The Oklahoma offense has felt just a bit different during the last couple of seasons. Yards and points have been harder to come by, but some of that could be attributed to the style of play.

The tempo, tempo version of the Sooners under Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray had been replaced by a more subdued style that limited the number of plays.

If you like tempo, then the 2022 Sooners are going to be more of your style once again.

“I think the thing that is the constant is the tempo. We’re going to play incredibly fast,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said. “We’re going to push the tempo, we’re going to dictate how the game is played. That’s where it starts for us. But we were going to be different than we were last year Oxford, or two years ago in Oxford, or in Orlando.

“Again, to me, it’s still all about changing and getting better and changing and being different and finding ways to attack defense every single year. There’s going to be a bunch of differences that people notice as we get going, but again to me, that’s my job.”

You can already see it in the first couple of days of OU spring practice. Everything is fast. Everything has the mindset of being fast, of getting the calls in and getting to work.

Although it’s understandably a work in progress, it does help a bit for Lebby to be reunited with quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

If there’s one guy who needs to really know what an offensive coordinator wants to do, it’s the quarterback. Gabriel is good on that front.

“Now he’s lived a ton of experience,” Lebby said. “So what he’s been through getting to this point, there’s great experience that he’s had that’s gotten him here, and there’s continual growth every single day. So he’s a guy that wants to be coached. He wants to get better. Good’s not good enough. He understands that. He’s been a lot of fun getting back with.”

Farooq’s break out opportunity

When the coaching chaos occurred with Lincoln Riley leaving and quarterback Caleb Williams going with to USC, the first name everybody circled to join the group was wide receiver Jalil Farooq.

It made all the sense in the world, considering the bond Farooq and Williams have had throughout the years, dating way before their time in Norman.

But Williams is in Los Angeles. And Farooq is just fine being in Norman.

“As a freshman dealing with a whole coaching staff leaving, considering transferring is a big factor but I came here for a reason,” Farooq said. “OU DNA's in my blood so that's the reason why I stayed.

I still had a relationship with some coaches like Coach Gundy that stayed. Him being able to stay in my ear and make me feel confident that I'm still wanted here was a perfect reason for me to stay.

“Me and Caleb, as kids we played on the same little league team so it was a dream come true to come to the same school. We narrowed our schools down. We always wanted to come to the same college. Unfortunately, things do happen. Life. We had to deal with adversity. He made his decision, I made mine.”

Maybe part of that decision was easier based on the way Farooq finished his true freshman season. There were reports of him doing great during bowl practices, and then it really came through during his impressive performance in the Alamo Bowl victory.

Now it’s about building off that success.

“That was a very important time for me, especially, to get an opportunity to step up to the plate and be productive for my team,” Farooq said. “I was just excited to take advantage of my opportunity.”

Raym fired up about Bedenbaugh

After the coaching changes, there were some easy dots to connect. You knew some coaches were leaving. You knew some coaches were staying.

Then there was offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh. There was conjecture about which way things were going to go before it was ultimately resolved with Bedenbaugh being asked to stay at OU.

A lot of people were happy about that, including the current players.

“It was my first time experiencing something like that,” center Andrew Raym said. “Kind of just played through it, but when we heard Coach B was coming back, that was for sure a plus. Every guy in the O-line room was happy about it. We knew we were going to be set this year.”

Raym will be vying for the starting center position along with Robert Congel. The 2021 season saw some ups and downs for Raym, between COVID and a late-season knee/ankle injury.

“It was pretty tough. It was a weird injury,” Raym said. “It got my knee and my ankle. Ended up being my ankle more than anything. Just rehab, strength. Chris is a great strength guy. Then you’ve got Coach Scott working on ankle stability. That helped me a lot right there.”

Raym said he started to feel 100 percent again after returning in January.

Wells a welcome addition

It feels like every week there is something new with Brent Venables’ support staff. Sure enough, there was another name with former Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells joining the crew as an offensive analyst.

““Excited about Matt being with us. Known for him for a long time. To me, again, I’ve used the word experience a bunch,” Lebby aid. “So everybody in this profession, again, to be the best, you’re trying to grow every single day, so just having that ear piece for me, being able to lean on somebody, another set of eyes in practice, maybe seeing it from a different viewpoint, is going to be huge for me for the offense for our football team.”

One more QB for Stoops

From Murray to Jalen Hurts to Spencer Rattler to Caleb Williams to now Dillon Gabriel, wide receiver Drake Stoops has played with just about everybody.

And it’s just back to work, as usual.

“You just practice in the offseason, spring ball, fall camp, winter workouts, summer workouts,” Stoops said. “You just start to build that connection. At the end of the day, it just takes time and reps and getting to know each other and knowing where your receiver is going to be, where the ball is going to be thrown and stuff like that. You pick it up.”

Of course, the one wrinkle with Gabriel is the UCF transfer being left-handed. But Stoops was quick to say that hasn’t affected anything at all in terms of ball location or the zip on the passes.

“He throws a great ball. It’s all over the tape at UCF, too, you could see it,” Stoops said. “You can see it in practice today. He throws a great ball. I’m very excited to see what he can do.”