parker Thune posted a player chart that made it clear and easy to see the amount of talented depth we've stacked over the past 3 classes. The cupboard isn't bare and in all honesty the writing was on the wall for most of our portal guys, outside the medical guys.
Before we dive into that, i do want to touch one other item. The recipe I believe is necessary to win a championship. And im not talking position groups and recruiting classes. All of you are smart enough to know the correlation between recruiting stars/rankings and championships. I'm talking 3 key ingredients:
1. Offensive and Defensive Identity - i think this one is the easiest for us Sooner fans to come to terms with. Between the Linc years offenses and the past season on defense, we've witnessed an entire side of the ball be good, excellent or down right DOMINANT while the other side is terrible. Our offense last season (between injuries, incompetence, and lack of talent) was a sobering reminder to the Bake and Kyler defenses who could have won championships with just a little bit of help.
2. Culture - i think about our 2000 team and the UM teams shortly after or the USC teams after that. Tebow, Kirby, Saban, even the TCU team who recently lost to Georgia in the title game...in their respective seasons, championship teams develop swagger that starts with a leader or coach and based upon our school, its record, and the lack of star power leaving for the portal (aside from the medical staff issue) we're in really solid shape. BV will have a chance to show how strong his culture is next season but initial thgts are that the lack of top shelf talent leaving is a good sign.
3. Qb play - okay, i did say leave out position groups, but this particular position is so important. If both of the other ingredients are REALLY strong, then a tough and competent qb can get the job done, but most often..this ingredient will win and lose you games throughout the season. Ours simply hasn't been good enough the past season...and really 3 to since Caleb left (i don't wanna hear DG 2023 with this roster vs DG with that roster this year. Check the other two ingredients and get back to me).
Surprises: im surprised Farooq is in the portal. I selfishly hoped he'd stick and I feel like he's playing with fire hoping he gets a good school and will compete at a new school. He's talented, but OU knows that and i feel they'd ensure he's featured and fed the ball if healthy. My only other surprise (as of now) is a lack of our young talented defenders in the portal. On all three levels, if the culture was bad or even stagnant guys would be publicly bouncing. They aren't..and thats a good sign. We'll see how things play out after fhe Bowl Game. Being the 27th isn't a bad thing.
Needs: we needed an OC most and we made a risky but impactful hire. We need an alpha QB. I happen to believe we have one on the roster, but we need an incumbent. It'll be interesting to see how Hawk plays and if the staff and Arbuckle like him and feel like a Spring signee to come in as a two is the way to go. By no means am i saying that's what I want or think, but it came to my head and it could be possible. However, in my mind we need a dawg. We need a Tackle, Inside Guy and at least 1TE. We also will need 2 portal wrs. I believe some of our younger guys will play better when the qb can anticipate and throw them open, but i like the sound of Burks, Gibson and the two portal guys + our young guys in an offense with an identity. The talent is there. RBs will need a depth piece as well. Preferred a home run hitter. On defense we need 1 or 2 DEs that can get after a qb, 1 backer for depth or a stud along side Kip and at least 1 cb. Safety is good unless we can get a 6'3 rangy safety.
Wants: i want Mateer or Mailik Murphy. I think either would be a perfect fit at qb and both have proven they can win with lessor talent throwing and running the ball. I want the Kentucky portal wr. Kids a stud and has played well against bigtime opponents. I want Luke H the Arky TE who originally committed to Linc. I also want Daniels, another kid who committed to us before heading to Stillwater. I want the Rice tackle...hell yeah i want big long guys like him, who've played a ton. Sign me up. The "want" category is personal, but the point is...we need name guys who have done it on the college level who are looking for an upgrade and chance to win a ship. And we need about 5 to 7 of those guys. After the playoffs and the top 12 teams start losing..other players will emerge. We need a solid dose of SEC and other Playoff caliber good players so im okay with patience.
I can't think of 1 player who's left for the portal that is irreplaceable. Jackson could be great but his departure is good for both sides. Anderson hurt, but the writing was on the wall in October. Farooq is surprising and to a lessor degree McC is as well, but all make perfect sense. In two seasons he couldn't snag any starting position or stay healthy.
We win the portal and establish a qb to run this offense and we have all three ingredients necessary to win. This is a huge opportunity for BV. I hope they knock it out the park because 2025 will be "All In" and we need to come out of it all spades.
