Kip Lewis had the NFL on the table, but he chose one more year in Norman.
That decision gave Oklahoma a major offseason boost, bringing back a redshirt senior linebacker who has already piled up 209 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and two interceptions - and both of those picks went back for touchdowns. Just as important, Lewis has grown into one of the emotional anchors in the Sooners’ locker room.
Lewis said the choice came after plenty of conversations with the people closest to him, plus a few key voices inside the program.
"I talked to a lot of people," Lewis said. "Mostly, my family and then my dad.
He was just giving me key points that he felt like I should have come back... Mostly talked to a couple of my teammates like John (Mateer) and Isaiah (Sategna), getting their thoughts on what their plan was.
I asked Danny (Stutsman) for advice. Talked to him for a little bit.
Advice from Danny really stood out to me."
That last part matters. Stutsman was in a similar spot after his strong 2023 season, opted to return to Oklahoma in 2024 and followed it with another big year before going in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Lewis is clearly betting on the same formula: stay, develop and give himself another chance to raise his stock.
For Oklahoma, the payoff is obvious. Lewis is back as one of the most experienced and productive linebackers in the country, and if he keeps leading the way he has throughout his career, his final season in Norman could put him firmly among college football’s top defensive players.
In Other News...
Oklahoma May Finally Be Seeing The David Stone Payoff
David Stones rise has been one of the more encouraging developments for Oklahomas defense, especially for a player who arrived with the kind of recruiting profile that can create instant pressure and instant expectations. The five-star defensive tackle was used sparingly as a true freshman, but his second season looked much more like the version the Sooners hoped they were getting, with 42 tackles and eight tackles for loss while becoming harder and harder to ignore on the interior.
Now Stone is drawing national attention as one of the top defensive tackles in college football, and the praise around him has only sharpened the focus on what comes next for Oklahoma. His production already gives the Sooners a disruptive presence up front, and with analysts pointing to him as a potential difference-maker, the bigger question is how much more he can elevate a defense that will be leaning on him heavily moving forward. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Is Being Held To A National Title Standard Again
After finishing 10-3 and getting back to the College Football Playoff, Oklahoma is once again being judged by a standard that used to define the program: not just whether it can make the field, but whether it can chase a national title. That shift matters in Norman, where the expectation has moved beyond simply recovering from a disappointing season and back toward the kind of ceiling that turns a good year into a memorable one.
The optimism around the Sooners comes with clear conditions. The defense has to stay strong, and the offense has to take a real step forward under quarterback John Mateer. If both sides of the ball come together, Oklahoma could find itself in the national championship conversation again, with a path that feels a lot closer to the programs old championship standard than its recent rebuilding phase. [Read more 🡒]
Brent Venables Keeps Giving Oklahoma Fans A Reason To Believe
Since Brent Venables took over before the 2022 season, Oklahoma has had a knack for turning overlooked or lightly celebrated recruits into real SEC contributors. That matters in a league where roster-building is supposed to be as much about development as it is about signing-day splash, and the Sooners have already seen that approach pay off in the trenches and on the back end of the defense.
Gracen Halton, Taylor Wein, Eli Bowen and Courtland Guillory all fit the same broader pattern: players who arrived with questions and quickly became part of the answer. For Oklahoma fans, the encouraging part is not just that Venables has found talent, but that the staff keeps identifying it early and getting it ready for bigger roles before the rest of the conference fully catches on. [Read more 🡒]