How Oklahoma Safety Michael Boganowski Can Take Another Step in 2026

NORMAN — Michael Boganowski took a massive step forward in 2025.

After appearing on just 68 defensive snaps as a true freshman in 2024, the safety from Junction, KS, logged 245 snaps as a sophomore. He finished the year with 31 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Now entering his third year at OU, Boganowski has proven that he can be a reliable defensive piece against high-quality competition. And as a result, his role will likely become even larger in 2026.

“I’d say just keep doing what I’ve been doing and strive to be the best version of myself and see how it all works out,” Boganowski said.

Boganowski came to Oklahoma as a 4-star prospect, according to Rivals. Like many of the true freshmen that have come through OU during Brent Venables’ tenure, he played a key special teams role in Year 1, appearing in all 13 games.

The defensive back was unable to preserve his redshirt because of his high special teams usage in 2024, and he played in 13 contests again in 2025 while backing up Robert Spears-Jennings.

But with 26 games now under his belt, Boganowski has embraced his role as one of the “old guys” in OU’s secondary.

“It’s been great, really being in a leadership role, pouring into the younger guys,” Boganowski said. “It’s crazy.”

Prior to Boganowski’s sophomore season, several Oklahoma players and coaches praised him as the team’s hardest hitter. Boganowski proved them right throughout his second year, finishing with an 83.2 Pro Football Focus (PFF) tackling grade, which ranked third on OU’s defense.

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Boganowski has been someone who consistently finishes tackles since the day that he stepped foot on campus, as his tackling grade was similarly strong in 2024 at 81.4.

“I’d say it just started when I was young,” Boganowski said. “That’s kind of how I’ve always played. I remember, I first started playing tackle (football) when I was four, so I’ve always played that way and it’s carried through to now.”

While his ability to finish tackles has always been there, other areas of his game have improved dramatically — his run defense grade went from 66.5 in 2024 to 79.5 in 2025, while his overall defensive grade jumped from 59.6 to 68.8.

Boganowski expects to only become more productive in 2026.

“I’d say just really (I’ve been) getting more comfortable and just things (have been) slowing down,” Boganowski said. “I’d say that’s the biggest thing, just with more reps, getting more comfortable and everything slowing down.”

Oklahoma Sooners, Reggie Powers, Michael Boganowski — Oklahoma defensive back Reggie Powers, defensive back Michael Boganowski | Carson Field, Sooners on SI

Boganowski will likely start at free safety with incoming senior Peyton Bowen holding down the strong safety spot.

Between those two and backup safety Omarion Robinson, OU coach Brent Venables feels confident about where the position stands with five months until the 2026 season begins.

“Peyton and Boganowski — they've really had an excellent early few days, and picked up where they left off from,” Venables said. “You can see their experience really shows up. There's a calmness when they're on the field, excited about them. And then Omarion, again, he's a very versatile player.”