For the first time in Brent Venables' four seasons as Oklahoma head coach, the Sooners named a permanent set of team captains ahead of the season.
For the 2025 season, Oklahoma will go with seven permanent captains who will remain in place for the entire season. The previous three years, Venables rotated captains on a by-game basis, although several players were named multiple times in the course of the season.
Brent Venables abandons naming captains on game-by-game basis
Two offensive players and five from the defense will serve as team captains this season. The seven players named as captains were quarterback John Mateer, offensive lineman Troy Everett, defensive tackle Gracen Halton, linebacker Kip Lewis, defensive lineman Damonic Williams, defensive end R Mason Thomas and safety Robert Spears-Jennings.
Team 131 season captains 🫡 pic.twitter.com/ABjHUsYtYZ
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) August 23, 2025
Mateer and Lewis were the only juniors among the 2025 captains. The other five are seniors and out of eligibility after this season. The six returning OU players were all starters a year ago.
Mateer transferred to Oklahoma from Washington State, where he passed for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns and ran for 826 additional yards and 15 touchdowns. Arguably the top quarterback in theTransfer Portal after the 2024 season, Mateer is already considered one of the best quarterbacks in the SEC for the 2025 season. He is the only newcomer to the 2025 captain group, proving he's quickly won over the locker room, especially after gifting the entire team new headphones.
The other six captains have been at OU for at least the past two seasons.
The six returning OU players have all been key contributors during their time at Oklahoma. Spears-Jennings was second on the team last season with 66 total tackles, one more than Lewis, who also returned two interceptions for touchdowns.
Williams, in his second season at OU after transferring from TCU, led the D-linemen with 35 tackles in 2024. Halton led the defensive line group last season with five sacks and six tackles for loss.
Thomas was a preseason All-SEC selection. He recorded nine sacks and 12 1/2 tackles for loss as a junior. Everett became an Oklahoma starter midway through last season after sitting out with an injury the first five games.
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