Brent Venables gushes over quarterback depth of Oklahoma Sooners, 'We're better than we were at any time a year ago'
After a disastrous 2024 season under center thanks to Jackson Arnold, Brent Venables and new Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle made it a point to attack the position in the transfer portal to transform the position. They added their starter in top-tier transfer John Mateer, whom Venables has openly praised. At SEC Media Days, […]
After a disastrous 2024 season under center thanks to Jackson Arnold, Brent Venables and new Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle made it a point to attack the position in the transfer portal to transform the position.
They added their starter in top-tier transfer John Mateer, whom Venables has openly praised. At SEC Media Days, Venables spoke about the rest of the room, including the only returning quarterback in Michael Hawkins Jr.
"We’ve got an improved Mike Hawkins. A guy that’s got tremendous potential, incredibly explosive, elite arm talent, elite escapability. And all he did all spring, even during the season, you saw him play well a good portion of our bowl game. And now with six months of being in a system, and quarterback development. Then going through the summer, expect him to improve and be ready to play and help us win, when needed, here this year."
Hawkins flashed talent throughout the year as a freshman, but made plenty of freshman mistakes as well. The leap between his last game and his performance in the bowl game was notable, however, and could be an encouraging sign of his development under Arbuckle and new quarterbacks coach John Kuceyeski.
In the spring transfer portal, the Oklahoma Sooners made a bit of a surprising move, heavily pursuing Mercer transfer quarterback Whitt Newbauer and bringing him to Norman despite adding John Mateer as their starting quarterback.
While the original thought was that Newbauer would just serve as the depth third-string option, Brent Venables might have added a little more intrigue to his stock.
At SEC Media Days, Venables raved about Newbauer's potential and upside as a passer.
"Whitt Newbauer is a guy that, man, we’re really fired up about. He’s got three years still and had an excellent freshman year, he’s a winner, he’s got great size, he’s got nice arm talent. Mobile. Is a guy who’s got a bright, bright future. A guy that, with his addition, we’ve made that quarterback room better than at any point in time we were a year ago."
Maybe the Sooners envision Newbauer as a long-term investment to compete for a starting job down the line?
If Mateer hits this season, he could elect to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft. If that happens, the Sooners need to find a new quarterback of the future. In this scenario, Newbauer and Hawkins could compete for the starting job for a season while whichever 2026 quarterback the Sooners bring in develops.
Regardless, Venables' optimism and excitement while speaking about this room is a complete tone shift from how he sounded last summer. Some reason for hope.
