re: Fall 2026 generic catch all football thread

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

From the Oklahoman:

---

quote:

---

By Berry Tramel

NORMAN — Retention is king with Sooner football these days. Brent Venables preaches culture, recruits to culture and wins with culture.

But there’s a financial component to culture, too.

And OU put its money where its mouth is.

Optimism soars over OU’s 2026 season, which begins Friday against Texas-El Paso, and that optimism is evidenced by the salary upgrade suggested by general manager Jim Nagy, according to a prominent OU source.

Noting all the defensive stalwarts who emerged during the 2025 season, Nagy suggested to the OU leadership group, including Venables and then-chairman of football Randall Stephenson, that OU dip into its 2027 projected budget to pad the payments to the vital players who could return in 2026.

“This defense, these guys who are costing a fortune, ain’t no way they’re going to be here in 2027,” the source said Nagy said. “So therefore we’ll invest heavily in 2026, bank that we’re going to be able to average down with newer players coming into 2027.”

And return they did. I don’t know any figures, or exactly who got payment bumps, but Venables and Nagy retained all the starters eligible to return and some of the key backups. Cornerbacks Courtland Guillory and Eli Bowen, linebackers Kip Lewis and Owen Heinecke, tackles David Stone and Jayden Jackson, safeties Peyton Bowen and Michael Boganowski, cheetah Reggie Powers and rush ends Taylor Wein, P.J. Adebawore and Danny Okoye.
?
Some veterans indeed hit the transfer portal. Linebackers Sammy Omisigho and Kobie McKinzie, cornerback Gentry Williams and tackle Markus Strong. But they were not starters by season’s end, and Venables retained the overwhelming bulk of the defense that was the Southeastern Conference’s best in 2025.

Most of the returning defensive stars figure to be gone in 2027, to the National Football League. Why not spend 2027 money on 2026, Nagy figured, when the ‘26 players are proven producers?

Nagy declined to talk about the issue, but the source said, “He said, ‘look, we have a unique opportunity in 2026, if we can lock this defense up,’” the source said of Nagy. “Let’s load up and make our run in 2026.”

Spending big on particular seasons doesn’t always work out. Ole Miss spent lavishly on its 2024 roster, according to Mississippi sources, but the Rebels stumbled a time or two, finished 9-3 and missed the College Football Playoff. Ole Miss knew its budget would take a hit in 2025, but the Rebels produced an 11-1 season, then won twice in the playoff before losing 31-27 to Miami in the national semifinal Fiesta Bowl.

OU’s defense might not be as deep as a year ago — who has eight quality defensive lineman to rotate, as Venables did last season? — but it’s just as talented, only with an extra year of experience.
?
And all 11 starters could be Sooner originals. No transfers.

“I’d say it just shows how real (Venables) is as a coach, because the people that come in tend to stay, and then just the guys here, we all love each other like brothers,” Peyton Bowen said. “From the transfers’ point of view, I’ve never been outside of this facility as a player, so whenever they come in, they say it’s a brotherhood, and it shows that we’re different than those other schools in the sense of just being together.”

I’m sure OU has a strong brotherhood. This kind of retention, money or not, proves that the Venables culture is of strong foundation. Paying players more to keep away suitors is not an indictment of OU’s culture. Loyalty does not exist when players are heavily penalized for leaving, like in the old days of losing a year’s eligibility. Loyalty exists only when players have a true option of staying or going.

Mass retention like the 2025 defense is an absolute sign of loyalty, even with padded payments, because I promise you, other schools are paying, too.

Even Venables admits money matters.
?
“Very much so,” Venables said. “Obviously, nobody can predict this brand new environment, what one year to the next is going to look like.

“But one thing I think we’ve figured out over the last four years is you can pretty much count on the roster, financially speaking, putting together a team, has gone up 30-35% each year.

“So having the resources that allows us to do that has been incredibly important and vital to put together the roster that we have.”

OU defensive back Reggie Powers declined to talk about money. Most players do the same. Heck, the pros, whose salaries we know down to the cent, prefer to keep salaries off limits in interviews. Understood.

But Powers is all about talking retention and commitment and loyalty.

“Why do we want to leave this brotherhood who we've built from the ground up with?” Powers asked. “Like, my freshman year (2024), we didn't really have a good year. Last year was better and this year we're just trying to keep getting better. So we know we have the talent to keep getting better and keep stacking years.”

Schools need both culture and money to stack seasons. To retain rosters. To build a brotherhood that wants to have the nation’s best defense, a goal that’s completely within reach.

Optimism is high around OU football. It should be high. The OU brass believes in this team, and we know that because Sooner decision-makers put their money where their mouth is.
?

---

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

But Ott’s shortcomings — whatever they were — is also what attracted Avant to Oklahoma and Oklahoma to Avant. It showed that OU will play the best and most deserving players, not the highest-paid players.

---

Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.

quote:

---

He was not in NFL so this is just 5 for 5 deal

---