Oklahoma’s 2025 season gave Brent Venables and the Sooners plenty to build on, and the advanced numbers point to a roster that already has some strong 2026 answers in place.
The headline result was clear enough: Oklahoma made the College Football Playoff for the first time under Venables and finished 10-3. The defense carried a huge share of the load, finishing first in the SEC in scoring defense, total defense and sacks. That allowed the Sooners to keep winning even when the offense was uneven.
The new season starts Friday, Sept. 4, when Oklahoma hosts UTEP, but the early signs for 2026 already look encouraging in a few key spots.
Isaiah Sategna’s late-season burst was obvious to anyone watching, and the underlying numbers back it up in a big way. In his first year at Oklahoma, the receiver put up 965 yards and eight touchdowns on 67 catches, with three receptions longer than 50 yards.
His deep-ball production stands out even more: on targets 20 yards or deeper, Sategna earned a 96.7 Pro Football Focus receiving grade. Of his 965 yards, 301 came on deep throws, and he didn’t drop a deep pass all season.
The 5-10, 185-pound receiver also finished with 524 yards after catch.
That kind of downfield threat gave quarterback John Mateer a reliable outlet when the offense sputtered, and even with Oklahoma having upgraded its receiver room, Sategna’s ability to stretch the field will matter again in 2026.
There are also reasons to like the Sooners’ chances of getting more out of the run game. The key is the offensive line opening real lanes, and Oklahoma brings back two blockers who graded out well there.
Center Jake Maikkula posted an 81.1 PFF run-blocking grade, the best of OU’s returning offensive linemen. A Stanford transfer who arrived before the 2025 season, Maikkula made his presence felt right away and played 710 snaps.
Guard Eddy Pierre-Louis wasn’t far behind. The redshirt sophomore finished his first full college season with a 79.2 run-blocking grade, and both Maikkula and Pierre-Louis are expected to start.
That should matter for the backs trying to run behind the middle of the line.
On the other side of the ball, safety Michael Boganowski gave Oklahoma a hard-hitting presence all season. He totaled 31 tackles and missed only two in his sophomore year, finishing with an 83.2 tackling grade. Only Sammy Omosigho, at 90.1, and Kendel Dolby, at 83.4, graded higher among Sooners defenders, and both transferred out after the season.
Boganowski played in all 13 games in 2025, and his role should grow even more in 2026 now that Robert Spears-Jennings has played his final college game. Based on how well he finished tackles last season, Oklahoma appears to have a strong candidate to help absorb that loss.
In Other News...
Oklahoma Fans Just Got An Annoying Opener Change Before Michigan
Oklahomas 2026 season opener is getting an earlier start than planned, with the UTEP game now set for Friday night, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. CT at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The matchup was shifted from Saturday, and it will be carried on SEC Network+ instead of a major network, a change that makes the first game of the season a little less marquee on the broadcast side even as it keeps the Sooners at home under the lights.
Athletic director Roger Denny pointed to the heat that can hang over early-season games in Oklahoma as the reason for the move, saying the change should create a more comfortable environment for fans and staff. There is also a practical football angle tucked into the adjustment, since the Friday kickoff gives Oklahoma a little more time before a huge Week 2 trip to Michigan, even if the opener itself now comes with a slightly different feel than the one fans were expecting. [Read more 🡒]
New NCAA Change Could Quietly Reshape Oklahoma's Future Depth
A new NCAA eligibility tweak could wind up mattering far more in Norman than it first appears. The Division I Cabinet approved a rule that gives student-athletes five years of eligibility if they enroll no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday, a change that effectively eliminates redshirts and gives rising seniors another season if they have not already used one. For Oklahoma, the ripple effect could be felt across the roster, with several young Sooners suddenly looking at a longer runway than they expected.
Adepoju Adebawore, Jacobe Johnson, Xavier Robinson, Michael Boganowski and Elijah Thomas are among the players who could benefit if the rule holds up and their paths stay on track. For a program trying to build and sustain depth at the same time, that matters just as much as immediate production, because an extra year can change how a staff manages development, playing time and long-term planning, even if the full impact will not be clear right away. [Read more 🡒]
Oklahoma Earns Walter Camp Respect With Two Sooners On Preseason List
Oklahomas special teams and defensive front both got a little more national attention this week, with Walter Camp placing kicker Tate Sandell on its Preseason All-America first team and defensive tackle David Stone on the second team. For a program trying to keep building on its momentum, those kinds of honors matter because they point to proven production in two areas that can swing tight games all season long.
Sandell already showed last fall that he can be more than steady, and Stone backed up his value by emerging as one of the Sooners most productive linemen. Now both enter 2026 as key pieces for a team that expects to be in the thick of the College Football Playoff chase again, even if the bigger question is how much more each of them can still give this group. [Read more 🡒]