With Week 0 finally here and Oklahoma set to open its 2026 season against UTEP on Friday, the Sooners are moving from months of offseason noise into the part that actually counts. No one knows exactly where Brent Venables’ team will land when it’s all over, but there are a few signs of what would make the year feel like a real success.
If Oklahoma is going to stack up the kind of season Sooner Nation is hoping for, these are the five superlatives that would tell the story.
John Mateer is the obvious centerpiece. After playing through a hand injury last season, the returning starter has been the biggest question for analysts trying to size up just how much better Oklahoma can be in 2026.
The expectation is that the Sooners can climb beyond last year’s 10-win mark, and Mateer is the reason why. He doesn’t need a massive statistical leap to deliver a career year, though a better touchdown-to-interception ratio would certainly help.
With more offensive weapons around him and a stronger, more experienced offensive line in front of him, Mateer is positioned to steer Oklahoma to a second straight 10-win season and back into the College Football Playoff.
On the defensive side, Adepoju “PJ” Adebawore looks like the player most ready to turn potential into production. The senior edge rusher has the size, length and talent to be one of the SEC’s top pass rushers, but three seasons in Norman haven’t yet matched the hype that came with his five-star status.
Last year offered a glimpse, with 17 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. Now he has a chance to lock down the starting job opposite Taylor Wein and produce the kind of season Oklahoma expected when it signed him in the 2023 class.
Doubling his 2025 numbers wouldn’t be a surprise.
Among the newcomers, freshman running back Jonathan Hatton Jr. is the one who could change the tone of Oklahoma’s ground game. Improving the run game was one of the Sooners’ top offseason goals, and Hatton arrives with the kind of profile that has people buzzing.
Former Oklahoma Butkus Award winner Teddy Lehman said on “The Oklahoma breakdown with Ikard and Lehman” podcast, "Hatton is looking better and better," Lehman added, "You've got a 235-pound tailback that's one of the fastest guys on the team. So, we have a dude."
Hatton, ranked as the No. 6 running back in the 2026 class by 247Sports, has also drawn comparisons to Adrian Peterson, Samaje Perine and Marcus Dupree. Stormin in Norman contributor Kellen Coleman wrote that his film shows "a powerful back who can navigate the 'trash' at the line of scrimmage, but also one who can hit the gas and win a track meet once he breaks through," and called him potentially the next Oklahoma freshman phenom.
Few defenders on this roster carry more intrigue than David Stone. The former five-star was viewed as a future star when he arrived for the spring semester in 2024, and his role has grown steadily since.
He played in all 13 games as a freshman but logged only 94 defensive snaps. Last season, as a sophomore, he made a much bigger impact with 42 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and six quarterback hurries.
CBS Sports recently ranked him No. 7 on its list of the 26 most-feared defensive players in college football ahead of the 2026 season, and this week he was named one of Oklahoma’s captains. He also earned preseason All-American recognition from the Walter Camp Foundation and Phil Steele.
And then there’s Texas. No matter what the polls say, the Red River Rivalry remains the biggest game on Oklahoma’s calendar every year.
Texas enters the season ranked No. 5 in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll and could be sitting at No. 1 by the time the game arrives if it beats No. 1 Ohio State in Week 2.
Oklahoma has dropped three of the last four meetings, but this is the one the Sooners are circling. In this scenario, John Mateer outduels Heisman Trophy favorite Arch Manning, former Longhorn Parker Livingstone scores a touchdown, and Oklahoma walks out with a 28-24 upset over the heavily favored Longhorns.
In Other News...
Oklahoma Is Suddenly In A Massive Recruiting Battle Brent Venables Wanted
Oklahomas recruiting momentum is starting to show up in the kind of battles Brent Venables has wanted to win. Jay Schell, a consensus four-star linebacker from Rabun Gap, Georgia, has trimmed his list to the Sooners and Clemson, putting Oklahoma squarely in the mix for one of the most sought-after defenders in the 2028 class.
The Sooners are also working to stack more talent around him, with top 2028 prospects Kellan Hall and Major Stokes already lined up for official visits. And the staff is not waiting around for the next cycle, either, with offers out to 2029 receiver Jaedon White and linebacker Kingston Stroshine as Oklahoma keeps pressing on multiple fronts. [Read more 🡒]
Former OU Quarterbacks Just Landed The Fresh Starts Fans Expected
Jackson Arnold and Michael Hawkins Jr. both spent time in the spotlight at Oklahoma, and now each is headed into a fresh start as a starter at a new program. Arnold has won the job at UNLV and is set to open the season against Memphis in Week 0, while Hawkins has emerged at West Virginia and is expected to take the first snaps when the Mountaineers open against Coastal Carolina.
For Sooners fans, it is a reminder that two quarterbacks who left Norman found new paths quickly and, at least for now, settled into the roles they were after. Arnold and Hawkins both transferred out and then beat out the competition at their new schools, giving their next chapters immediate relevance before either program even gets into the heart of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Which Former Sooners Are Turning NFL Preseason Buzz Into Real Security
The NFL preseason always creates a last sorting exercise for former Sooners, and this summer offered a few encouraging signs for Oklahoma fans tracking those roster battles. R Mason Thomas put together a strong run for the Kansas City Chiefs, while safety Robert Spears-Jennings and linebacker Kendal Daniels also helped their cases with promising work that could carry them onto 53-man rosters.
Dillon Gabriel already has his result in hand after making the Cleveland Browns' 53-man roster, a meaningful step for a former Oklahoma quarterback trying to carve out his place at the next level. Not every ex-Sooner came away with good news, though, as offensive lineman Wanya Morris was released by the Atlanta Falcons, a reminder that even solid preseason stretches can still leave some futures hanging in the balance. [Read more 🡒]