Post-Spring Mailbag: Answering 10 of the top questions from the spring game

Look, I wanted to come up with a creative little soliloquy to lead into this mailbag. But I’m tired. It’s past 1 a.m. We have another four months to talk about what happened today. Hell, it’s really all that we’ll have to talk about until fall camp begins. So let’s just cut to the chase and get to your questions. You all watched the spring game, or at least you followed along. I don’t need to bore you with the details of what occurred.

Without further ado, here we go.

Bo_Bowman: How did you feel about Jackson Arnold dropping bombs man

JFA looked good! I noted in the podcast that he missed a few relatively easy throws, and I would be remiss if I didn’t point that out. There were some layups that he just didn’t convert. But he commanded the offense with confidence, and he showed some nice touch on the deep shots. I thought Jayden Gibson could very well have caught Arnold’s first throw of the game, which would have covered 50-plus yards. If it was overthrown, it was only overthrown by three or four inches, and Gibson didn’t bother to lay out for it. But three plays later, JFA hit Deion Burks for 64 yards and a touchdown. I’ll say this: I love the confidence to take another shot after narrowly missing the previous one. Granted, it’s a spring scrimmage and you don’t have anything to lose in the grand scheme of things, but the gunslinger mentality was evident there. All in all, Arnold went 10-of-20 for 233 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

bpatrick31: Barnes did not play today.. with BV saying he wanted to give other guys opportunities. Is he portal bound?

Look, I make it a point not to discuss the possibility of any individual player entering the portal until it happens, or until it’s credibly reported as imminent by someone else. As a general rule, I don’t like being the one to speculate or to break the news that a player is jumping ship. So this is all I’ll say about the Jovantae Barnes situation: if he were to hit the transfer portal, it would make sense on paper, and it would be a decision most everyone could understand. He had a wondrous freshman year by most standards as the primary handcuff to Eric Gray, but that foot injury that he suffered last spring just absolutely torpedoed his promising future. He’s still got juice, he’s still got the work ethic and he’s still got plenty of potential. Sometimes it doesn’t work out for a guy and he just needs a change of scenery.

I hope things work out at Oklahoma for Barnes. I believed he was the top back in the 2022 cycle, and his freshman year seemed to lend credence to that notion. But the harsh reality is that we may never know what the best version of Jovantae Barnes looks like, and I think the decision to bring in Sam Franklin serves as an indication that Oklahoma wasn’t betting the farm on a return to form from Barnes. When Kalib Hicks’ emergence is factored into the equation, it becomes apparent that Barnes faces an uphill battle to earn a share of the backfield action.

davisschmitz: projected starting lineups for all 3 sides of the ball

Whew. All right. With the obvious caveat that I reserve the right to change my answer upon the arrival of fall camp, here’s how I would project the lineups as of April 21, 2024.

OL (left to right): Big Sexy, Geirean Hatchett, Branson Hickman, Febechi Nwaiwu, Jake Taylor

WR: Andrel Anthony, Nic Anderson, Deion Burks

TE: Bauer Sharp

RB: Gavin Sawchuk

QB: JFA

DL: Ethan Downs, Da’Jon Terry, Damonic Williams, R Mason Thomas

LB: Danny Stutsman, Kip Lewis

CHEETAH: Kendel Dolby

CB: Woodi Washington, Gentry Williams

S: Billy Bowman, Robert Spears-Jennings

K: Zach Schmit *ducks*

P: Luke Elzinga

KR: Sam Franklin, Jalil Farooq

PR: Gavin Freeman *ducks again*

Two notes that I’ll add on my projected defensive backfield: 1) I would expect a healthy dose of Peyton Bowen as the third safety in the mix, and 2) I would also expect a lot of Dez Malone at cornerback as Woodi shifts inside to get some run at the cheetah.

boomsoon22: Boganowski a spy for our opponents? He was head hunting LOL

Michael Boganowski is going to be a demon in that Oklahoma secondary within a year or two. It’s remarkable that Brandon Hall could watch the junior film of a zero-star linebacker in Junction City, Kansas, and immediately decide — without verification of size or testing numbers — that the kid could play safety at the University of Oklahoma. He nailed that eval. Boganowski is vicious. It’s easy to see, given his 215-pound frame and enforcer’s nature, why so many Power 4 schools liked him as a linebacker. But he also demonstrated Saturday that he’s not out of his depth at safety. He’s fast, reactive and smooth enough to play at a high level in the secondary. Between him, Reggie Powers and Jaydan Hardy, the Sooners might very well have the best trio of freshman safeties in the nation. I don’t think that’s a stretch.

BigBoomerDaddy: Which position group played better than you expected, which one underwhelmed you? Will FG kicking continue to be a shakey next year?

I was pleasantly surprised with the play of the quarterbacks, and I was thoroughly underwhelmed with the second-team offensive line. Michael Hawkins did about all he could have reasonably been expected to do, as he rarely had any time to sit in the pocket and was typically running for his life within milliseconds of receiving the snap. The Sooners had better hope they don’t have to deploy any of the reserves in the offensive trenches this season, because what I saw today doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence in the depth pieces. But let’s get back to the quarterbacks. General Booty has wheels?! General Booty has WHEELS. All in all, Booty looked pretty sharp for a third-stringer, and Brendan Zurbrugg wasn’t half bad on the one drive he got to lead. Arnold and Hawkins are more than a step ahead of the rest of the room right now, but the Sooners have legitimate depth at QB for the first time in more than a minute.

As far as the kicking game is concerned, the miss from Tyler Keltner only exacerbates the public chagrin surrounding Oklahoma’s field goal unit. And Keltner had probably enjoyed the best spring amongst the Sooners’ trio of kickers, which makes his yanked 45-yard attempt all the more bothersome. My expectation is that Keltner and Zach Schmit battle it out in fall camp for the right to handle kicking duties, with Liam Evans on call a la Garrett Hartley in 2004. I think the hope is that the Sooners can redshirt Evans and get by with their pair of super-seniors in Schmit and Keltner, but there may come a point at which Brent Venables and new special teams coach Doug Deakin are compelled to give Evans a shot. Keltner is a career 76 percent kicker, and Schmit’s career clip is 70 percent. The options on the table are less than reliable.

Gmoneypimp9: How many transfer portal commits out of this weekend?

I’m hammered on the Kool-Aid, brother. I’m saying they make it a clean sweep. 3-for-3. If one gets away, it’ll probably be Damonic Williams for obvious reasons. But the word is that the Sooners are willing to make it worth his while to wipe the travel itinerary clear.

teenagerdecisions: Can you tally how many expected starters did not play on both sides of the ball during the spring game?

Let’s see here. Off the top of my head, you obviously didn’t have Troy Everett, Nic Anderson or Andrel Anthony on the offensive side of the ball. I’m currently projecting Anthony as the third starter at WR over Jalil Farooq, so I guess Farooq doesn’t technically qualify. Defensively… Da’Jon Terry was on the shelf. Gentry Williams sat out. Woodi Washington and Billy Bowman were held out of action. That makes seven starters by my count. And that’s another reason why I don’t think Deion Burks’ two long TD receptions should cause any alarm about the secondary — three of the Sooners’ four starting defensive backs weren’t available. It’s not as if Burks cooked anybody that will be a meal-ticket guy in the defensive backfield.

DJPJ23: Why TF is Ivan Carreon #24

I laughed aloud at this. Frankly, sir, I don’t have a clue; you’d have to ask Ivan Carreon that question. I assume it has some significance to him, even if only a surface-level significance. It is certainly odd to watch an Oklahoma wide receiver run around with 24 on his back. I’m trying to recall the last time the Sooners had a wideout with a jersey number in the 20’s. Actually, I can see him in my mind’s eye… maybe late 2000’s? Early 2010’s? I can picture him, but I can’t ID him. I’m fairly certain he wore 24 as well. I can see him RIGHT THE HELL NOW. This is quickly becoming infuriating. Any help would be appreciated.

Edit, 15 minutes later: DEJUAN MILLER! It was Dejuan Miller.

AdamBarrow: Can you give a stock up/stock down on the players who you felt made the biggest statement or were more disappointing?

Stock up on Boganowski; I thought he had the most impressive day relative to expectations (i.e., we all kinda knew Deion Burks was the real deal). Stock up on Kalib Hicks as well. He’s RB2 in my book for the moment, based on everything I’ve seen and heard throughout the spring. Stock up on Eli Bowen. I thought he quietly had a very strong day at cornerback. Two others that caught my eye were Gracen Halton and JJ Hester, the latter of whom has actually had a very impressive spring.

Stock down on Spencer Brown. Transparently, I don’t see a lot to get excited about with him right now. He sure didn’t look like a redshirt senior or a two-year P4 starter today. It’s a good thing Jake Taylor has taken a quantum leap, because there’s not a chance I would trust Brown to hold down the right tackle spot based upon what I saw in this game. Stock down on Jaren Kanak as well, but I think Dusty Dvoracek already covered that one for me. Kanak is objectively a wondrous athlete… but man, he looks lost at times.

Chuck298: Burks or the field for best WR at the end of the season?

Give me Burks, man. And I say that as the founding member and CEO of the Nic Anderson Venture Capital Firm. Burks has elite top-end speed, he’s a precise route runner and he can go make competitive catches. But what’s most dynamic about his game is his suddenness in the open field. It’s not on the same level as Tyreek Hill, but it’s reminiscent of Tyreek Hill. The JFA-to-Burks connection is going to feed families from Guymon to Idabel. Burks isn’t cut from the same cloth as Ceedee Lamb or Hollywood Brown or Dede Westbrook, so there isn’t a truly fair comparison to be made to any of them. But I think there’s a world in which, by midseason, Sooner fans are already talking about Burks in the same breath as those guys.

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