It took one season for Oklahoma football to realize the enormity of what it was dealing with in the SEC.
It has taken a handful of offseason months to drastically adjust.
The Sooners are quietly lurking this spring, completely revamping a roster in the shadow of SEC quarterback drama with Nico Iamaleava and DJ Lagway, and the unbridled hype of all things Arch Manning.
And by revamping, I mean adding 34 players (freshmen and transfer portal additions) to a roster that rolled into its inaugural SEC season in 2024 – and sustained the worst conference record at Oklahoma since 1997.
A roster that now – nearly four months later – looks like it can trade blows with any team in the nation, much less the SEC.
“You know you’re going to have some fluidity,” coach Brent Venables said last week after the Sooners completed spring practice. “That’s just the nature of where we’re at today.”
Let’s not coat this thing with a Crimson and Cream cover-all excuse. The Sooners were bad in 2024, a November upset of Alabama away from the worst season in the modern era of one of the most-storied programs in college football history.
Change had to happen, and had to be drastic. It began in December by landing the best player in the transfer portal (quarterback John Mateer), and included a significant upgrade at offensive coordinator/play caller (Ben Arbuckle). And it hasn’t stopped.
A day after announcing he was entering the spring transfer portal, Cal star running back Jaydn Ott signed with Oklahoma. That came days after Stanford offensive tackle Jake Maikkula – allowed to enter the transfer portal early after a coaching change in late March – committed to the Sooners.
And Oklahoma isn’t done. Venables said last week that the team would continue to look hard at the spring portal and make additions that fit to fill needs.
“You’re looking at probably every position on your team,” Venables said.
Translation: no job is safe. And why should it be?
In a matter of one season, Oklahoma has become an afterthought of the great SEC expansion of 2024. Texas, which spent the previous two decades in Oklahoma’s shadow in the Big 12, is the new SEC and national darling.
After one season in the league.
After losing 17 of the previous 24 games between the bitter rivals since 2000. After Oklahoma owned the Big 12 and became a fixture in the BCS championship game and College Football Playoff — and Texas was the perpetual underachiever.
That’s how quickly it all turned in one ugly season in the SEC, how more than two decades of dominance in the Big 12 was reduced to what in the world is going on in Norman? So yeah, this offseason was important.
Important for Venables’ job security, and reestablishing one of the game’s great brands. Important for fan buy-in, after a season of losing six – six! – SEC games and eliminating any coaching goodwill.
Venables is beloved in Norman, but he’s not safe. What coaches not named Wilkinson, Switzer and Stoops were?
Venables understands the gravity of the position, and the current state of the program. He made moves midway through last season to begin course correcting, and hasn’t stopped since.
He fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell in late October of 2024, and benched former five-star quarterback recruit Jackson Arnold prior to that. The same Arnold that was chosen over Dillon Gabriel, who started the previous two seasons in Norman and eventually transferred to Oregon and was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
But this is what you want from your coach: a decision-maker who sees a mistake and makes a change.
There are six projected transfer starters on the offense for 2025, a unit that was 15th out of 16 SEC teams in scoring in 2024 and averaged less than five yards per play (4.81).
An offense that added a quarterback (Mateer) who not only accounted for 44 touchdowns last season at Washington State, but will bring an air of bravado back to a program that entered the SEC on the heels of historical greatness.
And responded to its first season in the league by adding 34 new players to the roster.
“There’s definitely a feeling of wanting to prove who we are,” Mateer said earlier this month. “I don’t think anyone here thinks what happened last season is what this program is all about.”
Change had to happen and had to be drastic.
And they’re not done yet.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.