Courtland Guillory's First Season a Success, But a Good Spring Could Launch Him Higher

Sooners on SI will spotlight ten players who need a big spring to solidify their place on the depth chart, improve and/or help Oklahoma build off its 2025 College Football Playoff momentum. Each day, we’ll break down one player’s background, progress, and what’s on the line as Brent Venables’ team takes shape during spring football.

Courtland Guillory made headlines when he became the first true freshman since 2015 to start at cornerback for an Oklahoma season opener. Sure, with Eli Bowen sitting out since the spring of 2025, it was nice to see a young player step in against an outmatched opponent.

Except Guillory kept playing. Even when Bowen returned and Gentry Williams was still available, Guillory's play forced Venables and Jay Valai to play the freshman.

He was baptized by fire when Cam Coleman had success over him — by Venables' design, since the Sooner defense sacked Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold nearly 10 times. But Guillory kept coming, putting together a strong effort at corner while becoming the starter opposite of Bowen following Williams' midseason injury.

The sky is the limit for Guillory, and Oklahoma will need him to reach somewhere near that limit quickly with SEC rivals adding to their pass-catching arsenal this offseason. For Guillory, the work to improve begins where his Sooner career first gained steam — spring ball.

Oklahoma Sooners, Courtland Guillory — Oklahoma defensive back Courtland Guillory | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Last year, the 6-foot-0, 183-pound Guillory impressed throughout spring football. He caught the eye of Robert Spears-Jennings early on.

"He attacks the workout, attacks the meetings, practices like a pro," Spears-Jennings said at SEC Media Day in Atlanta last year. "I feel like he learns fast."

More Oklahoma Football

That tenacity followed Guillory all season. Players and coaches alike praised the young freshman's attitude and his desire to be the best player on the field. Following Coleman's momentary abuse of Guillory in Oklahoma's 24-17 win over Auburn, Venables wasn't worried about the performance tanking Guillory's confidence.

"All the great ones will have a day that, man, you’d like to have back, you just want to go somewhere and hide,” Venables said after the Auburn game. "It’s not all on him, but this will help him. He’s a really tough kid."

Venables' words rang true. Once Bowen returned to the starting lineup, Oklahoma had Guillory step aside into a reserve role. As the season went along, Guillory's play was too good to ignore and once Williams was lost for the year after South Carolina, he stepped back in to start durings the Sooners' second-half stretch run.

Now, Guillory stands to do more than build off of his freshman campaign — he has a chance to be a shut-down corner and mirror his corner mate Bowen to give OU a secondary to be feared.

Coleman now wears burnt orange. The Red River Rivalry can be a full-circle moment for Guillory. Before he can get there, he needs to return to spring with the same attack mindset Spears-Jennings and his teammates identified this time last year.

It's not just Texas who will challenge Sooner corners — Michigan, Georgia, South Carolina, Ole Miss among others all have quarterbacks and dangerous wide receivers to stress Oklahoma's secondary. If Oklahoma is still in wait-and-see mode for offensive improvement, then the defense will need to do its part to ensure the offense does not have to get into multiple scoring matches.

Guillory's spring push can go a long way in increasing OU's margin for error.