In an Offseason as the Cheetah Heir Apparent, Oklahoma's Reggie Powers 'Excelled'

NORMAN — Reggie Powers knew he had a great opportunity ahead of him back during Oklahoma's spring practices. He was already feeling comfort only a veteran player knows.

"It's flown by very fast," Powers said back in March. "I forgot I was in college for two years already. I be thinking of memories like, 'Dang, that was two years ago.' But it goes fast, so just trying to make it count every day."

To say Powers has made every day count this offseason may be putting it lightly.

"Reggie's had a great camp," Brent Venables said on Friday. "As good as he's been his first couple of years, he's taken a huge step. Just a lot of the micro side of the position."

The "micro side of the position" Venables reffered to is important. The cheetah spot is one of the head man's more valued positions on his defense. If you have a great cheetah, you tend to have a great defense.

Last season, Kendal Daniels provided a level of consistency with some big-play ability that helped OU's defense reach an elite status for the first time since the late-2000s. Powers played a role in that as well, albeit behind Daniels.

Powers couldn't have learned from a better veteran.

"I think him playing behind Kendal for a year, just to kind of get more exposure and settle into the position knowing there wasn’t all the pressure on him last year was really good for him," Owen Heinecke said on Friday. "He’s excelled this fall camp. He’s made a lot of plays, and he makes all the plays that come to him, and plays that don’t come to him."

Daniels now appears set to begin making plays for the Atlanta Falcons after being taken in the fourth round of the NFL Draft back in April. Powers is set to provide the same consistent and big-play ability to the spot Daniels held down in 2025.

It's a great time to start for Powers. It's his third season in the program. He recently changed his jersey number to the number three, which holds symbolic significance for him — Reggie Powers III — but also because of how players within the program view a third season of play.

"This is his money year, per se, so he's definitely been making a lot of strides," Peyton Bowen said. "This is the time where you actually get draft stock. That’s what we mean by 'money year.'”

Powers' 'money year' couldn't have come at a better time. Venables has built Oklahoma's defense into a monster. This allows playmakers like Powers to do what they do best.

"He's a smaller cheetah, in a sense, like a smaller SAM backer. But I mean, you don't feel that whenever you're on the opposing side. He's gonna run through somebody's face, a receiver, tight end, and just play very physical and fast," Bowen said.

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