Fearless 20: Future Stars

Oklahoma's 2022 season is now just weeks away and as such it's time for our annual trip inside the mind of SoonerScoop.com co-publisher Josh McCuistion. What are his expectations for year one under Brent Venables? Take a look as some lofty expectations are placed on the class of 2022 and just how good is Oklahoma's defense going to be?

Breakdown: Well, this prediction was made before the news emerged that Barnes is still healing up and isn't quite full go for the Sooners yet. But, alas the show goes on and Barnes is a player who probably has the most potential of any back on the roster. The freshman from Las Vegas will take time to ease into things but his talent is undeniable and he may get there by popping some of the longer runs of the year for Oklahoma.

Breakdown: 1,000 yard receivers were once something of a birth right for Sooners. From 2008-2019, 10 receivers passed the threshold but since 2019 not one receiver has hit that mark. Now obviously that's just two seasons but it's been since 2012-2014 that Oklahoma has gone three straight seasons without a 1,000 yard receiver. In 2022 Marvin Mims will avoid that ugly triple from happening again thanks in part to a large number of big plays from Jeff Lebby's offense.

Breakdown: Alright, well time to bring some balance to the scales and the reality is this is a two part situation. First of all, I think it's possible one player might have a couple of big games and get north of eight sacks but I don't see any two players doing so. My guess is that the distribution of sacks is fairly spread out and that limits any one, or in this case two, players ability to really put together a huge statistical season. Beyond the reality of what seems most likely, I also think Oklahoma has very good, steady, defensive ends but may not have yet found that elite edge rusher who can really put up the biggest and scariest numbers.

Breakdown: I know it may surprise some of you after reading the previous prediction to read this one. I think this defense will be very sound, avoid a lot of the mental miscues that they struggled with for the better part of the last decade. I also feel like this is as deep and talented as they've been in the back two-thirds of the defense in quite some time.

For those that don't know the SP+ is a weighted rating of teams that tries to find the middle ground and remove the variance that is opponent driven. Top 35 isn't exemplary but it's far better than No. 58 that they finished with in 2021.

Breakdown: It's a testament to just how talented this 2022 class is that so many players could play a real factor beyond their allotted time. Those freshman will be Jovantae Barnes, Nic Anderson, Jayden Gibson, Jason Llewellyn, Jake Taylor, R Mason Thomas, Jaren Kanak, Jayden Rowe, and Robert Spears-Jennings.

Barnes has been covered but the two receivers may just be too talented to keep off the field. Llewellyn could fill a key need while Taylor, Thomas, Kanak, Rowe, and RS-J could be of a very similar nature and a key piece to building for 2023 and perhaps finding a few new stars.