Oklahoma football: Position report cards for 2022

By the analytics measure, Oklahoma football is a top-20 team in the country because, on a down-to-down basis, the Sooners are actually a pretty good team.

You put them on the field with a light schedule, and they probably manage to win eight or nine games with minimal adjustments to what they already put on tape this year.

Today we look at the program and position groups to determine each grade for the 2022 season.

Quarterback

If just grading Dillon Gabriel, I would give the QB position group a B. Gabriel struggled in critical moments but still managed to grade out as a top 10 QB, according to Pro Football Focus. He showed good deep ball accuracy, and was productive, and did a solid job protecting the football. Gabriel doesn’t measure up to any QB OU has had in recent years, but that shows you the quality Oklahoma has had.

However, it’s the depth where this grade will slip. Oklahoma did not have any other QBs worthy of even attempting to run the offense in 2022, at least, that’s how Offensive Coordinator Jeff Lebby saw it. Oklahoma preferred to line their backup quarterback up at WR, utilizing a wild-cat offense rather than attempting a legitimate offensive strategy. That’s bad, bad.

Tim’s grade: D+

Running back

Now, this is room to be excited about, even the walk-on Tawee Walker has some juice. Eric Gray was incredible this year, Marcus Major played well early before his injuries, and Jovantae Barnes is going to be special, you can see it. Gray was supremely productive. Major, Gray, and Barnes all averaged north of 4 yards per carry, and Gray was all the way up at 6.4.

Tim’s grade: A

Wide receiver

This group is the most difficult to grade because this unit would have deserved an A+ at the beginning of the year. They really did a tremendous job of getting open and making plays, but as the season went along, the loss of WR Coach Cale  Gundy was certainly felt. The timing and rhythm of routes were not good, assignments were blown. Drops were not at a premium, and penalties began to stack up. The unit also struggled to block, and that showed up with a ton of TFLS on swings and screens. While Marvin Mims and Jalil Farooq were fantastic, they were not without blame down the stretch either, with the dropsies ailing them far more often than an acceptable rate.

Tim’s grade:  C+

Offensive line

The offensive line was one of the bright spots in 2022 when they weren’t committing foolish penalties. Andrew Raym took a massive leap forward, and the tackle play between Wanya Morris, and Anton Harrison was among the best in the country. Murray bounced back after a rough 2021 campaign, and McKade was better than serviceable. Many times during games, you would see the beauty at work with the line absolutely bullying the other team in the ground game, and were particularly strong pass blocking as well. However, the penalties were always very untimely, and the lack of discipline must be considered.

Tim’s grade: B+

Tight end

Brayden Willis had a career year and made himself some money to be sure this year. However, aside from Willis and Daniel Parker Jr. OU was young at TE, and this contributed to the grade, after Willis, there was very little help from the room. Willis was a willing and nasty blocker this year, but he also came up big with several nice grabs. Unfortunately, he had some wiped out with untimely offensive pass interference calls as well.

Tim’s Grade:  B-

Defensive line

Went into the season thinking this would be one of the strengths of the team, but injuries, misusage of talent, and lack of production were all clear as day throughout the season. While Oklahoma led the entire power five in TFLS per game, its undeniable that both the edges and interior did not play well consistently enough. From Nebraska to West Virginia the defensive end position did not record a sack. Oklahoma was for much of the year one of the worst teams in the Big 12 at defending the run. This is a talented group that should have performed better than they did in 2022 and I like forward to seeing how it goes in 2023.

Tim’s grade: C-

Linebacker

Danny Stutsman had some big moments at linebacker, leading the conference in tackle. I’ts difficult to man the middle in a defense as complex as Venables, though Stutsman had his moments.

If I could grade this group solely on Stutsman’s play it would be an A. Dashaun White was also very solid most of the year in the role as a hybrid linebacker/secondary player at the Cheetah position. Shane Whitter took few snaps due to injury, T.D Roof took none due to injury, and the freshman aside from Kanak redshirted.

This was a thin group that struggled at times, and it showed, this is a position group I expect an enormous leap forward from next year. Bad angles, missed tackles, and assignment issues were normal, but when they did their job the OU defense looked very promising.

Tim’s grade: C-

Secondary

This unit was much maligned early on, and looked hopeless at times when Billy Bowman was not available. However, as the season went on the secondary began to really put their foot on the gas. CB CJ Coldon stepped up big time, Billy Bowman returned and Key Lawrence and Jaden Davis were as steady as they came. Also, in the last half of the season Woodi Washington was as sticky in coverage as they come. When playing man, he was lockdown, when playing in cover 3 zone (the vast majority of coverage the OU defense played) teams would not try him aside from check downs, to which Woodi would be quickly in on the tackle. Woodi Washington could declare for the draft but we expect he will return.

Tim’s grade: C+

Assistant coaches

Very mixed bag here. Jeff Lebby was a roller coaster sometimes unreal sometimes unreal. For all his faults managing the offense and helping the defense out, he also helped put up a ton of yards and points when he had Gabriel available. I think Jeff has a bright future.

From my understanding, Brent calls the plays for the defense, so I am not exactly sure what value Ted Roof has for this defense. If we counted recruiting, Bates and Chavis would get an A for me, but their units underperformed on the field in 2022. Brandon Hall, Demarco Murray, Jay Valai, and Bill Bedenbaugh saved the day for this unit as these coaches were consistent and their units showed improvement.

Tim’s grade: C+

Head coach

Sooner nation loves Brent Venables, I can already see the hate mail I will soon receive for this extremely fair and honest take. Aside from Jimbo Fisher, nobody did less with more than Brent Venables did in his first year at Oklahoma.

Brent was terrible when it came to in-game decisions. He allowed his assistants to have too much leeway. Game management was an absolute train wreck, perfectly happy to choose to go for it on fourth and four plus but never on fourth and less than two to seal a game. He and his staff often did a poor job of putting their players in the best position to have success as well.

Nobody rooted for Brent or believed in him more than I did before the season began. While I still think it’s possible for him to right the ship and have a big leap forward in year, I think its best to be honest in his evaluation, 2022 was far from “good enough”. This is not a secret to Brent either.

Tim’s Grade: F-