NORMAN - Jake Kreul keeps finding ways to show up in the biggest moments of his freshman season.
The Oklahoma defensive end, a former 5-star recruit, has already carved out a real role for the Sooners’ defense through nine games. He has 9 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks, production that has come while he’s still settling into college football.
His latest work came in Oklahoma’s 23-7 road win over Florida, where Kreul was on the field for 24 snaps. He finished with a 69.2 Pro Football Focus defensive grade and hit Gators quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. twice.
That kind of impact has made him hard to ignore inside the locker room, too. Veteran linebacker Owen Heinecke said Kreul has quickly become one of the team’s more vocal players, and he pointed to the freshman’s personality as a big reason he’s been able to contribute so early.
"He's an awesome person in the locker room,” Heinecke said. “He's got an infectious personality.
He's a hard worker and he's just happy. So he brings a light to the locker room that we need.”
Kreul arrived at Oklahoma with plenty of hype. ESPN rated him a 5-star prospect, while 247Sports and Rivals listed him as a 4-star recruit.
At IMG Academy in Florida, he put together a senior season that included 36 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hurries, 4 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 2 pass breakups. He chose the Sooners over Ole Miss, Texas, Ohio State and several other major programs.
He made his presence felt right away. In Oklahoma’s 51-0 win over UTEP, Kreul helped on a sack and posted an 82.4 PFF defensive grade despite playing just 10 snaps. His role stayed limited over the next three games, though he did record his first-career solo tackle late in the Sooners’ 41-13 loss at Georgia.
The last five games have brought more of the flash plays that hint at what he can become. In Oklahoma’s 27-24 upset of No.
1 Texas, Kreul pressured Arch Manning in the fourth quarter and helped force the interception that Peyton Bowen returned for a touchdown. A week later, he delivered 2.5 sacks in the Sooners’ 21-13 loss to Kentucky, including one on a fourth down in the fourth quarter.
"He's a fast player, and he brings a lot to our defense,” Heinecke said.
Kreul is part of a deep edge group that includes veterans Taylor Wein, Adepoju Adebawore and Danny Okoye. Oklahoma doesn’t need him to carry the load on every snap yet, but he’s already giving the defense another problem to solve.
“People have to game plan for him whether he's on the field for 10 snaps a game or 40,” Heinecke said. “The offense has gotta be ready for it. So just another layer of depth and another special player in the making.”
In Other News...
College GameDay Gave Oklahoma Fans A Wild Twist Amid Ole Miss Chaos
A telecommunications outage that rippled through air traffic control created plenty of headaches around the sport on Saturday, including a ground stop that helped force a change to the Oklahoma-Ole Miss schedule. While the Sooners and Rebels dealt with the fallout, ESPNs College GameDay still went on as planned at Boise State, giving college football fans a live look at how the days travel chaos was affecting the broader landscape.
Pat McAfee turned the disruption into part of the show, arriving on horseback in a nod to the travel problems that had already thrown the morning off course. The bit played well with the Boise State crowd, and it was a reminder that even on a messy day for logistics, GameDay can still find a way to lean into the moment. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Fans Wont Like How This Ole Miss Decision Was Made
A scheduling wrinkle turned into a bigger headache for Oklahoma on Friday, when the SEC moved the Sooners game against Ole Miss from Saturday to Sunday because a nationwide FAA ground stoppage disrupted the Rebels travel plans. The matchup is now set for a noon kickoff, and television coverage has not yet been announced, leaving one more detail hanging over a game that was already drawing plenty of attention.
For Oklahoma, the frustration is less about the delay than the process behind it. The Sooners athletic director objected to the decision, and the leagues stance made the stakes clear: if the game could not be played Sunday, it would be a forfeit. For a conference race that already leaves little margin for error, it is the kind of ruling that can leave one side feeling like it had no real say in the matter. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Blasts SEC Over Disruptive Ole Miss Decision
A chaotic travel day turned into a bigger football headache for Oklahoma when the SEC shifted its game at Ole Miss from Saturday to Sunday after a nationwide FAA groundstop snarled flights across the country. Oklahoma opposed the move, but the league made clear the game had to be played at the rescheduled time, even as Ole Miss dealt with its own travel problems and could not get to the field on time.
For the Sooners, the issue was not just the inconvenience of a one-day delay but the way the decision was handled under pressure. The leagues warning of a forfeit if the game was not played Sunday only sharpened the tension around a matchup already thrown off by circumstances well beyond the teams control, leaving Oklahoma to absorb the disruption and move on to an altered schedule. [Read more 🡒]