OU football: Sooners look for stability after 'tremendous' roster turnover

ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s not uncommon for Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables to come prepared with statistics about his program when he addresses the media. Standing on a grand stage in the middle of AT&T Stadium at the Big 12’s media days, Venables once again used numbers to capture the Sooners’ current situation — the team only won six of its 13 games last season, ranked 99th in scoring defense and allowed 4.4 yards per carry while the nation’s best was around 2.4 yards per carry. Oklahoma’s second-year coach often leans on numbers as a way to benchmark how his team is performing relative to the rest of the country. Perhaps the most telling number Venables rattled off was 97. Out of the 123 players on the Sooners’ roster, 97 will be playing their first or second season with the program. “The real trick — having 63 newcomers and guys that are showing up for the first time — is how quickly can we get those 63 newcomers to blend in with the returning players and buy-in to all the things we’re talking about,” Venables said. “I don’t take that for granted, the chemistry, the cohesion, that’s critical. It’s a big part of developing a winning environment, a team that’s capable of winning each and every week.” The Sooners will be replacing six starters on offense and five on defense. The defense might have more players returning, but even those players will need to build experience. Of the Sooners’ six returning defensive players, only Woodi Washington (23) has more than 16 career starts. The receiving corps, now in its first offseason under the direction of first-year receivers coach Emmett Jones, returns just two starters from last season in Drake Stoops and Jalil Farooq. The Sooners’ returners only accounted for 32.6% of last year’s receiving production. Oklahoma returns 3,112 of its 6,130 all-purpose yards from last season (45%). “You’ve gotta be good enough, but I’m looking for the right kind of people that got the right kind of stuff,” Venables said about the transfer portal. “Our current players, they’ve been amazing at welcoming these guys and helping them along the way and teaching them. I can’t do it alone. I’m one person. Installing and holding guys accountable to a culture and the values and the expectations of our program, it’s everybody doing exactly that. So it’s been a lot of fun. It is a great challenge.” Depth became an issue for the Sooners by the end of the season, and Venables said he thinks the team will have more competitive depth this season. The Sooners came away with 17 players in the transfer portal and ranked ninth on 247Sports’ Transfer Portal Team Rankings. The 2023 recruiting class also finished fourth in the country and second in the Big 12 by 247Sports. "There's been tremendous roster turnover,” Venables said. “We desire a roster of stability and consistency. I think that's what lends to success and sustainability.”