Oklahoma Football: Sooners Solid in All Positions for 2016 Title Defense

Training camp for 2016 Oklahoma football and the other nine Big 12 schools opens this week, and the Sooners head into preseason practice looking solid at virtually every position.

With 13 starters returning this season (seven on offense and six on defense) the Sooners appear fairly well set on both sides of the ball, and are well-positioned (pun intended) to defend their 2015 Big 12 crown and punch their ticket for a second-consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff,

The one area that could be considered a work in progress is at linebacker, with three starters from last season having departed for the NFL. OU loses All-American Eric Striker at the position along with Dominique Alexander and Devante Bond.

All-Big-12 second-team selection Jordan Evans started 10 games for the Sooners at middle linebacker last season and will anchor OU’s second line of defense in 2016. Beyond that, junior Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and sophomore Tay Evans have seen game action, but never as starters at the linebacker spot.

The Sooners may not have the same level of experience and stability at linebacker they’ve had the past couple of seasons, but compared with the rest of the Big 12, and even on a national scale, Oklahoma is still pretty solid at the position. Highly regarded college football analyst Phil Steele grades the Sooner linebacker position as the third-best LB unit in the Big 12, behind TCU and Baylor, and 31st in the country among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools.

With the exception of pass receivers, where he ranks OU in the middle of the pack in the offensive-minded Big 12 going into the 2016 season, and linebacker, Steele grades the Sooners’ other position units and coaching staff no lower than No. 2 in the conference. And in three of those areas (quarterback, running back and defensive back), he ranks the Sooners as the best in the league, and in the top-10 among all FBS schools.

Interestingly, Steele ranks the OU receivers for 2016 as the fifth-best pass-catching unit in the Big 12, but No. 13 in the country. That speaks to the heavy passing game employed by Big 12 offenses.

Baker Mayfield, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year last season and on just about everyone’s Heisman watch list in 2016 after finishing fourth in the Heisman voting last fall, is rated by Steele in his 2016 College Football Preview magazine as the third-best quarterback in the country coming into the new season (behind Deshaun Watson of Clemson and Chad Kelly of Ole Miss).

Steele ranks the Oklahoma backfield tandem of Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon as the nation’s sixth-best set of running backs and easily the best the Big 12 has to offer. The national ranking may even be a bit lower than it should be, in my opinion, but is still strong validation, given the talented company it is being compared with nationally.

With three of the Sooners’ four defensive backs returning in 2016 (CB Jordan Thomas and safeties Ahmad Thomas and Steven Parker), the Oklahoma secondary also grades out high in Steele’s evaluation system. The three have played together the past two seasons, and Steele recognizes that in ranking them the No. 4 defensive-back unit in the country going into the new season.

Here is how Steele grades the Sooners on a national scale as they get set to open preseason practice sessions counting down to the 2016 opening kickoff:

Quarterback – 3

Running back – 6

Receivers – 13

Offensive Line – 22

Defensive Line – 19

Linebackers – 31

Defensive Backs – 4

Special Teams – 5