College football is nearly back in Oklahoma, at least for a little bit.
The Oklahoma Sooners start spring football on Thursday in Norman to officially begin Year 4 under coach Brent Venables and the Sooners' second season in the SEC.
The Sooners are coming off a 6-7 season in their first year in the daunting SEC. After two losing records in three seasons, Venables starts 2025 on the heat seat, so this is his most important spring yet, especially with so much change throughout the program.
Since the 2024 season ended, OU has lost both coordinators after offensive coordinator Seth Littrell was fired midseason and defensive coordinator Zac Alley left for West Virginia.
Venables hired 29-year-old Ben Arbuckle from Washington State to be the Sooners' next play-caller. With Arbuckle came Wazzu quarterback John Mateer, who was the No. 1 player in the transfer portal when he committed to OU. Mateer will replace Jackson Arnold, who transferred to Auburn.
On the defensive side, Venables put himself in charge as a former successful defensive coordinator. The spring will be Venables' first real time juggling coaching duties on top of the managing responsibilities a head coach has in today's college football world.
With all that change, spring practices and a spring game seem exceptionally important, but as top programs around the country are canceling spring games, the Sooners followed that trend after announcing Monday they would instead debut the Crimson Combine.
OU will host its first-ever Crimson Combine on April 12, the same day the spring game was originally scheduled for, at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.